YouTube addiction can be serious. At first, you might visit YouTube to watch funny videos after work, but then feel addicted and never miss spending hours watching interesting videos there. Excessive use of YouTube can be addictive, and negatively affect your life.
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Method 1 of 3: Directing Yourself
Step 1. Direct your desire to have fun
You will feel addicted when you need a certain stimulant to feel happy or satisfied. Therefore, find other activities that are more positive and healthy to have fun.
Step 2. Find another hobby that can distract you from YouTube
This step is the most ideal step.
- Try making art or crafts. Aside from distracting yourself from YouTube, you may feel more satisfied after you've made a craft, even if you're just making simple crafts like origami or paper folding.
- Try painting or drawing. Creating art is a positive activity, instead of watching videos. With art, you can feel more satisfied. In addition, these positive activities will also help overcome the causes of you becoming a YouTube addict (such as lack of other activities, or even emotional pain).
Step 3. Exercise
Physical activity outside the home is an alternative activity that you can do to avoid unhealthy activities, or activities that trigger addiction. Exercising will improve your physical, social, mental and emotional health.
- If your friends don't like sports, you can visit the park and play basketball on your own.
- Follow your favorite sporting events at the RT (or RW) level.
- If you're not very into physical activity, find a center for chess, board games, or even a cornhole.
Step 4. Play music
Music is an alternative activity that has many other benefits, apart from helping with addiction.
- Invite your friends to make music. By inviting friends, your social skills will improve, and your addiction will be under control. Playing music will help you overcome your addiction, as well as improve your time management and organization skills. These abilities can help you organize yourself so you don't get addicted to watching videos on YouTube.
- If you've played a certain instrument before, start practicing again.
- Take a music class. If you want to be able to sing, take singing classes that are now widely available.
- Instead of watching YouTube, try recording yourself playing music, then upload a video of your creativity.
Step 5. Create an internet free zone
When you are addicted to using the internet, for example to access YouTube, you should make a room that is not touched by the internet. Better yet, get the technology out of the room.
- Leave your phone or tablet behind when you go out to enjoy nature. Even if you're outdoors or on the move, even while camping, you can generally still find opportunities to surf the internet and watch videos.
- When you have lunch at work, take a book or magazine, instead of a tablet, to the cafe or cafeteria. Even if you store digital books on your tablet, once you hold your tablet, you can still browse videos.
Step 6. Temporarily distance yourself from technology
There are several camps designed to break free from the internet and social networks.
- Fasting the internet for a few days can help you overcome your addiction.
- Staying away from the source of your addiction can help you control your internet use, instead of avoiding the internet altogether.
Method 2 of 3: Disconnecting Access
Step 1. If you really want to get over your addiction, block YouTube from your computer, by asking your parents or friends to create a password so you can't access the site
Step 2. Strictly limit computer usage time
Generally, spending more than four hours per day in front of a screen is unhealthy. Excessive computer use can lead to various health problems, such as:
- Bone and muscle problems.
- Headache.
- Chronic illness caused by stress.
- Vision problems.
Step 3. Set the computer usage time
If you've recently become addicted to YouTube, you can gradually get rid of that addiction by timing your computer usage.
Step 4. Before accessing YouTube, complete the work first in the time you have set
One of the advantages of overcoming an addiction is that you can manage your time instead of being controlled by the addiction.
- Download the timer software. On the internet, there are many apps available to track the time you spend on a particular app so you know what you do (and don't have time to do) in front of the screen.
- Use an "internet patrol" service, such as Net Nanny or K9 Web Protection. Programs that can block or limit your access time to certain sites are also available on the internet.
- Use the internet as a means of self-improvement, not entertainment. You can get as much current, historical and scientific information as you want. Therefore, use the internet to study.
Method 3 of 3: Understanding the Problem
Step 1. Accept the fact that you have an addiction
The first step to overcoming an addiction problem is to accept the fact that you have it. YouTube attracts millions of viewers, and you may spend too much time watching interesting videos. Recognizing the early symptoms of addiction in yourself is an important step in overcoming this problem.
Step 2. Recognize the characteristics of "isolation"
Are you ignoring friends and family who care about you? When a person experiences an addiction, be it alcohol, games, drugs, or even YouTube, one of the behaviors that emerges is that he only wants to be with people who accept his addiction.
Step 3. Check your health
Addiction, even to something unreal, can sometimes affect a person's health.
- Is your body hygiene starting to decline? Are you starting to neglect your hair, nails and teeth?
- Check your diet. Addiction can make you neglect your food intake.
- Do you experience rapid mood swings? Depression, irritability (especially if you can't get enough of what you're addicted to), and feeling angry are all signs that you're starting to get addicted.
Step 4. Pay attention to the reasons you give
One of the signs of addiction is your tendency to make excuses, or rationalize why your behavior is acceptable.
- People without addiction problems will see this as a problem, and want to stop it,
- If you have an addiction, you may start looking for reasons why what you're doing isn't a problem, which is generally a sign that you're starting to have a problem.
Step 5. Understand that addiction will bring problems to your life
If you start to get addicted to YouTube, you may start to experience negative effects in other (formerly positive) aspects of your life.
- Is your productivity declining? Have you ever watched a video so long that your work was neglected?
- Have you started cutting back on physical activity? Oftentimes, addiction will cause you to reduce your time to exercise, travel, and social/physical activities to an extreme.
Tips
- Let your friends help. Don't be afraid to share your addiction problems with your friends. If your friends are real friends, they won't judge you, and will want to help.
- Don't be too hard on yourself. In today's world, it is very easy for you to become addicted to technology.
- Deal with YouTube addiction like a real addiction. Addiction can have serious effects, and YouTube addiction can have the same side effects as drug addiction.
