Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with internetaddiction

cigarettes:gum::internet:???

fermion — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:20:54 -0800

What can I do for a mental break besides surf the Internet? I'm a graduate student. Writing papers, researching, working problem sets and other grad-student-ly activities can be a bit fatiguing to the brain, requiring the occasional mental break to refresh the mind and re-set thought patterns that may have got into a rut.

Since I do most of my work on the computer, the natural thing to do when I want to take a break is to surf the Web. But inevitably, one link leads to another and I look up from my "five-minute break" to discover that half an hour has passed. Programs like LeechBlock have helped a little, but for me Web sites are like potato chips: I can't visit just one. Once I've begun it's difficult to stop.

So I need something to use as a mental break that, unlike Web surfing, is self-limiting. Something that I can do for five minutes that won't create such irresistible temptation to keep doing it, that will leave my brain refreshed and focused. Please help me replace this bad habit with a better one!

Too Much Internet, Mac Style

The ____ of Justice — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:39:51 -0800

Limiting internet access via Airport Extreme or Safari? Hello mefites. I have some issues with internet addiction. While I would like nothing more than to almost completely eliminate my access, I do need the internet daily for work and for projects (about an hour or two a day.) And the occasional askme question, haha.

Currently I own a macbook and have been using "Leechblock" via Firefox to limit my internet addiction. While it initially worked ok, Firefox often slows down on my Macbook, or has a few weird issues displaying sites. I'd prefer to use Safari. (Especially since it still sits on the system anyways and is my other "go-to" browser.)

My questions:

1) Is there any Safari add-on that acts like Leechblock?
2) I have heard an Airport Base station can give timed internet access to different computers in the household. Is anyone using this successfully?
3) Do you have any suggestions for moderating internet time?

I agree this seems like a crazy question, and even weirder to post it on the internet (like walking into a bar and saying "help me with my alcoholism!"), but you can see the level of my desperation here! :-|

I'm posting this question so I don't have to get offline

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:01:57 -0800

Do you have suggestions about dealing with internet addiction in general and chat board addiction in particular? I feel like I'm getting very addicted to the Internet.

The appeal is that places like Metafilter feel like the kind of social life I had in high school, college, and shared housing in grad school. At night when I was bored, I'd sit around the common room and shoot the breeze with people.

I have a great group of friends and a busy work life, so I'll have plans a few nights a week, but on the evenings when I don't have anything scheduled, I'll generally be online from 7 until midnight. I get lonely and bored even while I'm cooking, so I'll start the soup and then surf the web while it heats up. Ditto weekends and pretty much most unscheduled time, ever. Most chores get done in brief bursts while I'm thinking about something I read. I go to the gym right before or after work so I don't get sucked into the internet first. I even have a great long-term boyfriend. He does work-related stuff while I'm chatting on Metafilter. We'll talk for an hour or so and then go back to our separate online whatever.

After having spent another night online, I wish I had organized my desk or done another hour of work or basically done anything else. Even two hours ago, I was thinking "I should get off the internet," but then I decided to read just one last thread, and then one more. After a vacation, I'll feel so refreshed from having gone cold turkey for a week, but then my habit will slowly grow again.

This is a vague question but I'm just looking for how to start getting a handle on this. Should I treat the "cause" and move to a group house with a lot of people so I get the social input I'm getting online now? What if that's not really the cause? Should I treat the symptom and just lock myself out of the Internet? Talk to my therapist about this? Harness my internet addiction by starting a blog so at least it feeds into my creative and career goals? Any other ideas?

Also, at the moment, I'm feeling intimidated by the whole thing. I'd love to hear stories about people who used to be "heavy users" but found a way to ease off their online habit and ultimately achieve a better equilibrium between the internet and real life.

Sorry for being chicken and posting this anonymously. I'm just embarrassed about how much I'm online. You can email me at anony.account.123@gmail.com.

Can anyone recommend a decent URL blocker for IE along the lines of Leechblock or somesuch?

freya_lamb — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:38:46 -0800

I'm descending into procrastination-by-browsing meltdown and finding it nigh on impossible to drag myself away from certain sites but it's draining my productivity. I'm covered for firefox with Leechblock but I have to use IE to access our CMS. I checked other answers here, and googled a bit but all I could find was temptation blocker, I installed it but as far as I can see it only blocks apps rather than urls. Anyone know of any other options (beyond developing some backbone!)? I don't have any admin access to my PC so I can't meddle with the settings and I don't really want to alert my employers to the fact that I'm trying to curb my non-work usage!

Has thirteen years of WWW ruined my brain?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 May 2007 06:42:26 -0800

I think thirteen years of surfing the internet has ruined my brain. At home, at work, whenever I can, I'm bouncing from website to website, ingesting these quick hits of information and moving on to the next site at the slighted twinge of boredom. Doing this for 2-3 hours a day since 1994 has left me unable to concentrate on anything that's not absolutely scintillating to me -- I get impatient with conversation with my wife, I can't pay attention during meetings at work, and what's worst, it's very difficult to do my job, which is not interesting to me (but provides a high income that would be very difficult to replace by changing careers).

I know I am putting my family at risk because of what I'm doing to my ability to concentrate, because I've already been laid off once from a position I probably could have kept had I been able to focus, and perform to my abilities. That I earn over $100,000/year currently is more testament to my potential, and ability to perform "just well enough," than to any real acheivement.

Have I permanently destroyed my ability to focus and grind through less-than-fascinating tasks? How can I regain the tolerance for tedium I used to have, and which is so vital to me being able to succeed in my career?

How to break internet addiction?

grouse — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:28:33 -0800

I find that I am somewhat addicted to AskMe and the web in general. How have you dealt with your Internet addiction? [mi] For about six years I've prided myself on very infrequent TV use, preferring that the time be spent on something more productive/mind-using. But recently I have realized that I have adopted a web-using pattern that is very similar to a channel surfer. I will check, for example, AskMe for interesting new posts, then another site, then a few more. After I am done I start through that little cycle again until I run out of time/am late/am very very tired because I should have gone to bed hours ago.

Sometimes I have tried to cut it down to once a day. But there might be a particular post that I am interested in (such as this question, I'm sure) and I find I can't stop checking it over and over, and then I can't keep my eyes off the rest of the site.

I don't want to eliminate my usage--I find I get a lot out of reading these sites once a day, and that that time spent is relatively effective. How do I do this, but stop the vicious cycle from beginning?