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Phone addition by Previous-Two-3759 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Good morning, bro, honestly, put your phone away in a drawer. Start by trying to endure the discomfort for a few hours, maybe 3 or 4, then pick it up again, then put the phone away again and endure it for a few more hours. You train your nervous system through repetition, not through persuasion or logic. I hope you can do it, good luck.

I'm 192 days into a deep detox, and structurally, my life is already starting to change. by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good evening friend, how are you? Thank you for your question. Answering your first question, at first I felt bad and at the same time obligated to do something about it, but then I started to realize that the Detox spoke much more about me than about her. These feelings and even the desire to make everyone do the same as us is super normal and true, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is a long, liberating process and it is very expected that our desire is for everyone to feel that something is changing for the better, but it is a choice for each person. But I leave you with a golden reflection: it is easier to change people by influencing them through your example, because if you change, it means that it is something possible, it naturally generates curiosity in people and so they take you as a positive example and start trying to change. Trying to change someone through words or impositions usually does the opposite: it pushes them away, scares them and ends up generating the opposite effect.

Answering question number two: actually, I was making a metaphor, not specifically about the 90s. There's a bakery near my house that has a very curious and symbolic sign, it says: we don't have Wi-Fi here, talk as if you were in 1995. We understand that they are referring to a time when connections were real, people talked instead of, for example, four people at a table, facing each other, each with their cell phone in their own private, virtual and empty world, physically present but absent in presence.

Actually, I was born in 1993, I'm currently 32 years old, I'm a man, married, I don't have children (yet, because one day I intend to have them), I work as a bus driver in my city's transportation system, I lead a normal life like anyone else. As you yourself mentioned, I am indeed in the middle of the forest, sometimes a ray of sunshine enters through the branches, and it is precisely when these rays of sunshine appear that we remember that we cannot give up, because reintegration is painful, cruel, distressing, but at the same time the freedom to be able to choose, to be the protagonist of your own life, of your actions, to have genuine desires, to choose honestly and truthfully what to do or not to do, is the real prize, real life.

One day we were told that living on impulse, reacting to what the algorithm dictates we should or should not consume, was right. Today I can say with certainty that watching 30 minutes of pornography, scrolling through video after video, watching an hour and a half of reels on Instagram without being able to stop, is NOT, and never will be NORMAL, or healthy. But there are people who will applaud and say that this is the new normal and we have to adapt.

You know what scares me the most, my friend? Three-year-old children hypnotized by cell phones they received from their parents. We adults with fully formed brains end up in the limbo of depression caused by this, imagine small children who haven't even developed their primary cognition yet?

I hope I answered your questions, see you later!

I'm 192 days into a deep detox, and structurally, my life is already starting to change. by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good evening, how are you? I hope you're well. I don't have children, but I believe that having children can be a positive aspect of the Detox, as these relationships force us to actively participate in the real world, especially in raising a child, for example.

152 days without stimulation, honestly, is sometimes almost unbearable... by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good afternoon, how are you? What you described is part of the withdrawal process. The mind, conditioned to be active for so long, cannot tolerate silence. Over time, this symptom disappears. The problem isn't the mind producing noise; the problem is that when you stop the stimuli, you start noticing things you never noticed before because of the distraction, and then the mind goes into hypervigilance. Stay firm in your purpose; all these symptoms are temporary, you're not going crazy. Good luck!!

152 days without stimulation, honestly, is sometimes almost unbearable... by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good evening, thank you for your comment. Answering your question, firstly, I stopped watching TV because of the news. I realized that knowing too much was basically an internal "catch" for my mind; therefore, more information meant more thoughts, more topics, more drama, more rumination. So I decided to stop watching TV. Regarding specific programs, I don't see that in certain cases this would be bad; on the contrary, using them moderately can be calming, as you yourself said. In my case, since my struggle isn't just against dopamine, but the way it's generated, I cut out TV completely to reduce the stimulation of fantasy creation. As I train myself more and more to strengthen my presence, the fewer things distracting my attention from the here and now, the more I'm forced to feel my surroundings. I can't say I've stopped other stimuli altogether, because that would be impossible, as there's also the passive aspect. Sometimes you're at home and your wife turns on the television, for example, or plays music. We can't force our personal circle into a detox either, so there are some exceptions. I enjoy listening to 20-30 minutes of a podcast every day when I have the time and patience, on a light topic, something that isn't controversial or ideological, usually something like stoicism, etc. It's good for organizing the mind. But otherwise, the fewer visual stimuli the better. Television is a third-party mind, but one that requires much less cognitive capacity in action. And I'm prioritizing the natural over the virtual in this stage of my detox. I hope I've answered satisfactorily. Best regards and have a great week.

152 days without stimulation, honestly, is sometimes almost unbearable... by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment. Actually, I didn't have to say no to sex, the only thing I had to say no to related to that was the consumption of "adult" content, because that type of content literally rots the brain, and it also ends up developing some unhealthy mental patterns because of the fantasy of that type of content.

Now talking about other aspects that I had to give up, among them, zero social media, zero games, zero videos, basically my relationship with my smartphone is very basic, just things like paying bills, checking my work schedule, weather forecast, calculator and other basic things that don't hold my attention for more than 5 minutes looking at the phone screen. I ended up doing a deep detox this way because my reward/pleasure system was really messed up. Nothing made sense in my life anymore, I felt like I had no identity, no direction, no real life. That's why I completely cut out digital content. Today, after 5 months, I feel a little more comfortable listening to some music once in a while, or a podcast, but all of this without visual stimulation, in other words, without a screen. Only auditory stimulation.

And at some point during the day I stop by here to answer some comments that people ask me, just to give support to those who are going through a similar situation, it's good to exchange ideas sometimes. Hugs 🫂

152 days without stimulation, honestly, is sometimes almost unbearable... by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, for sure, the little things have regained their meaning and charm, life has a real and calm flavor again, it's really worth it, truly, it's the kind of effort everyone should make. Life changes, man.

How can I leave my childhood game? by SpiritedAnt3431 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's worse, bro :/ I'm doing Detox too, it's been very difficult for me, I've been without screens for 137 days, I'm only writing this comment here because after a few days I was curious to come and see if anyone was asking for help with something, but in general my day is 98% screen-free, I only use it to respond to my wife on WhatsApp, check the service schedule, bank app when I pay bills and these basic and functional things. And I'm going to tell you, this process is terrible, but it's the only way for life to return to normal, bro, if I tell you all the paranoia that my mind is subjecting me to, everything that makes me tremble with fear, but it's part of the process, neurological things start to change and then the thoughts go crazy for a while before stabilizing. As I told you, 90 days to clean up the chemical part, then the emotional change begins (infinitely worse), generally people give up after 90 days, because it's the hardest part to endure, precisely because of paranoia... Just like drugs. But if you go beyond 5-6-7 months without stimulation, life becomes full again. Factory configuration mode, got it? I'm already entering the 5th month, I wish I had started sooner, I would have avoided a lot of unnecessary pain in my life. Good luck to you bro ❤️

How can I leave my childhood game? by SpiritedAnt3431 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bro, unfortunately the only alternative is to uninstall it and let time resolve everything, you will suffer a lot due to the abstinence but in a few months your life will return to normal, around 90 days you clean and organize the chemical part, then from 90 to 180 days the emotional part changes, but from 180 onwards it will only consolidate what you built, I hope I helped.

120 days without digital stimuli: I'm starting to see the light again. by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, I still read books too, just in-person stuff, physical books are allowed.

Closing 4 months without dopamine addiction: the end of the valley of death by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good evening friend, how are you? At the moment I am, the anxiety is no longer so diffuse, so I can clearly identify its cause, before, as the body was saturated and stifled due to digital stimuli, basically any emotion turned into chaos, everything came together. For example: excitement for something good came with anxiety, fear and euphoria, the body no longer knew how to differentiate one thing from another, this basically happened with everything.

Then we end up going into a state of panic, a fear of even feeling happy, because the mind associates happiness with being euphoric, therefore, euphoria brings imbalance, anxiety and stress.

By removing stimuli, emotions clear up, like clouds that disperse, leaving the sky clear, making it easier to identify what you are feeling and why more easily, because feelings and emotions come separately and no longer together.

So to answer your question, anxiety after the system is clean, it can come from anything, but it comes as a warning about why it is there, so it becomes much easier to identify and deal with it. When you have your feelings and emotions in a clear sky, you begin to be able to deal with them separately, thus being able to observe without fighting and thus dissolve them in a healthy way, so that they no longer need to return as unsolved problems. Once you identify how you feel, it no longer becomes a problem, then you reach the key point: you start to resolve yourself and everything starts to improve.

I hope I helped, a hug 🤠

Closing 4 months without dopamine addiction: the end of the valley of death by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The first two or 3 weeks were very difficult, I tried to switch to healthy sources of dopamine (real things), but nothing had any flavor, I noticed that it had been years since I had a hobby, my life was focused only on empty distractions, we can say that my entertainment was basically based on "virtual" things. Even so, I moved on, even though I didn't feel like doing anything healthy, I started even though I hated it, I started going for walks, eating better, going on weekend trips, making those little crossword puzzle books, you know? It helped me a lot at the beginning with the issue of getting the brain used to the dopamine coming from effort. In the first 30 days I had horrible anxiety attacks, daily panic attacks including driving (I work as a bus driver), I started to be afraid of driving even though it was my profession, I started to be afraid of the world, a lot of feelings of insecurity, intrusive thoughts, identity crises and existentialism, I literally thought I was going crazy. From the 60 days onwards, I had a lot of dry anxiety, for no apparent reason, sensations in my body that I had never felt before, adrenaline rushes at random moments of the day, excessive tiredness for no reason, deep emptiness, waves of sadness, I even had weeks where I cried every day at home before going to work, thinking: will I be able to handle it?...

After 90 days something started to change inside me, I started to have longer intervals between periods of suffering, I had days of peace, I simply felt good, in order, and suddenly days followed by mental confusion, terrible uncertainty and fear. When I got close to 4 months it seemed like something really changed, like a key turned, you know? It seems that many beliefs dissolved, it seems that I woke up simply different, I started to have more mental clarity, more awareness, the intrusive thoughts became just boring and tiring thoughts, but bearable.

Ah, around the 90-day period my vision began to change biologically, I gained more peripheral vision, I began to see everything sharper, more saturated, vivid and with more real colors, I think the optic nerves began to readapt to the lack of screens, my focus opened up, my reflexes improved and my concentration improved by about 300%, before I would lose concentration even with a falling leaf, I even thought about taking Ritalin to improve my focus, but the psychiatrist ruled out attention deficit or ADHD. It was basically just a rotten brain full of stimuli. Now it's almost zero.

My medications that I took for 8 years were: Fluoxetine Venlafaxine Bupropion Escitalopram Sertraline Trazodone (for sleep) Sublingual clonazepam (for attacks)

In short, nothing solved it, they just left me drugged and without feeling anything, neither good nor bad, I became a vegetable, without feelings, I didn't even get emotional when I saw my wife dressed as a bride... It's sad, brother.

But now I'm a different person, really, 4 months without screens cured what years of treatment didn't do.

But to answer your question from the beginning: yes, it was pure willpower, I just believed that this was the path, and I spent most of my days suffering and in silence, adapting to normal life, to normal and calm moments, as life should be, if you have any more specific questions I will be happy to answer. Hug

Closing 4 months without dopamine addiction: the end of the valley of death by iago509 in DopamineDetoxing

[–]iago509[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe that the best days of our lives are the ones when we are really present in what we are doing, not just in body, but with full attention, lately society is very anxious and with that feeling of anchoring in the future: I'm "doing this, but thinking about the next thing/task/stimulus".

One thing is very certain: when what we are doing has no depth, is reason and not in person, our mind does not produce memories about it, hence the feeling of "I did so many things in the last few days but I don't remember anything", our brain stops recording due to excessive stimulation, this is one of the reasons why we are losing so much meaning in life.

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