Be careful to not supplement with something else addictive.
Hello!
Advice doesn't work uniformly for everyone, but I thought I'd share an observation and recommendation.
When you're addicted to something and you cut it out, you need to be careful that you don't start supplementing with something else. For example, some people stop smoking or drinking and they begin overeating instead. This is because you're chasing the high, the dopamine, in whichever form.
For me, gaming was actually my supplement for something else. I completely quit all social media and was pretty proud of myself, but then in March of 2025 I started an online game and have been very addicted to it. It became my default, my routine, just something I did in free moments.
I am trying to quit this game now, but I don't want to go back to "social" media either, so the two things that have helped me are:
- Learning to sit comfortably with nothingness/stillness (I don't have to fill every millisecond with activity) -> using a game to do this was a lot like mindless social media scrolling. I swapped one activity for another, but it served the same purpose. Instead, I've started to just bask in that nothingness. I was already doing this in line and the store: looking around instead of mindlessly scrolling, but at home I'd hop on my game. Now I try to just walk around and look out the window, maybe see if there is some chore to do. Most of the time you'll find that there is a LOT you're putting off!
- Finding another "filler activity" for when I couldn't just sit with nothingness, because I do slip up. I'm trying to let this be reading! And slowly I've developed the habit of reaching for a book in the evening instead of the game.
Anyway, I hope this may be of some use to someone. Part of why I typed this out is because I'm struggling bad today.