Okay, so I’ve been trying to cut back on my screen time lately, especially on the big video apps. But I keep finding myself in this weird loop where I delete the app for a week, feel good about it, then re-download it because a friend sends me a link to something hilarious or I want to check a specific creator. It doesn’t feel like a full-blown addiction, but it’s this annoying little dance. Does anyone else get stuck in this cycle with short-form video?
Yeah, I know this loop. I’ll delete the app for a week and feel virtuous, then a friend drops a link and suddenly I’m back in the feed. It’s not a crisis, but the pattern is tiring.
Hard to call it a problem if it’s only a few minutes here and there. maybe the itch is curiosity dressed as boredom. Do you even want to break the habit or just manage it?
One trick that helps me with short-form video is a strict timer and moving the app off the home screen. When I try to reinstall, the timer still nags me and I pause. It’s clunky but it buys time.
I might have misread and thought you meant short-form video games. The back-and-forth still hits—the lure of a quick hit, the dance of delete and reinstall.
Maybe the issue isn’t the app but the feed economy. Every link is a tiny dopamine hit. If you reframe, you start looking for a real pause that isn’t curated by creators.
The loop is real, but it isn’t black and white. For me it’s about craving micro arcs, not the app itself. It’s fragile, and that makes it feel honest in a way.