I’ve noticed YouTube specifically has become more addictive, I never used to be one to sit and scroll for long durations before but I often catch myself spending way too long on shorts now
Even people or older generations seem to be getting sucked in nowadays
The problem is that most people aren’t aware that shorts / stories are made to be addictive.
If you keep pointing out to your friends and family how much time / battery they waste watching them they may start to take action though.
I’m well aware how much time I’m wasting, I’ve got a screen time monitor setup and have even gone so far as writing my own script that takes me to youareanidiot.org if I try to open YouTube before 10am but it still didn’t stop me for a good amount of time
I think I might’ve just about kicked it at this point but now I’m spending loads of time scrolling Lemmy and talking to strangers instead which I suppose is marginally better
I have the same problem with YouTube! Between work + school I don’t have free time until 930/10, so I unwind watching documentaries on YouTube and it’s 2-3am before I know it :(
I recently ordered an EReader and if books can’t replace that YouTube urge I might have to go the same route as you and redirect myself after midnight.
I give myself a pass for Lemmy though. It’s not sucking me in, rather I open the site specifically for news for sites that don’t offer RSS feeds. (RSS helps a lot with eliminating the news -> distraction scenario)