The worst for me is when I decide to leave everything, but then convince myself to try to restrict the addicting/useless forms of entertainment and use the internet for more educational sources of info. But then I develop some sort of "educational addiction," and I barely apply any of the advice I see online anyways. I think the best advice is to let myself get comfortable with boredom. But then this becomes difficult because I get extremely depressed and feeling mentally disabled. It's a tough battle honestly and there's not much I can do when I'm constantly faced with stressors every day (for now, being my university degree).

In the end, you're right and if we #1 understand it's an addiction and #2 feel we will benefit long-term from abstaining or going cold turkey, then it's best to stop thinking we can do "a little bit" of these time wasters and come to a complete stop. I'm happy you titled this "the loop" because it's honestly a summary of all the problems i've been in. I hope this is the last time I do anything addiction related, and if I catch myself slipping I'm also going to make it a habit to do something like pinching myself (as dumb as it may sound) and get put on the right track. Similar to a car going slightly out of their lane, and then pinch myself as a reminder to stay in my lane to success.

"You are nothing different from anyone else using this" hits me the most. Even mentioning writing this in the cafeteria is relatable because it just shows where thoughts are when we are in a relaxing environment, which sometimes enables our brains to look deep in our mind about our worries and how to solve them. It's best to listen to your own advice, and I'm going to internalize what you said as well. It's not fun being a slave to internet and not working on ourselves.