Took over a month off from RSP/reddit and realized this place keeps me schizo-brained

Like many people wondering how to improve their lives/mental health/how to grow up- there’s a lot of talk here about deleting your social media, getting rid of video games, stop engaging with slop, lift weights, read, lose weight, self improve, all the loser-cure remedies but rarely anything about deleting reddit

I spent over 2 years here posting regularly, getting that little buzz from opening this sub, then realizing 3 hours had gone by. I got some great book recs and the art posting was nice for a while. I laughed hard at some posts and enjoyed arguing endlessly. — But what I began to also notice was this place also fed into my innate desire to judge people. I judged my friends more harshly. I judged strangers. I would look at myself and see a million ways to improve. I felt embarrassed more intensely if I fumbled something in public, imagining the type of rs takes someone would have. It’s almost like this place made me a catty little bitch. and it kind of started to make me feel embarrassed

While quitting weed, drinking less frequently, working out more felt good for my overall health over the years, recently I decided to delete Reddit for a month just to see how I’d feel. The first few days I kept instinctively going for my phone to open Reddit, then remembering I’d deleted it. I decided to prioritize calling/meeting up with old friends and just spending more time outside. I noticed after 2-3 weeks, I felt less stressed out, less insecure with myself, my brain didn’t immediately go into analyzing every single person, I didn’t have as many thoughts about my friends weight or really caring about their looks as much, I felt more grounded. I also wasn’t looking at 200 different doomer incel type posts so I finally felt less aligned with the chronically online.

Ultimately I realize this place is just as bad for your brain as any other form of social media and that I was in a state of denial by thinking “yeah I’ll at least keep Reddit!” This place can be brain rot and just as bad for the soul. And don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fun to be here, and I’ll probably check it out every now and then, but this is just another fucking trap just like any other app. It harms the brain in all the same ways. Truly my brain feels healthier after a month and I encourage anyone else to at least try a month.