Reading your post, makes me think on this:

1- Clean the noise inside of you. Yoga, walking in nature, fitness, dogs, eat well, sleep properly, take care of your mind, your body and the rest.

2- Leave the noise behind you. Don't follow the trends, forget the news, take care of nature, take care of the world at your fingers.

3- Focus, meditate, work your attention always, work a little everyday, one foot after another

4- Talk to people, more you trust more you talk, and viceversa.

5- Don't judge yourself, you are a kind of primate, relax, and enjoy also your procrastination, being aware when you are behaving well, and when you are listening to your little demon.

6- Prioritize- There is no time, no energy, no money enough to spend in any project. Limit your resources, time (pomodoro technique, alarms, time tracking), Know to differentiate entertainment of work (infinite scrolling is not), make and agenda with timelines for your projects, go light, cheap, easy...

 

I'm Gen Z and the Internet (and modern tech in general) actually had devastating effects on me (not joking). On one hand, if not for me being super into tech and using cheap android tablets and phones tweaking UIs and apps when I was smaller, I wouldn't have been so interested in UI design now.

On another hand...constant self-judgement, feeling like I'm not good enough, feeling genuinely ugly (when I'm actually just average). Wanting to look spotless and perfect like everyone else on social media.

I am not even subscribed to anyone on Instagram (except some musicians and devs) and yet the moment I open the app I am almost sucked into reels, at least used to be. Now I manage to use it less.

One thing I can't stop using is YouTube...I'm so lonely to the point that without youtube I feel too alone. It's awful. Only people I talk to live abroad (in the US) and so we can't really meet IRL right now and even talking online is complicated, because of timezone differences (more than 10 hours). But at least calling them makes me feel better.

Internet and modern consumer tech are great tools if used responsibly. In any other case...just no, awful things. The insanely well-crafted algorithms engineered by the best of the best at Stanford, Harvard and others are great feats of technology, but not good for humanity.

 

I remember someone mentioning they have like eight hundred fourty five VSTI's(not bragging or complaining, just mentioning when talking about some DAW or something).

And someone else mocked him replying just "I want to hear your music".

I loughed at first. Then started crying and deleting stuff at the same time. And immediately started doing better.

So, whenever i find myself diving deep into some stupid shit that doesn't matter. I just remember the line that changed my life.

"LOL I wAnt tO heAr you Müusik"

 

next step is probably turn internet off

 

The only site i try to keep up is the sister site. Everything else comes 2nd.

 

This made me lmao

 

Viagra

 

Last edited: Dec 14, 2023

it doesn't really hurt to only consume content you care about and only look at what you like. Its a battle for eyeballs, you become what you give your attention to. So you should be very careful about what you give your attention to.

For centuries people only cared about the tiny space around them, be it village, city or cottage in the woods, its a fools errand to spend your precious life gazing through other peoples windows and being envious or angry or whatever emotions consume the watchers.

Live your life, be aware of the agendas in the world and when they try to herd you in one direction, go the opposite way. Cattle get slaughtered for a reason, they follow the butt in front of them.

The internet is wallpaper to hide the world from your senses. Walk away from it as often as possible. immerse yourself in the real world wherever you can find it. Go outside, find greenspace, enjoy nature, that is the real world, the rest is a fever dream of madmen.

 

Dont follow the sheep.be an originator not an imitator!

 

Dunno, I'm not excited about plugins anymore, like wow, some company I don't care about released another reverb, just follow news about companies I do care about, which are sending me mails already.

 

I don't. I hardly watch the news anymore because of all the shit going on, I'm not on social media and there's only a small handful websites I check daily. I think it's healthier for the mind.

 

I was gonna post this, but you beat me to it..

 

If something interesting or of significance in the world happens, you'll know one way or the other. No need to doom scroll yourself to death.

Actively pick what you want to know about. Don't let the algorithm pick for you. Turn off home feed recommendations on every social media site. Sub/follow only sites/people/topics YOU care about. If they don't let you turn off recommendations, move on. If moving on seems scary, consider that that's all the more reason to move on.

The algorithm doesn't care one bit if it makes you happy, violent or suicidal. It only cares about how much time you spend on the site, and nothing else.

Limit yourself. Very few sites are worth visiting more than once per day. Many sites aren't even worth visiting more than twice per week. No site is worth spending more than an hour per day on.

Use RSS to keep up with blogs and sites relevant to your interests. If they don't offer RSS, find a RSS-bridge or move on.

Use one of the many summary services for YouTube. Read the summary before committing to watching any video longer than a couple of minutes.

 

i walked away from my TV many years ago. I bought a projector and only use it for movies. I have no idea who most of the people I see on web pages are, Celebrities are a product of the machine meant to make you feel inferior so you will desire more, for you are insufficient as you are. Obviously compare you life to the myth, it fails everytime.. you just need to buy X,Y or Z. Your Neighbor the Jones, have X,Y or Z, !!! why don't you????

Its a psychic trap, a spouse with a hole in her soul pulling you into darkness. Divorce yourself from the machine and let yourself heal from the mental abuse you've been trapped in. and the news is just propaganda, telling you how to feel and what to care about, its part of the venus flytrap pulling you into a created reality to manipulate you and influence your beliefs and your desires. all you really need is between your ears, but you can't hear it when the television is on. Chuck that thing into a dumpster somewhere...

 

Work: 8-12 (Sometimes 14+ hours) hours per day as a journeyman audio engineer employed by my taskmaster mentor/boss who takes no joy in the digital revolution (Good dude tho). This is my life Tuesday thru Saturday.

News: Actual news from reputable, long-standing sites. No weird-ass F/B news or self-annointed internet 'Journalists'. I enjoy factual news I can verify, not someones' opinion(s) on factual news. About 1-2 hours every 3 days or so.

Social Media: Nope (I broke free!)...just Reddit/Audiosex-Sistasite accounts only, run on PC.

My Free time: work on personal projects/industry news/cycling/hang with friends/family/rest/make time for the ladies.

The internet is exploding with new content? No it's not, it's exploding with new ways to keep us distracted from what's really important, like figuring out how the f*ck did my highly educated, logical self get sucked into scrolling a phone for 2-3 hours straight every chance I get instead of finishing this track?

Tip #1: Drop that social media/ADDHD scrolling habit for good. In time, you will find you have missed nothing important.

Fill that social media time with things that produce a tangible result. Watching someone else get paid while you sit there watching...and not getting paid...is mad corny. Hustle instead.

Tip #2: Go outside and play, put some fresh air in your lungs. the internet will be there when u get back.

Tip #3: Weekly Reflection -Take time to look back and see where your time went. Make the adjustments. I had to do this as my free time is severely limited. It helps.

Tip #4: Work on your music/movie/vid to promote your brand. F*ck watching what some internet guy is doing. Create. Explore. Be the topic. Once you have something-ANYTHING real going on, you will never care what the internet does again because no time. Facts.

Tip #5: You're a producer? Get to work! That incomplete song ain't gonna edit/gain stage/pan/automate/EQ/compress/stem out/mix/master/promote itself while you scroll into infinity. Go!

 

Shut down all your social networks especially Facebook, Twitter and TikTok and your life will incommensurably improve. Keep YouTube as is the only platform that gives actual and productive information

 

Doubt about that, it's heavily censored and just another social media influencer outlet.

 

You keep up by not keeping up. You reach the end by developing habits and systems that end your scrolling. The game ends when you realize it's all smoke and mirrors.

You made an important point in your post. Yes, energy and time is limited. The content online is virtually unlimited. The illusion of "the information/digital age" is that the more you scroll, the more enriching and worthwhile content you encounter. In reality, more scrolling means more garbage and less quality content most of the time.

Most content online is trash. That includes music production content with tips, tricks, new plugin releases, and so on. You don't need tips, tricks, or a new plugin. You need to read the manual for your DAW/existing plugins/etc.

Every major site on the internet is designed to siphon your data by grabbing your attention. All major social media platforms deliberately exploit your psychological vulnerabilities. What I'm trying to say is it's a rigged game; They (big companies with shareholders to satisfy) have more resources, time, and experts at their disposal than any individual struggling to stop scrolling will ever have.

The solution is prioritization, limiting exposure to junk food empty calorie digital content, and re-establishing focus on self.

As others said (and there are so many great ideas in this thread), use RSS Feeds and similar to create a feed of high-quality content that you can read through once a day.

Use web blockers that block sites you have trouble with after a time limit is passed.

If you have to spend time on time-wasting platforms and are accessing from a browser, install extensions designed to reduce the garbage. For example, many extensions for YouTube remove the sidebar, comments, end-of-video recommendations, and so on.

Pick up journaling or any other activity that has an inherent self-awareness feedback loop. This is the most important thing I've done to stop wasting time online. Time for self-reflection directly contributes to doing things that matter to me and others instead of scrolling through garbage. Garbage in, Garbage out. Take your attention off the screen and look around, both externally and internally.

Depending on many factors, all this may be very easy or very hard for you. Regardless, take it one step at a time, and don't push too hard. You have the ability to be better; Stay the course as much as you can at any given moment, and you'll make progress.

 

I turned the news off nine years ago. I got rid of cable and don't read news sites either. It's one of the best mental improvement steps I've ever taken. "Why do you keep up" is the better question I'd ask.

 

you can't "keep up" with an illusion. you're running a million miles an hour and they are standing still and shining a reflection in your direction and you dance like a cat chasing a mirror.

you can't be happy if you don't know yourself, and you can't know yourself if you are spending all you attention on observing others. Turn your eye inward. The world will go to hell on its own timetable and with its own methods. Best to walk away from distraction and let the world do what it will, while you too, do what you will.

There is very little in this world we control, but 2 things we do have is our intention and our attitude, use these to bend your corner of the world around you in a way that best serves your own happiness.
There once was a wee band from the north of england or there abouts and Paddy wrote a song called a life of surprises.
one verse that might apply here goes like this:

"Never let your conscience be harmful to your health
Let no neurotic impulse turn inward on itself
Just say that you were happy, as happy would allow
And tell yourself that that will have to do for now"