One thing that helped me get rid of all of these time-wasting apps was deleting them from my phone, but allowing myself to use the app’s website. It only took a few days for that small bit of friction to make me want to avoid the apps altogether. I did this with all my social media apps a while ago and eventually deleted the accounts.
I recently had to do this with YouTube because YouTube Shorts were getting very addictive. I still use YouTube on my computer, but my overall usage is significantly down.
The idea of adding a bit of friction is incredibly powerful. On desktop I use the excellent "News Feed Eradicator" [1], which removes the main news feed from popular destinations, while still allowing you to browse remaining functionality (e.g. subscriptions page on YT, messages on LinkedIn/Reddit). Fully open source, and available for Chrome/Firefox.
On mobile I use "One Sec" [2], which injects a short delay before opening any apps you specify. The delay is configurable; from a few seconds, to half a minute.
It's impressive how only 3-4 seconds are enough to re-engage your prefrontal cortex and make you think -- "wait a minute, why am I opening this app again?".
I also follow the "website-only" access pattern, and I never use/installs apps except a decent calculator app and whatever horrors my bank forces upon me.
I only install apps that are tools that would benefits from being on a portable device that I bring everywhere. Kinda like a PDA. Now it’s mostly utility apps, information (wikipedia) and reading, and communication.
After seeing a post on the HN front page, I've replaced YouTube entirely with NewPipe, and it is a huge improvement.
I still subscribe to channels that I like and respect, but not being subject to the toxic injection of YouTube shorts or recommendations drastically cuts down on my dwell time in that app.
Same! Deleted the mobile apps first, then exclusively used the platforms on a private window. That added a lot of friction especially how they make it so hard to log in.
I mostly use Youtube now on the Apple TV but recommendations are so awful, I only spend about a few minutes a day.
For Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest and Imgur the website is almost unusable on mobile when not logged in. Log out, don't save your password in the autofill. Now you have to log in to get your fix, which is now a hassle.
I recently had to do this with YouTube because YouTube Shorts were getting very addictive. I still use YouTube on my computer, but my overall usage is significantly down.