[StefanBatory]

Been there, done that. Listen to the person above me.

I tried to do that in the past when I my depression was more severe. I thought that'd help me, but I replaced staring at my screen with staring at wall or just sleeping.

[Funes-]

>I replaced staring at my screen with staring at wall or just sleeping

So you just tried to replace your compulsive use of your devices with nothing, like the poster you replied to advised against. Great.

[StefanBatory]

Yeah, which is I'm saying that's why you should listen to the poster above - to prove their point.

Unless I wrote it in a confusing way, in which case I do apologise

[yunwal]

“Been there, done that” usually implies that it didn’t work or that you’re repeating old, no longer useful information.

[StefanBatory]

Ah, sorry then. I thought that idiom has different meaning, thank you for correcting me.

[Funes-]

On top of that, which is absolutely true, saying "listen to the person above me" (instead of something along the lines of "guys/to anyone reading this, listen to...") while replying directly to someone makes it seem like you're exhorting them--that you're advising them to look for some other reply that runs counter to their point, instead of addressing the general HN crowd. "I thought that'd help me, but..." also seems to counter their point further instead of agreeing with it.

[StefanBatory]

:( I can assure you that was not my intention.

But thanks for telling me that; I'll be more careful in the future.

[nullderef]

What do you mean -- you couldn't find something else to do?

[StefanBatory]

Yes, exactly. I had no idea what to do with myself, and thus all I did was browsed Internet. I thought that getting rid of it will "fix" me (to be honest, I think I confused cause and effect). And so, I tried.

But I had nothing to replace this with, and I didn't magically became a disciplined or productive person. And then I would go back to my bad habits, just feeling even stronger self-hatred.

[nullderef]

How did you end up overcoming the problem?

[StefanBatory]

I didn't, honestly. In the end, it was just a gradual step for me. I got more things to do, I became slightly more social, talked to more and more people, and it just happened. I still deal with it, just on a lesser scale where it's managable unless I have a bad day - in which case again I'll turn to screens for comfort. But it's rare.