Internet Addiction

I guess it's normal to go through a phase of internet addiction, like when you get your first computer. I remember having an obsession with Gopher server! It sounds so quaint to me. My mom lives in a retirement community and I associate addiction with old people who are just beginning to use internet.

So, I'm not quitting ILX yet, but I yesterday decided to quit another message board that I felt had become a very bad habit. I made a scrambled password and C&P'd it into the new password fields so that I wouldn't be able to log in anymore.

Interestingly, I have probably already a dozen times since yesterday gone to the site and tried to poast, forgetting, momentarily, that I had quit. I think this is pretty good evidence of how compulsive the behavior is for me.

I use the net when I'm in the bath. That's pretty bad.

woah

I guess kind of predictably I've been on ILX more since quitting the other one. ILX is at least a better board and less miserable environment.

The good thing is that I'm basically locked out of the other one. Can't go back.

don't leave us ;_;

enabler! enab...sorry, ok, ok, I'll never leave you, I promise

poast!

\o/

c'mon you cant really post this anecdote without at least hinting at what the other board is

Interestingly, I have probably already a dozen times since yesterday gone to the site and tried to poast, forgetting, momentarily, that I had quit. I think this is pretty good evidence of how compulsive the behavior is for me.

I get this with ILX, one second I'm on a document I'm supposed to be working on and the next, with little conscious input, I find myself on New Answers. But then ILX is often quite edifying so I don't find it such a terrible thing. Usually.

edifying compared to the rest of the internet anyway, perhaps not competing with say Spinoza on a page-by-page basis.

Before I knew ilx, I knew not of lolcats.

c'mon you cant really post this anecdote without at least hinting at what the other board is

― 乒乓, Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:34 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I kind of already did ;)

by freudian slip, no less!

but that's as far as I go

lol I think I know what board youre talking about, then

i just installed blocking software on my browser so as not to waste valuable writing time waiting for social media pellets

as you can tell it really worked :P

my job tech people actually wouldn't LET ME do it

i have mixed feelings about the internet and the role it has played in my life.

i haven't been perfect about it recently, but starting last year i've been taking an "internet sabbath" on the weekends, primarily just to help me feel more present and available to my wife/son/myself during my free time. distraction on the web during work hours can still be an issue, though.

not to be a pendant but really the term "addiction" is bogus for the internet. compulsivity yes definitely but not addiction.

Having a toddler has kind of forced me to spend A LOT less time on it on the weekends. I rarely post during weekend days anymore, only when everyone goes to sleep.

and marcos don't worry, I don't think you're a pendant

when i work in offices -- which i'm not doing now but will be doing again soon with some luck -- i just have a policy of never browsing the web beyond what is called for by my job, and i try to fill down time by organizing stacks of papers or something. i just cannot trust myself... if i start reading something interesting i will become totally absorbed in it.

i wish i could stick to this policy when i have things to get done at home but it doesn't work out. maybe i'll go to the library and sit near the cow statue, imagining it is my boss looking over my shoulder. actually... i am going to do that. i'll leave in 17 minutes.

what is the name for an addiction to EN dashes and ellipses?

http://dump.fm/images/20130606/1370555494306-dumpfm-Seacrestcheadle-nlo0.gif

hey guys

I was thinking maybe the "addiction" isn't really to the internet but to the little dopamine hits that the internet is particularly good at producing (when you get a "like", an "otm" a response to your post, a new post in a thread you're really into, etc.)

anyway, this is really fucking bad lately, I just need to acknowledge that somewhere. I already locked myself out of a couple of sites I was overusing (changed my password to some C&P'd gibberish). Really not getting work done.

this is a major issue for me too. i think the internet is the "perfect drug" for people (like me) who have any sort of tendency for ADD. it is an infinite source of novelty and affirmation.

i am worried about productivity but also, more generally, about what it means to spend so much of my life caught within the cycle of high and withdrawal, always eager to check my phone.

yeah that, and also so much of my life in front of some screen, and relatedly not developing other skills/abilities/traits while doing that

It's so easy to come up with something slightly clever/funny, post it somewhere, and immediately get a lot of positive feedback and the accompanying rush (I mean, not necessarily easy on ILX bc I feel like people here are very smart and have high standards, but easy elsewhere). I used to wonder why I spent some of my best creative energy online, but that's why -- you try to really write a novel, short story, screenplay, stand-up routine, it can take weeks, months, years to even get to the stage of getting feedback, so if what you're really living for is the feedback high that's no way to get it. That sounds really really terrible when I write it out. None of this is to say I think I have a good novel or screenplay in me, just that I think there must be some more holistic and genuinely fulfilling way to use what little talent I have, and at a minimum it would be nice if I could better use it to complete my work efficiently so I could do things like take a nice long walk away from the office on a beautiful day at lunchtime, or get a full night's sleep, or even start up a new band.

(likes post)

wait no I guess that was the flag post button

I feel like maybe in 5-10 years there will be a decent amount of literature about this in terms of psychology/psychiatry, maybe even something in the DSM, but right now it seems like the older generation doesn't quite get it and the terminology and understanding haven't caught up (fwiw, I've had experiences with several therapists trying and failing to explain to them what the problem is -- they all seemed to think if I just treated some underlying anxiety it would go away, but they failed to realize how strong the pull was even when I was dealing with anxiety very well).

ppl def laugh this off too easily imo

I mean there are whole industries being built on it at this point

for real

yeah, and also I have heard people make the argument "well maybe you enjoy the internet" or "you learn lots of interesting things/talk to interesting people on the internet, so what's so bad" etc. It's not that any of it is per se bad, it's the feeling that I can't stop compulsively going back to it that's bad.

xp actually I heard on NPR some VC guy who invests in apps and such drop that "little dopamine hit" language into the conversation and it clicked for me that, yeah, this is exactly what people are building their businesses on

I met my wife on the internet. I got bored at my last job, spending hours looking at mylocaljobs.net. Then I got a job as the assistant editor of mylocaljobs.net.

I have a roomba downstairs I bought with money earned thru a short-lived tumblr. I guess I have somewhat of an addiction too, but I've really come around to just whole-hogging going all in with it.

The Christmas cards some of you send us are lovely.

I guess I'm not really about to "own" being in the office at 11pm because I couldn't get enough work done today, is what I'm saying

I mean, I guess I'd better own it in the responsibility sense, just not something I want to be cool with

I guess tho the compulsive behavior was there for me for a long time -- when I was supposed to be studying in college I'd spend like 2 hrs playing pinball or 4 hrs listening to records in the listening library.

The same here. I'm only half-joking when I say I quit school in my sophomore year to stay home and play Castle Wolfenstein.

So THAT'S what I did before the Internet.

I was also an early Prodigy/AOL adopter. You could probably say I've been an internet addict in some form for 20 years.

i identify with this a lot

i think setting a rule that i dont surf the web while my son is awake has been rly helpful. as he's gotten older, i'm not as rigid about it as i used to be, but i've def been able to curtail this a lot more.

It's the kind of clickbait that works on me precisely because I'm an Internet Addict.

Heh

Buzzcocks to thread!

Anyway, as far as I can tell the conclusion is not much different from what the majority of meditation instructors would tell you.

I did try meditation for once, found it alright for kicks, but I did not find out that it's a habit that sticks.

You're an ooohhhmmm-gasm addict

Whoever mentioned Discord above is right, it's really good. People keep saying it feels nice and feels like the good old days of internet but it is quite addicting (seeing that people are typing doesn't help). Thought about giving it up but I actually do find the place quite rewarding.

i really feel like the internet is dying. i grew up with web 2.0, and even six, seven years ago community felt vibrant and things were a little more free. it's like i don't even know what to do when i open a browser window now.

i have been 'addicted' to a particular 'erotic fiction' text-based chatroom since i was sixteen. it was somewhere to freely explore identity and exist anonymously. no social network. no photos - the place is trapped in 1997. that's pretty rare these days. i still keep checking in now and then for this 'old net' feeling, and i guess i get the same feeling from ILX. i'm twenty-nine now, and pretty sick of the sight of that chatroom. i wish there was a community worthwhile visiting with a similar infrastructure that isn't centred on sexuality.

sometimes i feel like reddit is almost the last bastion of a free and open net, and even there, it's narrowing, and demographic has shifted. all i see everywhere are ads/captchas/useless shit i don't need. it makes me wonder where people are hanging out these days... even the early days of FB had a community feeling... IG has no real network to it. i suppose there are particular forums given your interest but i wouldn't know where to start. it just doesn't feel 'fun' anymore...

i read a fair bit about cyberpsychology and addiction & the net a few years ago in order to figure out my feelings and complex trauma with the WWW. i've been to hell and back with long-distance relationships and online encounters and shit like that. while i believe you can be addicted to certain behaviours and compulsions within the net itself (e.g. gambling, gaming, cybersex, other virtual activities), addiction to the internet *itself* doesn't really make sense; it's simply a portal, a mirror, another mode of existing.

i want to stay online - i love the possibility and engagement with a decentralized internet... but i already feel so restricted, and tired of bureaucracy. maybe we can decentralize our way out of the noise of social media in time... i'm not sure what is next.

addendum... i have carried out this same procedure to fight compulsions in the past. heh. this was nice to read.

So, I'm not quitting ILX yet, but I yesterday decided to quit another message board that I felt had become a very bad habit. I made a scrambled password and C&P'd it into the new password fields so that I wouldn't be able to log in anymore.

Interestingly, I have probably already a dozen times since yesterday gone to the site and tried to poast, forgetting, momentarily, that I had quit. I think this is pretty good evidence of how compulsive the behavior is for me.

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:52 (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Again, what I said about Discord above but the problem is finding the groups to join, they're often hidden away or linked to on someone's social media bio

the semi-hidden nature of a lot of discord groups is probably what's keeping them healthy

Starting to dislike things about Discord. The notices at the bottom that other people are typing is likely to keep you on longer and when it's super busy with other people writing posts, it's quite unnerving and starts to feel really claustrophobic. I prefer more thought out posts and Discord sort of hurries people.

But to be honest even on a regular forum I find it unpleasant when a thread is incredibly busy

I like the idea of Discord and I know it's becoming increasingly popular, but I just can't get into it. I never think to look at it when I'm on a computer, it doesn't look appealing or feel good, and I don't want another time & attention sucking app on my phone, idk.

Since it uses invites, I feel like there's more open bitching about people who might come after you on twitter

discord is a bloated, chaotic mess of an interface and retains almost nothing fun about old chatrooms... it's also pretty spooky/awful how it retains so much in chat history.

I love Discord. Big servers can be tough to follow, though. Mute is essential.

It's good for really niche things and since it's like a cluster of different forums you can just bounce between them. Some servers I've given up trying to follow properly and accept I'll miss a lot of the conversation.

Not addiction exactly but I got the worst lump of stress in my throat I've ever felt from Pinterest, which seems like such an innocuous site but I guess it's because it's so jumbled and feels even more neverending than other sites somehow