How do you stop yourself from mindless dopamine browsing during remote-work?

I think, rather than fighting this behavior and "procrastinating" on Youtube, it's best to ask the question of "why" you end up doing so. What could be the reason behind it? There is always one, as simple or stupid as it may be. That question has to be answered. When you know the answer, ask yourself the next one. What did I suppose to do? When you get to know what it is, ask yourself if that's the best and only way to achieve this task. Sometimes procrastination comes from having too many tasks at hand, and their importance is lost within all those things. It's probably the case that you just lost interest or feel as if you haven't found the most efficient path to achieve your "main goal". From my experience, most of the tasks I have done do not end with any type of visible result. That may be your case where you would rather procrastinate because even if you were to finish your tasks, it won't make a difference. So ask yourself what may be the thing that would give you a sense of accomplishment that could be "seen" by you and others. You can list those things in a document from top to bottom to not lose track of it. I think in general, people aren't wired to do things that feel invisible to the eye or are too divided into too many different things. I think the main reason why Youtube may be addicting and giving you that kick of Dopamine is that when you get to search and click, Youtube gives you exactly or near your expectation of what you want "immediately". That's the type of mechanism you could try to apply at your work where anything you engage in, has to be created as you expected or extremely near your expectation. Using visuals as illustrations can help you to focus back on what's essential and what is not. You can have a look at one of my first illustrations here: https://www.dghfrance.com/illust... It also helps you to restrict your mind from overexpanding where it's not supposed to. You will feel less stressed and anxious if you know how far you are supposed to go. It's much easier to focus 100% on one thing, than 100% on a hundred things at the same time. Youtube gives you the same trick, one search for one video. Yet, you are able to repeat the process a hundred times! The brain has a bad habit to take more than it can handle and want it solved NOW! Hope it helps! ;D

I think that having a healthy relationship with the platform is crucial. Youtube for me can be a rabbit hole if i look for it, however I typically use it for intense sessions of studying / working when it comes to music. So all in all, if you can integrate ways to be productive you can counter balance the time you spend searching for 10 hour videos of Nyan Cat :)