A guide to reducing your Youtube Usage

6-Week Quitting Youtube Plan

By Himanshu Kattelu

Hi everyone, I’m making this template to help out with reducing dopaminergic addictions like algorithmic social media, caffeine, and alcohol. I am making this for myself, but I think it will be helpful for others as well!

For some context, I was able to beat a couple of my addictions in the past, particularly social media, mobile phone, and caffeine addictions. I still struggle with youtube, so I certainly am not perfect, but I hope this template can be useful for others to use the same strategies I have used for others.

Before we start it will be helpful to set yourself up for success with some preparation. If you are like me, youtube addiction has affected you for a while, and you have struggle with cutting down on it. This time around, let’s plan!

Preparation (Week 0):

  • Identify Issues: Start by identifying the specific issues you have problems with. You may be pretty good at restricting caffeine usage for example, but you easily fall down youtube rabbit holes. I strongly recommend trying to only tackle 1 addiction at a time. It will be setting yourself up for failure if you try to take on too much. That being said, i’m providing a couple of examples.

    • Youtube
    • Caffeine
    • Phone use
    • Alcohol

    Identify your reason: Why do you want to overcome this? Write it down! We will use this as motivation and a reminder later. I will not provide examples, I really want you to think about this for yourself!

    • Why are you doing this?
    • Why is this something that is worth doing?
    • Why do you deserve to overcome this

  • Identify Triggers: Try to identify the exact triggers that kick you off into dopaminergic behaviors. These can be extremely subtle, or very obvious.

    • Youtube
      • Whenever I need to eat I tell myself I should “watch a youtube video while eating” and it devolves into a multi-hour session that goes into the next meal.
      • Seeing my remote on my couch and automatically pressing the “on” button and then ending up on the youtube home page without thinking.

  • Set SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Instead of “Drink less coffee,” aim for “No coffee after 12PM” or “Only 3 cups of coffee a week”. Really try to make this concrete such that you can say whether or not you did it at the end of the day or week. This will help you stay motivated.

    • Youtube - No more than 30 minutes of youtube use a day, or up to 1 hour if it is useful and applicable educational content

  • Find Support: Tell a trusted friend or family member about your goals. Consider starting a group chat with friends.

  • Download Accountability Apps: Utilize apps that track phone usage, block specific websites during designated times. Most phones also allow you to set a specific time limit on apps as well.

    • I find blocksite is decent for desktop if you want to block 1-3 categories of sites
    • The default mobile screen time tools are honestly fine

  • Bonus tips! Optional, but can be very helpful depending on your issue!

    • Have a way of tracking progress: Any standard notes app will do here, but personally I have had success using a journal.
      • I find it important to track your progress to prevent burnout, celebrate the wins, and really understand that you are making progress even with small wins
      • I just integrate this into my regular journaling, but you can have a calendar-type tracking system as well if you prefer to just track the days you did and did not succeed

Weeks 1 & 2: Understand and tackle the source

A good place to start is to reduce the triggers, and use that to build awareness. You can also bring in alternatives that you can jump to. I find this particularly helpful for issues with mobile phones, where everything is at your fingertips.

  • Reduce triggers: One of the most clear triggers of behavior is often just our phone notifications. For example, seeing that someone you subscribe to just dropped a video could immediately take you down a youtube rabbit hole.
    • Turn off notifications from the specific app you are struggling with
      • Unsubscribe from channels or accounts that tempt you with excessive negativity, drama, or unrealistic expectations.
    • For your mobile phone, take your charging cable and put it away from your bed.
    • Consider turning off all phone notifications if possible (except for emergencies)

Next, give yourself some “backup plans” in case of an emergency. It will be great to have a healthy alternative. It can be anything from shooting a message to a friend to going outside for a walk.

  • Introducing alternatives: Here are some example alternatives that can be useful
    • Whenever you feel the urge to go on youtube, go solve the most recent New york times connections or strands puzzles first
    • Some other examples:
      • Exercise: A walk is good enough, but I love strength training!
      • Mindfulness: Practice meditation or deep breathing exercises to manage cravings. I find the “healthy minds“ app to be good for this.
      • Hobbies: Pursue interests you enjoy, like reading, writing, playing music, or spending time in nature.
      • Social Interaction: Connect with friends and family face-to-face. You can even just shoot someone a message you haven’t spoken to in a while.

Alternatives are difficult to use at first, so don’t beat yourself up too much. The important thing is that you actually try, and even if you fail, really observe what tricks your mind uses on you to get you to engage in the behavior it wants. For example, it might tell you that just one video is fine if it’s educational, or that you had a really hard day at work and you deserve it, or it may tell you that you need caffeine to get your job done.

  • Schedule Usage: Allocate specific times for these activities and stick to the schedule. Avoid mindless scrolling.
    • “I can drink as much caffeine as I want if its between 9 and 11AM, but not any time else”
    • “I can scroll through my instagram feed as much as i want when im sitting on the toilet later, but not now”
    • “I can’t use my phone in bed until I write my journal entry for the night”

Every failure is an opportunity for learning!

On top of this, Set an achievable small scale goal that leads to your main goal. It should sound very achievable and measurable. Here are the ones I will use:

  • Youtube - Up to 1 hour per day of youtube on the TV. Must turn off all youtube notifications. You can use youtube on desktop or mobile as much as you want.

Weeks 3 & 4: Reinforce purpose and improve mindfulness

In these next two weeks, once again, set an achievable goal that leads to your main goal. This should be harder than last week, and it should feel possible to do. Note that this could be easier after week 1 and 2 if you succeeded there.

  • Youtube - No Youtube on the TV. No youtube on mobile. Up to 1 hour per day of youtube, but only on the desktop.

The two things you should focus on are:

  • Remind yourself why you are doing this: Look back in the start of this template and your journal.

    • Why are you doing this?
    • Why is this something that is worth doing?
    • Why do you deserve to overcome this?

  • Meditate: I would recommend doing meditation to calm yourself and improve your understanding of your own mind. Pay attention to your triggers and urges.

    • What feelings do these bring up? Where do I feel the urges in my body? Why do they have such a pull on me? What caused me to be addicted to this?
    • This is extremely important for identifying new triggers that your mind will create

These two weeks may be quite challenging. Really try to lean into your support systems and alternatives. Here are some things that I did which helped me a lot.

  • Practice Gratitude: Every day, think about the good that happened. Did someone hold the door open for you? Did someone smile at you on the way to work? Appreciate the little things. Even though it seems tangential, it can have an effect on your brain wiring that will help you

  • Learn New Skills: Take a class, learn a new language, or pick up a creative hobby. This could just be the alternative you spelled out earlier. You might find that spending more time on your hobby will lead to less time on your addiction.

Weeks 5 & 6: Reintegration and Maintenance

Good job making it this far! For this final couple of weeks, you want to really focus on just your final goal, and maintain it for the two weeks. You can do it!

  • Youtube - No Youtube on the TV. No youtube on mobile. Up to 1 hour per day of youtube, but only on the desktop.

For some addictions like phone use, this is a good time to slowly re-integrate it into your life but in a controlled way. For example, using social media to connect with your friends and meet new friends, but only when you need it, without the pull of addiction.

At the same time, you must maintain vigilance! Keep paying attention to if there are any new situations that tempt you to. Remind yourself of why you are doing this.

Also take this time to reward yourself for making it this far. It’s good to celebrate, it will make the journey less difficult, and you will prevent burnout.

  • Make yourself a nice caffeine free tea at the end of the day, or buy yourself something nice that you’ve been wanting.
  • If possible, introduce a new healthy habit to reward yourself - again those hobbies could be great here.

Finishing up

Congratulations for making it this far! If you succeeded, that’s freaking amazing! If you didn’t, that’s fine too, you may have at the very least learned more about yourself and your triggers or weaknesses. You are now way more prepared to tackle this again. Consider giving it another shot or getting more support, but I believe you can tackle this.

I firmly believe that overcoming addictions is one of the hardest things to do in life, but it is equally as rewarding to overcome them. If you journal or took notes, take a pass through those to understand this 6 week journey and its impact on you.

Remember, this is a guide. Adapt it to your needs and preferences. Be patient with yourself, and celebrate even small victories! Good luck!

Tags: