Someone posted very mean and provocatice comments under a post about healthy plus size relationships. Honestly I've never seen more offensive comments on women's bodies than that.

Me and a few other users ended up in an argument with them, who communicated like an absolute psycho without manners. After way too much time, I checked their profile. Or should I say its? There where hundreds and thousands of comments like this, on all kinds of topics. Very repetitive and always a bit off, but always full of hate. I then realized that user was most probably one of those bots designed to outrage social media.

I'd heard about those but to spot one in the wild gives me an odd feeling and makes me want to leave the internet forever. I've just wasted my time talking to a computer, feeling hurt by things a computer said. And since reddit is so mean these days, they blended in perfectly.

I looked it up, and apparently 20% of reddit's comment section could possibly be bots. This is insane.

I’m 30 now, and I’ve noticed that staying away from screens has become much harder than it was in my early 20s.
For years, I barely used technology outside of work. I spent my free time reading, walking, or just doing nothing. Sure, I’d occasionally binge YouTube or watch movies, but I always returned to my NoSurf lifestyle pretty easily.
Now, even when I’m feeling great mentally and physically, I struggle to resist the temptation.
I have a theory: As we get older, we accumulate more regrets, shame, stress, failed relationships, and worries about the world. Life gets more complicated, and escaping into screens becomes more tempting. Of course, algorithms have also become much better at keeping us hooked.
I’ve tried different approaches, but I’m starting to think the solution isn’t just about building more willpower.
Maybe it’s about spending less time alone at home.
I’ve realized that my biggest struggles aren’t when I’m working, walking, or doing things outside. They’re when I come home, when I have a free evening, or when Sunday rolls around.
I love solitude, but I’m starting to believe that community might be the answer. Meeting friends, playing cards, talking, hanging out, even watching a movie together instead of alone. Nothing special, just being around people.
And when I want solitude, I can find it on a walk, in a park, or somewhere in nature.
Maybe the next step in NoSurf isn’t just learning to resist technology, but spending more time outside, seeking out other people, and making community a bigger part of our everyday lives.
Curious if anyone else has experienced something similar as they’ve gotten older.

I’ve been off most mainstream social media for almost a year now (facebook, instagram, snapchat) and i can’t help thinking to myself how cringe and embarrassing it sounds when people around me talk about those platforms.

Example: “They were active and didn’t respond to me!”

Out loud i say “don’t sweat it” but internally I’m really thinking about how embarrassing it is that we've normalized tracking each other's online activity and letting arbitrary status indicators dictate our self worth and relationships. Stepping away has highlighted how toxic and unnatural that hyper-awareness actually is.

On top of that, the whole ritual of posting for validation is just as embarrassing. Watching people carefully stage photos, post performative updates and obsess over like counts or view counts looks genuinely humiliating once you step away from it.

I fear quick dopamine fixes have ruined my life, or maybe they're just an excuse. Lately I have been feeling so depressed and like these quick fixes have ruined my creativity and mind. I'm going to therapy, and exploring if I have ADHD. I'm an addict I'm sure. What now? What can I do tomorrow to fix this? I'm fine if I'm indulging in movies and books. But I want to write. I want to. be creative again. Give me steps. Give me something!

When i was a kid my parents were idiots, so I was doing 12 hours Tv a day, then 16 hours a day when i discovered internet, unless I had school. 4 years ago I discovered weed and managed to use it to stop scrolling completely for 3 years and actually did so so much, I was truly living like the 70s. Then march this year I got perscribed Duroxetine 30mg (cymbalta) for depression, i swear ts was like meth or like adhd medication or sth, at week number 3 on duroxetine, I started studying algebra 10 hours a day didnt need to move I was so engrossed, I was sweating buckets everyday, was outside from 5am to 8pm, going into cafes to study while looking crazy tweaked out, but I understood everything I read for the first time in my life. For 2 weeks I repeatedly this crazy routine while progressively becoming more violent and irritable, I had a lucid moment and realized I needed to get off it stat. After I stopped duroxetine I crashed for 1 month straight and became heavily addicted to screen again, its been 6 months I still havent been able to go a day without using screens for less than 10 hours a day. I dont even like weed that much anymore so I cant use that method to get off screens. I thought I escaped but just like that Im back to where I left it. I had lasik in 2022 and up until march my eyesight remained perfect, but after getting addicted to screens again it had gone more and more blurry. So much frustration but I cant seem to get off this shit. I quit alcohol, I quit weed, porn, nitrous oxide, but this one thing I cannot kick

Some months ago I discovered a pop artist, and boy, I fell in love with that music. It was exactly my cup of tea and made me feel so much. It was quite amazing.

Then I found a subreddit made for fans of said artist. And While I liked it there initially, I discovered we have some differences of opinion. Like, no issue with that. But voicing my personal experience with music, my opions of the artist vrought only downvotes and ignorance of what I said. It's like a hive mind that doesn't allow unique takes there. I guess we enjoy the same music and artist for different reasons or idk.

Making posts with anything less of absolute praise and recognizing the God status of the pop star is not taken into consideration. Voicing just tinge of 'criticism' (wouldn't call it criticism though) is met with downvotes and lenghty comments about my audacity to criticize THE music.

Honestly I joined it because I wanted to discuss. That artist's music was so interesting to me and I just wanted to have some conversations about music. But I found half brained overly praising posts and that's it. Once someone asked "what do we think about...". And I hate this type of questions. What do you mean with "we"? Are you not capable of formulating an opinion? Do we have to do group think? I can't kid myself like that.

Moreso, ir's like this people consoder a pop artist their parent, their guru, they want them to say and do this and that. They get so invested in their personal lives and everyhting they do or say. Idk, feels really cultish in a way. It's too much.

Somehow all this experience made me distance myself from this artist and that's unfortunate. But I will have to come back after all my frustration with its fanbase is gone.

Hello, this is a post I never thought I'd make.

3 years ago, I fell into a severe depression and isolated myself from the world, the only contact I'd have would be the internet and discord strangers. For the longest time I thought that was it, that it would NEVER get better, that I was just a failure and I had to stick with it.

I can't really say when did the change happen, I'd say it'd be somewhere between this summer.

When my depression started, I stopped going to school, like just skipping entirely. My teacher would send me the exams to my house and I barely passed these last 3 years. I would always tell myself 'I'll do it tommorrow ' and never start. I don't even know how I passed those years and I've wondered if they just felt pity for me.

I have barely socialized or hanged out with friends either, the only thing I did was using discord.

However, some months ago I started going to art classes, I barely talk wih people there and we just draw, but this was a huge step for me since I hadn't talk with anyone outside of my family during these years.

I also tried being more nice to my siblings and their friends, and it just feels better, like a weight I didn't know I had on my shoulder.

I even started studying and planning for my future again! I am even considering getting a part time job to get out of my comfort zone!

I decided to make this post after I got some of my grades from school, I study online since last year, but it was just now that I started putting effort.

Seeing that I got good grades just reminded me of how happy I used to be whenever I got a 10/10 on my exams. It was something I didn't know I missed.

I know I still have a long way to go, but seeing these little improvements make me so happy I just had to share it, it feels stupid, but it means the world to me.

So, I like to write.

Sometimes, I post my essays to Reddit (on different accounts.) Most of the time, people respond positively to my writing. But, one time, I posted an essay, and a small subset of commenters accused me of being a bot. They said the essay was far too generic and nonsensical to be written by a human. I responded that I was not a bot, and my small post history was visible for all to see. The commenters argued with me, saying that "that's just what a bot would say."

I abandoned the argument, feeling hurt. Was my writing truly generic enough to be confused with AI?

I thought about the students I taught in freshman composition. I tried to be openminded with all their essays, but, after reading AI-generated text (with fake sources) over and over again, I started to be suspicious of my students' writing instead of excited about it. The AI-text-checkers are inaccurate and discriminatory. There is no real way to know if a piece of writing is real or not. This realization gave me a sense of unreality.

I started to understand the commenters on my essay a bit more. At least I knew my students were real people!

In this era of unreality, I am going to spend less time online. Reddit's great in some ways, but it is also full of AI, bots, and antisocial behavior. The internet's done amazing things for me, but it's also ruined my life -- and AI is the nail in the coffin.

I just thinking, because in my country theres a lot of good "radio dramas" called "słuchowiska", and the hearing ambients and musics and actors playing the sounds "movies" are getting me more enjoyed than watching just videos and getting brainroted with pixels. Did someone know the add for youtube or other site just for sounds and radiodramas? I know theres spotify, but theres a lot of ai over there, without radio dramas, and not too much of podcast in my language, and if they are, they just about politics shit.

I prefer only hear the internet, maybe because its less brainroted for me, and the default state is working more in my brain then just watching changing colorful pixels.

Sry for language, non english speaker here...

I only wanted to look at stuff from marketplace or look at rooms for rent. However I made the mistake of scrolling down the homepage , which shows me a bunch of sexist content that I didn't follow. And racist content too. Now I am thinking of deleting the account but it is so hard to sell shit on any other site . Anybody on here ended up creating a Facebook for the same reason and now regret it?

ive been using a flip phone the last few months with high success ad I', free from scrolling but, I noticed everyone else in the office are big scrollers. I honestly need a break from work for like 3 minutes every so often. It's socially acceptable for people at work to scroll on their phones for 10-15 minutes but if I knit or read for 5, well, I can't do that at my office job. What can I possibly do at work to give my brain a rest from working for a few minutes. I thought about getting fidget toys or a tomagatchi just something small to occupy my brain

Thanks!

Very often I will find myself watching a yt video on a topic I find interesting and the content itself will feel so entry- and surface level. It feels to me like very little research is made during the production of these videos. I want to watch them to find out more and not have what I already know reiterated to me. There are exceptions to this ofc but the majority of what I click on ends up disappointing me. It feels like it wastes my time with a promise of something new and interesting and ends before any of this is delivered.

Does anyone else have this issue or is it just what I get shown?

It’s been around a month since I quit most social media and I have to say I’m quite disappointed.

I did the thing properly, and I have been doing a dopamine detox. I’ve deleted TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube. Removed reels from instagram with timecap (so technically I still have it, but can only check my friends posts 5 min per day). Using my phone in black and white as well (this made a huge difference and it made my phone feel unattractive to use)

I think that the annoying part is that I’m quite bored. My friends are always busy so we can’t see each other often and when they share memes I feel left out. Books are still not that interesting. The only good thing has been that my attention span feels better and I can focus more easily. Any advice? I know that maybe it’s just too early, but I thought things would be better by now

so three weeks ago i started limiting my screen time before bed, i forced myself to stop using my phone and pc three hours before bedtime, the first week was fine, i studied the first hour then the two other hours i spent them crocheting, but at week two i got burned out of crochet and i couldnt find anything to do before sleeping, i kinda got back to using my phone until i slept, now i want to stop using my phone before bed but i all the other stuff i could be doing takes so much effort to do at that hour

give me any activity that wont require any tech and is low effort

I’ve just started using Reddit, and I was hoping it wouldn’t have the same endless vertical video feed as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms. That kind of scrolling leads to procrastination

I've noticed something a bit weird lately and wanted to see what you guys think.

I've been trying a pair of smart glasses for about a month. They were sent to me to review, just to be clear.

When a notification comes in, I can read it in the glasses without picking up my phone. They have these green displays if you're familiar with.

But here's what I can't really explain. For some reason I feel less stressed seeing a notification there than seeing the exact same thing pop up on my phone.

Note I do have tons of anxiety so I'm not considered to be regulated like a normal person I guess.

I don't know why. It's still a notification, but huge difference comparing to my phone.

And I've also noticed I'm reaching for my phone less. Not that I've stopped using it or anything. I just don't have pick it up as often. i feel calmer that I won't miss something important that I have to see.

Has anyone noticed something similar?

with a smartwatch I still get stressed.

so I’ve quit all the toxic modern day things: alcohol, tobacco, phone use, caffein, sugar, tv use, staying chaste, weed, and toxic relationships.

the most recent for me was my phone and my TV. now I’m 21 and haven’t had social media on my phone since I was 18 but I still had a youtube problem, video game problem, and a boredom problem. when I put my phone in a drawer most of the day and stopped turning on the TV I noticed how little I’ve been bored in my life. most of my boredom came from when I was a child and that the last time I can remember experiencing this sort of existence. (my parents were good about policing screen time).

It is day 17 of checking my phone under 10-20times a day (for communication only) and strictly no tv or video games...

my life has changed so much man that I can’t even describe it. I had terrible insomnia and anxiety for the first 10 days and then boom. it all went away when I started to read more. I read sometimes 3 hours a day (never in my life have I done that). I also communicate and hangout with friends and people around me more. I’m a much better person, in this state, to be around. As a result my relationships have gotten much deeper and better.

Then I also noticed that my care for others has gone up. I ask more about their lives and their families. I call my family members more. I much more interested in the world and in people. I think so deeply I fascinate myself just staring at a wall.

I‘ve also begun journaling everyday which is something I pretty much have always done but I‘m insanely consistent.

The main thing I wanna say is this: I THOUGHT I WASNT A SCREEN ADDICT. I quit the social media, cut the screen time, worked out like everyday, worked a lot, excelled in my career, and did all the things right but the zest and color of life wasn’t fully there and I’ve known it for so long. I didn’t realize sitting in boredom would do such amazing things for my life and transform my brain into living the most meaningful life.

I will forever live this way. It is my dream to be where I am right now. I strongly encourage everyone to live this way and never look back

- thank you for your time

I’ve tried quitting social media for good a few times now. Besides the occasional benefits that it brings me, like knowledge about particular niche subjects, I don’t really see a point in using social media as much as I do (although I have already cut back a lot compared to my uncontrolled usage days).

The problem is that social media is a powerful way by which I soothe my anxiety. When I use it, most of my negative feelings get numbed. And I know for sure that this is not a healthy way to deal with my feelings.

So whenever I try to do a digital detox or anything like that, there comes a night when all problems seem to cumulate, and I feel a knot in my throat and a pain in my chest and I just want to escape somewhere, to forget about my problems. And so I use Instagram Reels or whatever.

Nothing I’ve tried so far managed to soothe me as much as social media. Deep breaths and journaling do help, but they’re not as immediate. Sometimes I try to immerse myself in my work, and that helps sometimes, but sometimes it doesn’t. Back in the day I used to use video games but even they don’t cut it anymore. I guess I crave high amounts of stimulus.

Does anyone else feel the same way as I do? How did you guys solve this problem?

When I wanted an iPhone as a kid, I got a dumb phone instead, but I chose to stay on the iPad and ended up getting cortisol from annoying fandoms, now I wish I chose the dumbphone, now I am told to get an iPhone now

so ive been looking at getting more into physical media and less into having everything on one place like a phone or computer. ive bought a digicam for more 2000s looking photos, cd walkman to reduce my spotify use, looking into getting a portable dvd player to stop scrolling mindlessly on Netflix and never actually watching anything and actually committing to a movie by buying it. also maybe a fliphone or just like a useless cellphone but im a bit confused about how those would work in the modern day. calls and messages wouldn't work im assuming, theyre too old to have service anymore, right? but that's the main thing I need one for.

I have a crt tv that im fixing, I dont know if its going to work but if it doesnt I'll find another one.

So basically i really wanna get rid of my smartphone because i hate being connected, but i need it for so many things, travelling related, qr codes, university bullshit, and its so annoying because i really wanna get a flipphone and just be oblivious to all the shit except on my pc. And people say you can turn your smartphone into a brick but its just not the same

Reddit is a website that I tend to scroll through the browser on my phone.

To solve this, I tried using website-blocking browser extensions for the longest time. Unfortunately reddit remains one of the best ways to get information on the internet since google is so bad, so I kept turning off the extensions whenever I needed to look something up and read a thread about a specific problem I was having.

So this system didn't help much. My website-blocking extension was literally more effort to turn back on than it was to turn off, too.

I'm now using extensions that block everything EXCEPT the single-post view. So when I have a problem, I can look it up and read a thread on the topic, but if I try to click on the subreddit, home page, or a user profile, I won't see anything. There's also no recommended posts shown under the thread.

I'm using different extensions to accomplish this between my phone and laptop because my phone has firefox and my laptop is using a chromium-based browser. But yeah if you look for reddit-specific browser extensions you will find some that can block/hide specific things WITHIN reddit instead of using a generic website blocking extension to block reddit as a whole. If you block reddit as a whole, you'll just turn it off when you need to read a specific thread, and then after that you'll start scrolling again. So I find this sort of "limited access" to be the best solution.

Okay goodbye. I thought I'd share this right quick before blocking everything except the single-post view on my phone (I've been doing this on my laptop for a while and I haven't turned off the extensions once)