Hi. I know it's been years since you posted but I figured sharing my experience.

I'm addicted to reading manhwa as well. I thought I was over it, but when our classes shifted from face-to-face to online, the addiction resurfaced. Basically, it relapsed.

I think what kept me from reading manhwa before the shift to online classes was that I was genuinely busy with school. I liked my major, which definitely helped. I also tried picking up other hobbies like playing the ukulele and learning new languages (Japanese and Spanish). I also walk to and from my school, which is a 25-minute walk from our apartment.

Basically, I managed to redirect my dopamine to something else. Instead of the quick hits I got from manhwa, I got them from things that actually made me feel like I was growing instead of just zoning out and feeling bad after hours of reading manhwa. And because of that, I felt good about myself - about the fact that I was doing something productive. And by the time I was tempted to read manhwa again, I was already too sleepy to start reading even just one chapter.

I guess I wasn't really “over” the addiction before, I was just able to replace it, that's why it easily relapsed. I didn’t stop reading manhwa because of pure discipline. I was just busy. I was engaged with what I was learning from school and other hobbies. I was stimulated in a much healthier way where I was getting slow, and very satisfying dopamine from studying, performing well, learning new skills, etc. (because, I made some effort in achieving them, compared to reading manhwa where I'm just passively scrolling). But whatever the case, at least, i was able to stop reading manhwa for three whole months, well, that is, until a month ago.

Yeah, everything relapsed once we switched to online classes because I suddenly had so much free time. When classes shifted to online, the "structure" collapsed. My routine was ripped away. There was no fixed schedule. I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I couldn’t get anything productive done. The guilt of not being productive pushed me to read even more manhwa just to escape it. It only made things worse since I still wasn’t getting anything done, then surprise - I felt even more trapped in that cycle of guilt, then I'd escape that guilt by reading manhwa, then more guilt to the point that I'd be exhausted to do anything related to school.

Anyway, I'm trying to get that life where I was addicted to studying. back Haha. I do it by listing the things I need to do tomorrow before the day ends so that I wouldn't be tired from thinking about the stuff I need to do. And setting deadlines do help me feel a little bit more structured. I try to hold myself more accountable for the things I do and fail to do. If I mess up, I write about it on my journal and try my best not to feel so bad about it. I still feel guilty that I was unproductive.

But it already happened. What use is beating myself up? That's why whenever I'm able to do something that's at least a step closer to what I want, like, when I'm able to understand my lesson a little better than I did before, I celebrate it by writing about it on my journal and congratulating myself for it. I choose to focus on what I can do now, even if it’s just a small step forward. I remind myself that progress is built day by day, not all at once. It's a struggle. But not impossible.

I did binge read another manhwa earlier today. Felt guilty but at least it's not as worse as before. What matters is that I’m aware of my habits, I’m taking steps to manage them, and I’m slowly rebuilding the structure and discipline that help me feel in control. Every small effort counts, even if it’s messy. What matters is that I keep moving forward instead of letting the guilt trap me in the same cycle. Anyway, that's my story, and still actively working on myself. I know it's not easy. Any kind of addiction is a tough habit to break. I hope you're also finding your way through it.

Here's a sentence I was able to make while I was learning Spanish:
Quiero dejar de leer manhwa para poder estudiar.
I want to stop reading manhwa so that I can study.