You don't want to doomscroll anymore.

[00:00:00]I feel like something a lot of people don't talk about is how lonely and depressing life feels after doom scrolling for just hours on end. Every once in a while, I do just that. For the most part, I have completely cured my life of doom scrolling. I've completely cured my life of watching TV, watching movies, doom scrolling, and in general, just being glued to a screen. There is something really, really weird and genuinely depressing when you've done this for hours. This evening, I did just that. I got home from work and I got dinner for me and my wife, but my wife actually has to work for a few hours in the evening. So, I pretty much had the evening to myself. And usually what I do is my routine. My routine is to come home, I go on a run, I take a shower, I work on videos, I might listen to a podcast or read something or just try to [snorts] like learn something. That's basically what my evening looks like.

[00:00:52]And this evening, I did something a little different. And honestly, I don't even know how I got started on doom scrolling. I just kind of did. And immediately, I got really invested on my phone. I wasn't just casually doom scrolling like people often do, which by the way, casual doom scrolling is also really, really bad for your attention span, for your mental health, just your life in general. Even if you only spend like 5 minutes a day on Instagram or Twitter or Tik Tok or whatever it is, that's actually just as bad as doom scrolling for long periods of time.

[00:01:26]However, doom scrolling for long periods of time, specifically in a way where you're just glued to the screen, is particularly depressing. Being in this like hypnotic state, I think TV shows, movies, doom scrolling especially, really does put you in this hypnotic state, especially when you're just glued to it, when you're just focused on it.

[00:01:44]You know what? The content itself may not necessarily be bad, but the fact that you're just living hours of your day artificially is really doing something to us that honestly I don't think science has even discovered yet.

[00:01:59]But it's really doing something to how alive we feel, how mentally healthy we are, how depressed, how lonely, how existentially lonely we are. We are a lonely generation. I really think the reason why we're so lonely isn't because we don't have friends, we don't have that girl that we want, we don't have good family members. I really think those things might play a role, but I really think the number one issue is the fact that we're spending our free time, every free chance we get, every moment we have to ourselves, we are spending it on our phone. Even worse, we are spending most of our days artificially staring at a phone screen, living in this other world that isn't natural, that isn't real. And I think when we do that with our time, when we just live in this haze for hours on end, glued to a screen that isn't real 2 feet from our face, something about that makes you feel very, very lonely and very, very existentially depressed. If you have been glued to your phone or TV for hours on end, you know what that feels like.

[00:03:04]It's the same feeling you get when you finish a TV show. You just binge watch like 25 episodes and now the show's over and it's like really depressing cuz you have nothing else left to do and now you're back to the real world and you get that feeling of depression, like sadness and like feeling lonely because there's there's no other episode.

[00:03:21]There's no more episodes. That's literally it. Now you're back to the real world and you have nobody to share your experiences with. I really think this is what it comes down to. We are feeling a lot of emotions when we binge watch content. Whether it's a TV show, whether it's movies, whether it's doom scrolling, whatever it is, we are experiencing a lot of emotions and memories. This is like literally like memories in our life and feelings and thoughts and possibly things and feelings and emotions and thoughts that mean a lot to us that affect us deeply, but we have nobody to share that that experience with. Maybe we saw a real or a short or a Tik Tok that was especially meaningful. Maybe we've gotten like a few Tik Toks, maybe a handful of Tik Toks and reels and shorts that were really meaningful to you personally.

[00:04:07]Maybe there was some nostalgia in there.

[00:04:09]Maybe there was something aesthetic.

[00:04:11]Maybe it was like a movie scene, old Minecraft nostalgia. And if it's a TV show or a movie, maybe it's just that experience in of itself. I remember back in the day, I watched a lot of Walking Dead. And The Walking Dead meant a lot to me because I I based my personality and my life around The Walking Dead. And it was a big chunk of my life, a big chunk of my life at my lowest moments when I was really just directionless in life. And I was binge watching the show every night. I don't get to experience that with anybody. That is an experience. That is a memory that I have solely by myself. So naturally, when I finished the TV show, when I finished The Walking Dead, I was getting feelings of depression. This is exactly what happens to us when we go on a doom scrolling session, a doomscrolling spree. We're all alone. We're lonely.

[00:04:57]We're we're experiencing these feelings and emotions and and things and and watching these reels and shorts all by ourself, feeling by ourself, thinking by oursel, experiencing memories by ourself. Life is never meant to be lived alone. And when we come home after a long day of work and school and we just sit on our bed or couch and just watch videos, doom scroll, watch TV, watch movies, binge watch something for hours, it is not natural. And today when I did just that, I was reminded of that fact. I know you like TV shows. I know you like movies.

[00:05:36]Hey, maybe you even like doom scrolling.

[00:05:37]Maybe you get some kind of positive thing out of it. You're getting a whole lot of negative, but hey, maybe there's something cool about it. Maybe you learn stuff. Maybe you just enjoy it. Maybe you there there's reals that mean a lot to you because it's like cultural or hobbies or or whatever it is. I get it.

[00:05:53]I understand because I made the same excuse for myself today. I just saw a real actually on Instagram of Palestine and like growing up in Palestine and there was a very just nice song in the background and it was particularly meaningful to me and I actually watched it probably 15 to 20 times just on the verge of tears because this was my childhood. This is what I grew up with.

[00:06:15]For those who don't know, I'm half Palestinian, but I pretty much grew up in like the Arabic culture. And that was my life. That was my like I I was friends with so many Arabs. We went to the Arab family dinners every week for a while. And that was my childhood. And so when I saw that reel, I was watching it over and over just feeling really emotionally attached to that reel. I would go on to Doomscroll for another hour watching other reels that were meaningful to me in a similar way. Yeah, it was meaningful. Yeah, it was it was fun. Yeah, I enjoyed those reels, but now I'm all alone with those feelings.

[00:06:47]This experience was completely alone.

[00:06:49]And honestly, we got to stop living our life so alone and detached. And I get it. Like, I I completely get it. But we need to spend more of our life going on road trips, being with friends, hanging out with friends, talking to family members, being in the moment, being mindful with family, playing board games, doing fun activities together, going to the store together. Not living life so detached. so alone. This is how we develop depression. And I know this is like the same kind of reasoning as like, oh, just just stay busy and you won't be depressed. I know it's kind of like the same arguments, but regardless, you're not going to be depressed if you're with family all the time. If you're if you're with your best friends, if you're with your your the girl of your dreams, if you're going on road trips and experiencing things and living life with people and being a part of clubs and being part of things, like even if you're an introvert, by the way, I'm very introverted, but I still think life is way more meaningful with those experiences shared by other people than by just watching TV and doom scrolling by yourself. Gosh, I I even I even think like when it comes to entertainment, when it comes to TV shows or doom scrolling, I even think doing it with somebody else or with other people, with family or friends or I even think that can cause depression because [snorts] you're still feeling like alone in this artificially generated mental stimulation and it's just it's not natural and we got to stop. Other than today, my screen time has been flawless.

[00:08:18]I have completely stopped doom scrolling when prior, you know, a couple years ago especially, I was doom scrolling for 8 to 12 hours a day on my days off of work and school. And that is not a good life to live. And honestly, if you cut out doom scrolling, if you just cut it by 80% in the course of the next couple months, I promise your depression, your how lonely you feel, your anxiety levels, how literally alive you feel is going to be improved when you do that.

[00:08:46]When you overcome doom scrolling, if you overcome how much you watch TV shows and movies and just start living life more in the present, more in the real world, more in nature, you know, go on hikes, go on road trips, go to that coffee shop, go to that restaurant that you haven't tried yet, uh hang out with friends, go play pickup basketball, go do this, go do your favorite hobbies, go be a part of this club. That is how life is intended to be lived. Don't bedrot.

[00:09:10]Don't be in your bedroom all day. Hell, even if you have no friends or or people around you or or things to do or hobbies, just get outside. That is going to be significantly healthier and better for you than just sitting in your room all day playing video games and doom scrolling and watching TV shows, binge watching. Like, as somebody who's lived that life, I know why you do it. You're doing it as a cope. You're doing it to literally feel something. You're doing it because your life has no direction or meaning or or personality to it. But let me tell you, there is a better life to be lived outside, out in the real world.

[00:09:44]Please just give it a try. Please just improve this for yourself and soon you will start to feel more alive. You will start to feel better with your life. Let me tell you, there is something spiritual and meaningful on like a existential level with TV shows, with movies, with reals to some extent, shorts to some extent.

[00:10:08]There is meaning and storytelling and nostalgia and and there's there's emotions in that. I get it. But you know what? You can experience that in the real world, too. You can experience love connection, a soulmate like connection.

[00:10:23]You can experience adventure. You can experience real human connection and like friendship and and experiences and memories. You can experience that in real life. And it's way less depressing and way more meaningful. I feel like I'm talking to my younger self right now. He spent so much time doom scrolling or watching TV shows for hours on end just to feel something, just to like experience something. I would watch anime, especially like romance anime just to feel something and to to feel those emotions cuz like I always kind of associated myself with like a deep feeler kind of person. At the same time, like that is inherently depressing.

[00:10:56]Sitting in your room watching these shows and movies and doom scrolling, realizing that this isn't your reality.

[00:11:02]It's artificial. It's not real. those same emotions and feelings can be experienced out in the real world. You just have to go and live and those things, those feelings, those experiences will come to you. But yeah, overall really have been doing better with doom scrolling lately. Just my screen time in general and also how many times I pick up my phone. Honestly, the secret is just live a life outside of these things. Live a life outside. Like literally spend time outside of the house. And also be conscious of how much time you're picking up your phone when you're like in line somewhere or in public just because you're bored and you don't know what to do and it seems more socially acceptable to just be on your phone. Be conscious of those moments and try to stop doing that. And also do the usual things. Delete the social media apps. You don't need them. Delete all of them, especially the ones that you're making excuses for like Instagram. Oh, I use Snapchat for streaks. That is literally like an extra reason why you should delete the app. Honestly, once you do that, everything will start improving for yourself. And man, you have no idea how beautiful life can be and how amazing it can be, how real it can feel. But, you know, we're living in this online world, this artificial world, glued to screens all the time. I hope this is the wakeup call for you guys who spend so much time on your phone and not spending enough time in the real world, hiking, adventuring, living, experiencing, meeting people.

[00:12:24]The world is beautiful, but nobody pays attention. That is a motto that I live by. Our dopamine is so screwed up that we can't even enjoy normal life anymore.

[00:12:34]But you know, the second that you fix your dopamine, the second that you go and live in the real world and spend more time in the natural world away from the artificial screens at least a little bit, that is when your dopamine gets fixed. That is when life starts to feel more real and you start to enjoy baseline everyday existence again.

[00:12:53]overcome doom scrolling. Get off these apps. Stop watching so much TV shows, especially by yourself, and just live in the real world more. Spend more time outside. Get in nature more. Be around people, even if it's just like at the mall or at a coffee shop. Try your best to make friends, even if you're an introvert. Spend more time with family members, even if you despise them. Just be super mindful with them anyway. Maybe ask your grandpa about his life, some memories he had, some life experiences he had, some lessons. Sit with him and be fully present. Don't just go on your phone and get distracted. Be mindful and present with him. Delete these apps off your phone.

[00:13:30]Set up an app blocker if you need to. I really recommend detoxing your life.

[00:13:34]Pretty soon if you do that, your life will get a whole lot less depressing and a whole lot less numb and you will start feeling real and you'll get to actually experience life for the first time again. My name is Zachariah. I make self-improvement videos. If this video helped you, please consider checking out some of my other videos and also subscribing to this channel. It really helps to push this message across to the algorithm and it also helps you because of the advice you're getting. Please, for your sake, improve your life. Get off these apps.

[00:14:04]Get off of social media. Live in the real world. Try. Just make an effort. Be more conscious of that and you will eventually see that your life will improve. I hope to see you again on this channel sometime soon. Goodbye.