Well here's how I did it.

Read everything on r/getdisciplined sorted by top all time. There are some good posts in there like No More Zero Days.

Read Atomic Habits. Great book about discipline.

And don't just read these resources, you have to apply them as well.

I didn’t see James Clear’s Atomic Habits book mentioned — what’s the opinion of HN on that book?

Buy a shitty phone. Also, this technique from dealing with cigarette addiction would help: change your brand. If you use iPhone, buy a budget $100 android with the smallest screen possible. If you use Android, buy an old iPhone 5. It'll work for banking apps but should be annoying enough that you won't use it so much.

Next, what is the website/app you most want to quit? Make quitting that your keystone. Fully commit to quitting that one website. For me it was reddit, and I haven't used it once in 4 or 5 months.

Then, uninstall all apps and switch to firefox. Install the leechblock addon, put a delay on all websites you want to stop using.

Bonus: switch to nextdns and block sites at the DNS level.

If any of that sounds like too much work, you need to ask whether you're really serious about tackling your addiction. Are you really serious about this? Yes? Then it's time for serious action. Small actions won't cut it. You need to send your subconscious a clear message that this is important to you.

Also, consider what kind of information you spend time absorbing. You are what you read/watch. Get some books on habit formation, willpower, psychology, read those in your downtime. The Power of Habit and Atomic Habits are great.

I've never smoked (thanks mom for the negative example), but reading Atomic Habits made something about it and other habits clear to me: habits are part of your identity. The best/strongest way to start or end a habit is to convince yourself you are no longer that person. Not "I'm trying to exercise more." I am someone who exercises. Not "I'm trying to stop smoking." I am not a smoker.

This is really hard with smoking because there are so many cues that are tied to it. I recommend the book for some help, it has helped me be a much better version of myself.

1. Correct my posture while not outside. For the most parts of my life, I had really bad posture. I would study on bed, code ln bed, and watch movies on bed. Half lying, fully lying, straining my whole upper body. Since two years, I always sit on chairs. I only sleep on bed, and that's it.

2. I used to brush my teeth once a day. Now I brush my teeth after every meal.

3. Exercising everyday. I now spend anywhere between 10 minutes to 90 every day for exercising.

4. Social media. I was a victim of doomscroll. And I identified that it was more of a symptom than a cause, but it is also a cause in itself. If you want to avoid doing something, if you go for a walk, or read something, sooner or later you'd get back to it. Here's where peer-to-peer media is exceptional. There is no end of content. And procrastination takes up most of your day. I limited social media use to 30 inutes a day. The same time everyday. I don't pull up my phone even wjen standing in queue, or while cooking. Much better time management and concentration.

5. For five hours or so have been drinking water immediately after I wake up.

6. Made myself able to think objectively, see nuance and be empathetic. I was very jidgemental before.

Point 4 credit goes to Cal Newport. He is the only self-help writer I can marginally tolerate. I did not read Atomic Habits or Power of Habits.

I realized that one of the best ways to form new habits ws was to hook new habits to already existing habits. This is nowadays called "habit association".

Make no mistake that I am only partially successful. I have failed in forming a lot of habits. I sm only sharing the good parts.

I got mileage out of replacing habits of checking social media with reading longer-form articles. I picked up the idea from books on habits (Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, Atomic Habits by James Clear). To replace a habit, it helps to understand the prompt that causes it. When I feel tired, or worried about something, I found myself opening social media apps.

Behaviour-wise, following the prompt, I've replaced checking Reddit with checking Hacker News (similar enough to work, without getting too engaged with the content). I've also replaced Twitter with curated Tweetdeck streams, and Facebook for the news feed with newspaper apps (a free one like AP could work, though I pay for newspaper subscriptions).

Cognitive-wise, in terms of thoughts, I also recognize that social media is designed to hijack your attention and maximize engagement, so I've chosen to frame it as a negative (versus a neutral) habit for my own personal goals.

In short, replacing the habits with similar ones with better consequences, and understanding why I'm doing this has helped.

A lot of folks are saying a technical solution isn’t the answer, but I’d say it’s a core part of getting to the next stage.

I’d recommend reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits to get a high-level view of what your body/mind is doing when you reach for certain apps/impulses.

Personally, I’ve found that installing blockers like Freedom and setting up timed schedules has significantly increase my productivity and cut back on wasted device time. Fwiw, the “fun” parts of the internet turn off at 10pm and don’t go back on until noon the next day.

You can also set a timed block at the router level, set a password for the setting via a password manager, give the password to a friend, and then delete it from your manager.

I find by simply removing the easy option to engage, the impulse to do so significantly diminishes. It’s only after you’ve felt what that diminished impulse is like and see the effects on productivity that you can then take bigger steps to change your habits.

So, I’m a big advocate for technical solutions because they help reduce need for self control / impulse control by removing the option on a schedule you define when you are your “best” or “most optimistic” self. (Yes, they can be circumvented, but you can also make that significantly onerous as to be usefully frictive.)