[ux-app]

> I’ve come to believe it’s really that simple.

It's really not though. These apps are addictive! There's a real effort required to drop them and many(most?) people don't have what it takes to kick the habit.

I installed TikTok a few months ago to see what all the fuss was about. That shit is ADDICTIVE man. Even to me, a middle aged grump, who doesn't use any social media.

I had to uninstall the app a month later as I felt I was being dragged down into a endless scrolling coma.

[barrell]

While I understand your point, reading a good book can also be addictive. Far more than any technology I use. I have to enforce reading bans on myself when I have a big deadline because I will sacrifice work, sleep, and gym to get to the end of a good book.

To anyone reading this wanting to switch their habits, find some “booktubers” who have recommendations you like, follow them, and try to train your phones algorithms to show you that content. Try some of their recs. I can almost guarantee there are books out there that will grab your attention and be far more memorable than any TikTok videos

[eastbound]

I often blame the book author for withholding information. For the same reason, if a series finishes each episode with a cliffhanger which doesn’t get resolved in the first minutes of the next episode, I consider it bad writing. I’ve seen series with 20 unanswered cliffhangers after 20 episodes, and I never want to experience this again.

A book which withholds information for the purpose of suspense, without it being natural for the story, is just a bad book.

[Groxx]

It can be both. They can be intentionally and powerfully addictive... and finding a way to develop a resistance to it can still be the most practical/effective option.

Regardless, it's in your best interest to work towards a resistance. These kinds of businesses aren't going to change things until they're forced to, and no matter what that'll take time, and they'll probably just come back in new and exciting ways eventually.

[ux-app]

>Regardless, it's in your best interest to work towards a resistance.

Uninstalling the app was a 100% effective solution.

[maxbond]

ETA: I missed that you seem to be saying it was 100% effective _for you_, I misread you as saying it was 100% effective in general; my bad.

No it isn't. For instance I recently tried to uninstall YouTube and my Android phone wouldn't let me (I know that I could move to a different distribution, but this is not high on my priorities list or something I want to mess with when I'm trying to relax, and many people wouldn't know where to begin). I've had periods where I uninstall and reinstall Twitter several times in a day.

It's helpful but it is not a panacea

[__t__]

Well said. I'd add that aside from being hard to drop people are not generally aware in the first place of the problems that come with overusing these apps.

How can you fight a problem that you don't think of as a problem

[endorphine]

To be fair, they said "simple", not "easy".