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Is there such a thing as internet addiction?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hey guys
Well, I've 'seen' that some psychologists have come up with 'computer addiction' and 'internet addiction' - but really is that just another label for a normal thing or is it a serious issue. The reason I ask is because, whenever my PC breaks down I get soooooo much done (converting the garage into workshop in one day, woo!) and feel really good for it. Then the PC comes back online (it's my main hobby) and I spend so much time on it it's ridiculous. Must be 70+ hours a week .
I feel bad about it, but the thing is even now as I type this it's 'hard' to just turn it off.
Sigh. Reduces willpower to zero.
Well, I've 'seen' that some psychologists have come up with 'computer addiction' and 'internet addiction' - but really is that just another label for a normal thing or is it a serious issue. The reason I ask is because, whenever my PC breaks down I get soooooo much done (converting the garage into workshop in one day, woo!) and feel really good for it. Then the PC comes back online (it's my main hobby) and I spend so much time on it it's ridiculous. Must be 70+ hours a week .
I feel bad about it, but the thing is even now as I type this it's 'hard' to just turn it off.
Sigh. Reduces willpower to zero.
0
Comments
The internet does consume a lot of time on.. well not much really to be fair. I find that most of the time im just sat here waiting for someone to talk on msn or something. Maybe setting a daily allowance for the net would motivate you. whilest getting anything you need to do on the pc done?
I've spent the majority of my Christmas holidays on the net, i think its just the ultimate precrastination tool. I've got 2 essays and a business plan to be doing as well as a hell of a lot of reading but i've done none of these instead choosing to sit around watching tv shows online or checking facebook/here. Rubbish isn't it.
If you're worried, talk to someone (real, not online)
I had one about 8-10 years ago, I would stay up all night long to chat to my friends from around the world, even at the peril of college and work.. come home, sleep for a couple of hours, then get back online all night
day in day, for years, literally.
Horrendous state of affairs.
Not going to mess up Uni over a stupid attatchment to a stupid machine.
I did Computing Studies for a year when I started my A-Levels. I was working with a group, and we had to produce a report on the pros and cons of the Internet. Whilst randomly searching Google on a boring Thursday afternoon, we came across something called Internet Addiction Disorder. When our lecturer first heard about it, he was convinced we were just making it up!
I'm still pretty bad today, but I've 'grown up a bit' in my addiction. As in, I can go without for a few days if I need to. I however often experience that I don't get stuff done or delay doing stuff I need to or even really want to do because I'm wasting life online.
Sometimes I try to chop things up. If I read x many pages or something I allow myself to check stuff y online or chat for z mins. That way I'm still getting things done in small bits.
What's also helped me tremendously is to turn the computer off if I can (was harder at uni!!). If it's turned off the temptation isn't as strong. When on I always have the excuse that I really need to 'just check this or that'.
I associate the internet with being at work. I did have the net in my old house for a while, and I would stay up really late just looking at nothing, and then end up tired at work.
The internet is a good thing in many ways such as shopping, chatting, etc, but it's not a replacement for real life interaction. It's very bad for the eyes to spend endless hours on it as well.
It's funny you should say that.
I had an appointment with the opthomalogy dept. at Leicester Royal Infirmary this morning because I'm getting funny bouts of vision loss in one eye.
I missed it, cos I was on the PC last night. Only got myself to blame though.
On the good side, today I've been forcing myself to be productive, and have got a fair few bits done. The guilt of not doing anything just got too much.