I have self-published my first book! The back cover blurb describes what You Should Quit Reddit is all about:
In recent years, countless books, articles, and documentaries have addressed the negative effects that social media platforms have wrought on their users and society. However, these former works are incomplete — nearly no attention has been paid to Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world. Reddit is certainly unique among social platforms, but its potential for addiction and darker side of nefarious activity should absolutely not be understated.
Additionally, nearly no actionable advice has been provided to users of these platforms. The audience is told that these websites and apps are harming their mental health, wasting their time, and that they are addictive (which would logically make the task of quitting rather difficult), but then provided zero guidance on how to disconnect from them. Over 200,000 users gather on Reddit’s /r/NoSurf community to discuss reducing their internet use; the forum is filled with reports of people who want to quit Reddit, but find themselves psychologically compelled to return to the site over and over. For moderate to heavy users of these platforms, quitting is clearly not so simple.
You Should Quit Reddit is a paradigm shift in the genre. Jacob Desforges was a Reddit user of over a decade, and a self-admitted Reddit addict who spent on average around three hours daily on the site. Not only is this the first book investigating Reddit’s flaws as a platform, but it is also written from the perspective of someone who experienced firsthand the struggle that comes with quitting these addictive platforms. This book therefore also provides readers with the practical advice, tools, and techniques needed to shatter the cycle of digital addiction, enabling them to quit visiting Reddit and other time-wasting websites for good, so they can effectively reclaim their time to use in a more intentional manner.
My book is currently exclusively being sold on Amazon. As of June 8th, 2023, You Should Quit Reddit can be purchased at many more locations. You can use the “Look Inside” feature to read the introduction and first few chapters for free.
I’m currently half way through my second read. I can’t thank you enough for writing this. I’ve read a few books about quitting the internet but this is the first one where it feels like the author actually understands internet addiction, even if the book only focuses on one site. Cal Newport has said he doesn’t have an issue himself and it felt like whoever wrote the Alan Carr book barely understands the internet, as well as all the other books I’ve read and forgotten. I’ve been on Reddit for 10 years but there was still plenty of things I didn’t know about the early days of Reddit, as well as putting into words things that I’ve felt but never sat down and thought about in detail.
I’d love to know if you’ve thought about doing an audiobook or writing another book.
Hey, thanks for reading and I’m glad you found my book useful.
I have played with the idea of an audiobook, but I’ve come to the conclusion that You Should Quit Reddit is probably more impactful when read as a typical book.
I definitely have a plan for more books as I enjoy exploring the relationship between humans and technology. Nothing concrete yet, as most of my free time has gone towards home renovation projects recently.
Something that gravely concerns me about Reddit is its tendency to dominate search results on Google, Bing, etc. as of lately. It is having a very centralizing effect on the internet, which is the opposite of the internet’s intended purpose to be a decentralized source of information. The search companies don’t seem to be taking this matter seriously. If the current Redditization of search engines like Google continue on their current trajectory, it is possible the first two or more pages of any Google result will be nothing but links to Reddit discussions within a few more years. This will foster an awful increase of society’s susceptibility to misinformation, as if it wasn’t bad enough already. I liken Reddit to the Walmart of the web. Sure, everything’s there, but the quality of specialized information is incredibly poor. You wouldn’t buy a stethoscope from Walmart. Likewise, you shouldn’t get medical advice from Reddit. Sure, Redditors can repost articles from reputable websites, but the danger in that lies in the Redditors only showing you what they want you to see. And given the extremely opinionated mentality of its user base, I believe Reddit poses a danger to the flow of trustworthy information as we know it. Something of 1984 proportions. Maybe I’m overreacting. But it’s nice to see a publication acknowledging the bad and the ugly of this monolithic forum, even if its not quite the same reason I’m concerned about. I’ll admit I’ve wasted more time on it than I’d have liked to as well.
I don’t think it’s coincidental that after Reddit agreed to sell user comment data to Google for $60M per year a few months ago, Reddit links are even more prominent in Google search results. Anecdotally I would often see Reddit ranked around 3rd position, and now it’s commonly the first result. If Google is paying a flat annual rate for a trove of Reddit data, they certainly have an interest in getting more people using Reddit.
I just read your book a few hours ago. I really think it’s well written. I’ve been considering quitting Reddit recently, but couldn’t find a compelling enough reason, especially since I thought using some parts of Reddit broadened my horizons. However, after reading your book, I realized that Reddit is much more harmful than I thought, and now I have plenty of reasons to quit it. It’s truly a life-changing book, thank you so much. Although it doesn’t seem to be a bestseller, for people like me, it’s really important.
Jacob – I recently finished reading “You Should Quit Reddit” and thought that it was really excellent. I’ve also read Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism” and share your same thoughts on that book. Your book is the best that I have read on the subject of commonplace digital addiction, despite the book’s focus being primarily on Reddit. I truly believe that digital addiction and its neurological and social impact on all of us is an extremely important issue of our time. Also, the future power and influence of astroturfing, particularly when it comes to political and social causes, combined with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is a very scary thing to think about. Most people do not give this even an initial thought.
P.S. – Because I do not have Outlook, I was unable to use the “Contact” button at the top of your website. Listing your email somewhere would make it easier to contact you, though I understand that you may have your reasons for not doing this.
Thank you for reading and I’m glad you found it helpful!
The email link on my site is a mailto: hyperlink. Even without an email client installed one should be able to right click on desktop (or long tap on mobile) to copy the email address. I think in Windows the default behavior when left clicking a mailto: link is to push the user to Outlook even if they don’t have Outlook set up or want to use it… My email is jacobdesforges@proton.me.
Bots can easily scrape the email from the mailto: link, so it’s not much different than putting it in plaintext nowadays. I’ll consider setting up a contact form submission if I get overwhelmed with spam, but so far Proton has done an excellent job of filtering out all the spam messages from email scraper bots.
Wow…I’ve just started reading and already transfixed. Thank you so much for writing this book. I only started using Reddit consistently in the last few months, but already recognise it as an issue, mainly because I am deeply affected by some of the nasty comments yet, in a very self-sabotaging manner, find myself going back for more. I feel a sense of ‘FOMO’ when trying to limit Reddit. It is blocked on my computer, but I’m still able to open a ‘private’ window and browse from there. It’s insidious and damaging. I’m very much looking forward to delving further into your book and learning from someone who’s been there. I hope you’ll continue writing this blog too (interested in the financial independence blog you mentioned in your book, is it still up and running?) You have a very engaging writing style. Best wishes, Jenny
Hey Jenny, thanks for reading and taking the time to leave a comment. It’s been a while since I checked my website so you’ve probably already finished the book and hopefully gotten to the section where I talk about blockers. I actually just upgraded my Pi-hole DNS blocker on my home network to run off a SSD, which is one method I use to block ads, trackers, and distracting websites. I know I talked about site blocking browser extensions in You Should Quit Reddit, you can definitely toggle those to run in private mode, and there are ways to make them harder to turn off or remove. This can be done in Windows by editing the registry, or editing config files in Mac/Linux similar to how schools and offices set up their browsers.