Comic Strips

I don't know, I've never done meditation. I don't think you have to overdo or overthink this. It's more about letting your brain have some moments of rest from stimulation. We're currently stimulated all the time. It's not healthy.

You might want to seek professional help in that case.

I get the impression a big part is also just engagement, in a sense - social media is built to provide a constant stream of engaging content, keeping you hooked and anticipating the next thing.

Slowing down and doing something that isn't so endlessly exciting might help, like watching a bit of a documentary, or reading a book (one that doesn't however captivate you too much) seems like a decent idea, much better than doomscrolling or watching short form videos one after another.

Anecdotally, but I'm glad we have phones now. I'd stare at the ceiling for 1+ hours sometimes before I had a phone and couldn't sleep. Now I can get to watch something to mellow off at least.

I usually read sci-fi / fantasy, but I've come to recognize that certain authors are dense, and Tolkien is one of them. Trying to read too much of Tolkien at once is like trying to eat too much rich food; you've got to take a break from time to time. All the annotations in the above book make the text even more dense, but it's still interesting stuff, like the mythological origins of Gandalf, or the tiny changes Tolkien made from early editions of the book. So I want to read this, it's not like I'm forcing myself to read some godawful textbook, but I think when I'm reading it at night, my brain gets to a point where it just goes "Ah fuck it," and I start to nod off.

Also pretty good for this: Isaac Asimov, or Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August.

Sometimes I'll find a longform article, but those can be a bit too engaging sometimes.

I have a lot of success with reading about a topic on something like Wikipedia where if I get to the end of a page and want to continue reading, there's loads of links to follow to related stuff.

Absolutely none of the therapy techniques were truly effective for me until I was on the right medication. I’m not saying this is the case for you, but if you have honestly been struggling with everything you’ve tried, that’s not you not being good enough or trying hard enough. It’s just a sign you might need meds on top of it.

Joke answer: don't have them then.

Serious answer: cognitive behavior therapy has helped me with unwanted thoughts, but a lot of people seem to do well with mindfulness/meditation.

From CBT and what I can gather from meditation, it's not about stopping the thoughts but addressing them and then moving on, not ruminating on them.