Hey everyone,
This board doesn't look like it's too active, but I need somewhere to vent and get help. Today I realized how far my internet addiction has got. When preparing for college this morning I started feeling bad at myself. Everything was like it pulled me toward my computer, which is turned on and online even when I'm asleep. It's my wakie clock. It's all I do when I'm home. Senseless entertainment through 4chan and other sites are all I think about in class.
I don't know what to do.
It happens even if I have something to do. I mean, I might have homeworks or projects or work in mind, but I just delay them and spend endless times doing nothing and chatting. It is my escape, but once I get with the work I actually feel fine. I spend most of my days waiting for torrents to download, and just doing idle stuff meanwhile.
I live in a basement. I only see the light outside on the way to school and on the way home again. Maybe if I have to shop for food, or on the rare occasion that I'd have something to do outside.
I love art and making all sorts of visual things. It's what I've wanted to work with, but even that is getting pushed out of the way because I have to sit online, online, online!! I would really appreaciate some advice on how to mentally liberate myself from the Internet :/
Thanks in advance.
>>3
That's the bad thing about addictions, you know: Getting away from them can be really hard. Some people can't just "Stop Smoking" or "Stop using the Internet".
>>1
Using some sort of time lock on the PC (Probably some parental control software) would probably be a good idea, I mean, when you can't control yourself, that may actually help. You could use a random password (Just hammer the keys with your eyes closed or something) to lock everything down and to limit your internet time to, say, two hours per day. You could also start high (8 hours) and reduce the time by 30 minutes every week.
I know how you feel.
:( I'm in a position where I can't limit my Internet usage to a special time of the day, due mainly to my job but also college from time to time. I'm on a Mac and time limiting non-admin accounts is built in, but then I have to spend longer times doing the small things that require admin access.
I'm going to try only spending 3 hours tomorrow. Will post back with results.
>>6
Another method would be time-controlled filtering on some sort of gateway PC. Have full access for a certain time and on all other times filter out all domains that you do not need for work (If it's possible, whitelist those you need and block all others), and disallow all internet usage besides HTTP/HTTPS (And probably SMTP/POP3/IMAP/Whatever you need for mail). This would probably be kind of complex to set up, but should be possible.
Also, block 4chan (Well, at least block /b/) and similiar sites. Just do it right now, and do not lift that block, ever. You can probably do this in your hosts file ( Probably works the same way in OSX as in Linux, google says http://www.osxfaq.com/man/5/hosts.ws ).
I thought about doing something like this myself (I spent far too much time on 4chan), but I managed to pull myself together (I stopped visiting 4chan entireley, am spending less time online and I feel it's better that way.)
Good luck, you can do it.
I didn't succed :/
The hosts file didn't block anything either. But I was able to avoid 4chan all day, and that felt good. In stead of sitting here for 8-9 hours I stopped at six. >>7, your last three lines encouraged me a lot yesterday, thank you :) it made me feel like there really is a reason to crawl over the fence.
best way to do it man is by completey changing your environment
once you graduate from school and either go to work/college/university you will be alot busier.
plus if you go to college(america) or university(europe) then you'll have to learn how to look after yourself, like buying food and stuff, you will learn alot, and you will be very busy, and the addiction of internet will just pass your mind, the desire won't even be there anymore
just enjoy your free time at the moment, it would be cool if i had the time these days to just sit back and play around.
don't see it as a bad thing, just see it as your doing something because you don't have much better alternatives.
your time will come when you overcome it, you'll be okay dude
Exactly the same as me. Except, I'm not in a basement.
>>9
The thing is, I don't want to be sitting like a vegetable at the computer all day. It annoys me that I keep sitting there although I could easily go practice drawing, read books, etc. - and those things really interest me too! The Internet is just like a magnet to me, so I sit here although there are all these other things I could use my free time for that I'd gain more from..
I appreaciate you pointing out that I have all this free time, though. I really forgot from being too stressed with "I'm always online even though I don't want to", feeling captive. I've resumed my World of Warcraft account, I haven't played for half a year. Just for two hours a day (AND NOTHING MORE, as a former high-ranking PvP'er I know how much of a trap that game is.) on a new roleplaying server.
Maybe if I just start out switching between more things during the day it will be a help for starters.
God, what with all of the college work I have, I can barely spend about 2 hours on the internet a day. The rest of my time is spent doing homework, eating/ironing/sleeping/riding thebus/or at class.
I'm only posting here now because I have some free time between classes.
I usually finish mine right away. Reporting back that I think I've found a solution I hope I can turn into a lifestyle.
>>14
yeah, that's what I would prefer/what I used to do. But this semester I have so much homework loaded on me that one assignment takes me to the next.
Get more sleep.
turn off ur PC right now. solved. profit?
fuck