r/nosurf

I apologize if this isn't the right sub. Perhaps r/antiai might fit better, but it feels overtaken by kids, and I'd appreciate some more mature perspectives.

I'm 18, live with my parents and younger sibling, and likely won't be able to move out anytime soon due to health issues. My family has been dysfunctional for a long time, but six months ago, my dad discovered Suno AI and has completely lost it. It might be worth noting that around the same time his obsession began, he started tadalafil for his ED, which he claims also boosts his energy and helps his focus (though his severe ADHD doesn't seem improved to the rest of us.)

He started a Youtube channel for his "music," entirely AI generated apart from the lyrics—which barely rhyme, flow, or have any consistency. He has since been obsessed: always working on a song, listening to his own music, talking up his music, forcing his music onto strangers in public. He has a well-paying software job but is now fixated on hitting a subscriber count so he can monetize this into a full-time career, despite never being into music prior to this and knowing next-to nothing about the art. He's made about 10 fake accounts to subscribe to and loop his own videos, believing it'll trick YouTube's algorithm into recommending him to others. He's been pushing me to give him access to my email to make more fake accounts, which I've refused, but he's started withholding things (like getting our broken dryer fixed) until I comply, and I'm afraid this will keep happening until I might be forced to.

Even aside my issues with AI art, his content is really sexually suggestive and weird. I'm not at all comfortable with it, especially since he claims to be a Christian and even intends to start volunteering in the children's ministry soon. He insists it's "not what I think," hiding behind double entrendes, but it's not subtle, especially with the cover art he uses. He also lied in a video description, claiming he needs subscribers to afford "help."

I'm beyond sick and tired of it all. My dad was never very present to begin with, but now it's like he's truly gone. Normal conversations with him are practically impossible. I tried to talk to him the other day about my worries regarding my sibling starting at a new school, and he kept interrupting to play me his music.

I just wish I could make his stupid channel dissapear. I'm not going to dox him, but if anyone has advice, or anything, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I recently traveled to China and discovered that people there use electronic devices even more obsessively than in the U.S. You see almost everyone with their heads down, staring at their phones; many people spend over a dozen hours a day on them. In restaurants, people no longer converse; they just play on their phones. Of course, you can do a lot with a phone—order meals, pay for anything. In fact, when I walked into a KFC and approached the counter to order, the clerk looked surprised and said, "Just order on your phone." That’s when I realized that without a phone, I wouldn't be able to function in the country. There were other shocking sights, too: people cycling while scrolling with one hand, or riding e-scooters and motorcycles while doing the same. I also took an Didi (China Uber); drivers usually had two phones—one for navigation and another they were constantly scrolling through. It was simply insane. Even though phone usage in the U.S. is already alarmingly high, it pales in comparison to what I saw in China. Sometimes I wonder what this online existence is turning us into—connecting our brains to a distant online community in a way that makes us forget our own physical bodies. For instance, I rarely eat a meal without taking out my phone; I’ve almost forgotten what food actually tastes like because I can’t focus on the flavor. Our brains have had all their attention forcibly hijacked by something akin to an algorithm. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to truly experience life. Perhaps by looking at a country with even higher phone usage, we can predict what our own society might become if this trend continues. From a pessimistic view, we are already compelled to use phones for so many tasks. When I drive my electric car, for example, I can't even locate charging stations without a smartphone. Phones have become an absolute necessity, yet they constantly demand our attention—to the point where, when I step away from the online world, I find real life incredibly boring and feel compelled to dive right back into that digital realm.

I've been in the depths of a deep Reddit addiction for at least 5 years. It's completely taken over my life...I'm on here at least 8 hours a day, every day. Last summer I tried inventing something and the time I spent on Reddit kind of assured the ultimate failure of that effort.

Well hope spings eternal and I bought a book. https://www.reddit.com/r/nosurf/comments/11bmcbt/i_published_my_first_book_you_should_quit_reddit/

Uh, I'm not supposed to be here but wish me luck.

Very early on my journey. Still download instagram every day and only view my inbox for a few minutes max, but i’m trying to replace the scrolling with going out places to meet people and just have something to do by myself if anything.

The only problem is i don’t really know where to go, especially by myself and i get self conscious when i go out without a set reason to.

So far i’ve enjoyed going to the beach a lot and i’d like to visit as many parks as i can that are nearby.

Where else do you like going when you leave the house and what do you do?

I've been spending way too much time on my phone lately. I'm a software engineer in a service based company in India. Endless YouTube, Reddit, Instagram scrolling... I pick it up without even thinking. I have nothing to do on my phone but I'm still opening my phone and searching for something what can I do! And I don't get anything, simple My last option is for p@rn and j€rking whole day!

The bigger problem is that I feel mentally exhausted almost all the time. I don't have much motivation or energy, even for things I know I should be doing. My attention span feels terrible, and most hobbies I've tried don't hold my interest for long.

I'm looking for hobbies that are:

Cheap

Easy to get into

So engaging that I genuinely forget about my phone for hours

Can be done solo at home

I'm not looking for generic advice like "go to the gym" or "read books" (unless you have a specific approach that made it addictive for you). I do go to the gym 2-3 times a day, but I don't wanna listen to all that old advice. Most of them i already tried but didn't get any results.

I'd love to hear personal experiences:

- What hobby actually got you off your phone?

- How did you get hooked?

- Did it help with mental fatigue, brain fog, or motivation?

NOTE:

I'm from India, so it will be helpful if you give advice from an Indian perspective. You know, culture, diet, mentality, finance and environment everything comes into play when talking among different regions of the world.

Thank you guys for at least reading my problem 🤍

I have spent the better part of my entire life (26m) on the internet and as much as I can say I am better off let's be honest I could have done a lot more in my life. I'm not saying it is the sole reason I am where I am at in life but it did not help. It has been a week since I have turned off my computer and decided to go outside. I spend most of my time now outside, whether it be reading or cruising around on a skateboard, anything that requires me to be present or active in the moment. Most of my hobbies before was buying shit on the internet and comparing other stuff, like video games or mechanical keyboards, but that stuff has its time and place. It does not compare remotely to the thrill of cruising around on a skateboard or playing basketball on a hot summer day. Get outside!

I grew up constantly watching YouTube, Netflix, anime, and playing games. Looking back, I think it became a way to avoid life rather than engage with it. During COVID it got even worse—I could spend entire days online and eventually felt like I forgot how to interact with people.

Now I'm trying to spend more time in the real world, but it feels much harder than I expected. Has anyone else felt like they were raised by the internet and is now trying to reconnect with real life? What actually helped?

As someone with a really severe phone addiction I'm working on (like, 10+ hours some days) I realize that I've been using my phone as a coping mechanism for so long that I haven't really developed emotionally just because I never really gave myself open time to reflect and process stuff, because I've been scrolling as a sort of pacifier to my emotions to numb them out for so long. Anybody else feel this way?

Last year, I deleted X, earlier this year, deleted TikTok and Facebook, last month, deleted instagram (was doom scrolling average of 2 hours a day of reels). Reddit is all I have left. My screen time has now gone UP from around 3.5 hours a day to over 4 hours a day because I’m just replacing the scrolling on IG for scrolling Reddit.

What I’m trying to point out here is that if you delete one or two, you still have to discipline yourself to either not touch that damn phone because the platform doesn’t matter, your brain is still getting its dope of content it’s thirsting for. I don’t want to delete Reddit but I gotta really start getting myself to do some other hands on things to occupy my mind

I've been training for 3 years without a coach, and every mistake on this list comes either from my own experience or from watching other people.

1. Thinking you need to lift heavy to build muscle.

2. Looking for the "perfect" workout program.

3. Expecting fast results.

4. Setting unrealistic expectations.

5. Not paying enough attention to your nutrition.

6. Comparing yourself to Instagram fitness models.

7. Avoiding the big compound lifts (squat, bench press, and deadlift).

One more thing: don't waste your time looking for 100 different exercises for the same muscle group.

Master the basics with one or two exercises first. Learn proper technique, understand how the movement works, and only then move on to something new.

Every exercise has its own technique, and if you're a beginner, chances are you won't perform it correctly right away. If you keep jumping from one exercise to another, your progress will be much slower.

Bonus:

If you're a natural lifter, chances are you won't look like the top fitness influencers on Instagram. And that's okay. Don't get too upset about it... or just join the dark side. :)

And remember: nutrition is responsible for a huge part of your results.

I tried to give Reddit a shot, but every time I post I get some snarky comment. I know it’s the internet, but I don’t need that in my life.

This is what I posted and then deleted a few minutes ago on r/nostupidquestions

“Does it annoy you if someone makes posts multiple times a day in the same subreddit, no matter the quality?
My Reddit account is five years old, but I only made like one post when I first made it. And since I started being active recently, I'm still learning about the culture here. Do people find it rude or annoying when the same person posts more than once a day?”

Response: “If you're on long enough to notice the same person reposting then you need to get a hobby or block them for your own sanity's sake but dwelling on it enough to make your own post is nuts.”

Like geez…I only asked that question because I didn’t want to be rude if I posted more than once in the smaller subreddits I joined that generates posts every few days.

I know that comment alone isn’t that bad, but I feel like this just isn’t my place. I comment jokes that aren’t people’s style of humor, I get condescending comments, and I feel like I can’t express my opinions because it is an echo chamber that is rewarded through the upvote system. I’ve been a lurker for a long time, and I thought that this would be a place that I would also enjoy being a poster in, but no. I didn’t know that Reddit was actually this bad, but I don’t want to change who I am to fit in with strangers online.

boredom is usually when i fall back into scrolling. what do you actually do in those moments instead?

Four weeks ago I was visiting my parents after not having seen them for a few months. The second day all three of us were sitting in the living room on our phones. I started to feel weird about it. I felt it before but always chose to ignore it. We were not talking, not sharing like we used to, I could clearly feel the distance between us. I felt like there was so much still unsaid, so much to share and learn. We always ended up making small talk the first day and the second day was already followed by a wall of phones and minimal communication.

I’ve worked in big tech for more than a decade helping promote the very platforms that consume attention. I never really thought much of it until lately, reflecting on how my life has become. Difficulty maintaining attention long enough to read a good book, reaching for my phone during TV-shows and even during conversations with friends and family. I started to feel like I lost myself slowly without realising.

Two weeks ago, after ignoring what I knew I had to do, I finally decided to delete IG, FB, X and TikTok, all of it in one go.

It’s been weird, I feel like there’s a gap in my days, not a bad one, just empty space that’s waiting to be filled. I started journaling again, after so many years. Turns out I had a lot to say, many feelings about this topic that I had suppressed. I’m still working through them. I still grab for my phone a few times an hour without really opening anything useful, I assume that need will slowly fade as well.

I’m curious how the next few weeks will change and how I’ll feel. I’ll post another update in a month.

I’m curious if anyone else has felt and suppressed this lingering feeling “why am I not making the most of the time with my parents / loved ones at the moment”. Not knowing what to actually talk about anymore, where to start and how - After so many years of superficial communication.

Who still does this?

i feel like the censorship on reddit is getting very bad. It's not the same forum it was when I joined 10 years back. I find it's starting to become unhealthy for me, the paranoia and the stress. I have contributed a lot to reddit over the years and amassed 130k karma. But the way I've been treated by reddit makes me wonder if my work here is worth anything to the platform. I'll likely be leaving over time and I'm not using reddit for entertainment or hanging out any more.

I stopped video gaming,scrolling posts or short videos,films,news,unhealthy food & drinks.It has made my life better.I started feeling fun at small things,I got stronger,more hard working.Rejecting these trap comfort things may make you stressed at first,but after week-end,you'll be more happy ans proud than before.The risks of disease will drop.Enjoy going outside,talk with friends,train yourself,etc.

I'm open for discussionns until 14 July

Looking for encouragement to stop lol I know Reddit can be bad for some but my issue is mainly with short form content, insta, tiktok.

I’m not looking for advice. I’m trying to understand what actually goes through people’s minds when they end up scrolling for hours instead of doing what they planned.
Is it boredom? Lack of motivation? Habit? Stress? Something else?
I’d love to hear your personal experience.
Some questions I’m especially curious about:
What were you supposed to be doing instead?
What’s the first thought that usually leads you to pick up your phone?
Have you ever managed to break the habit for more than a few weeks? If so, what was different?
I’m doing personal research because I’m fascinated by why so many people (including me) struggle with wasting time on their phones. I’m not selling anything I just want to understand the psychology behind it.