Internet Addiction

Normally what works for me is going outside for about an hour without my phone/laptop. Or doing something I enjoy other than surfing the web such as hanging out with my friends, reading books, going to concerts, etc. 😊

[Trigger warning: self-harm mention]

​Estrellita, you're not alone in Internet Addiction! Actually, it is a way more common problem than we think.

I, myself, as a lot of teens and young people out here, have struggled with internet addiction. As well as other people, I felt VERY bothered if anyone addressed me my problem. "Me? Internet addiction? This is so stupid", I would tell to myself in days and years a row. Then one day I realized how harmful internet could be to me. I see internet as one of the most brilliant engines the humanity has ever created, I think it's practically impossible to live without it in my social background -- a middle-class student in a globalized world. But today I recognize that even though I can't cut internet out of my life, I also cannot change my real life to live in it. Having problems with self-harm, depression and other stuff, I often turned to internet to fill the void I felt in my struggle. Then I had two addictions intertwined: internet and self-harm. I only have become to realize this recently, after observing that I felt the desire to cut and felt very angry every time my internet connection failed. That sounded a red alarm to me. I still struggle with the time that I spend on internet, but today I am way more aware of it and willing to change. Looking back to my life, I have had more internet friends than real life friends. I do not regret it, I really like my internet friends and do my best to keep in touch with them. They have helped me through my hardest times. But I don't suggest anyone to spend the amount of hours I have spent with internet: they reached almost 14h per day. This is too much.

I'm on senior year, so my schedule is very tight -- now I have up to 36 different classes and tests every week, excluding my extracurricular activities, which include7 Cups of Tea. I have got ridden of all my social media, except for Facebook, that I use to keep in touch with my long-distance friends and even family. I don't regret it anytime. The time that I use on internet is destinedto7 Cups of Tea, a way of unite my (slowlyfading) internet dependence with helping people. I have managed to turn what was bad for me to a fulfilling experience to me and a good experience to others. Internet addiction is very difficult to deal with, but getting involved with things, forcing yourself to delete the useless social medias, and learning how to take the internet experience in a way that's beneficial and not bad for you is essential. You cannot get rid of internet in a globalized world, but you can manage the time you spend in web in order to make it a fulfilling experience you, not a draining one.

Hope I have brought something good for this thread! Have a nice day you all :)

Hey,

Thanks for creating this thread.

I'd like to revive it if possible :)

I think I've got an internet addiction too. I am an information junkee - I can spend hours reading random information, news, stories, wikipedia articles. It exhausts my brain and takes a lot of time. And, it's always frustrating that I cannot control my habits.

Anyone else struggling?

hugs

Oh yeah there's plenty. I spent most of my time when I am at home on the internet. The best thing for me to do is set specific times during the day to do something else. I have a set time where I study, and do home work mostly. I also set days, and times to do things around the house, a certain where I clean everything before ever touching the internet etc. I force myself to stick to the times and after while they become normal things.

I think addiction is too strong a word regarding my experience with it, but I am slightly dependent on it. I'm slowly trying to change my habits because I realize I get a lot more done when my internet isn't working or I don't turn on my computer or phone data first thing in the morning. Although the internet helps me and serves as a distraction, I feel it also worsens my feelings of inadequacy and makes me feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I could be watching, stuff I could be reading and the things I've missed out on when I wasn't online. It's complicated.

@Estrellita

Hi!

Not addicted per se - but for a while I was dependent on it. I actually just finished reading a book about internet addiction!

I think the biggest misconception about internet addiction is that it's not recognised or validated as much as it should be because the internet is so popular - "how could you have an internet addiction - you just spend too much time on the computer?" But in reality an internet addiction can be just as serious as an addiction to alcohol or drugs.

So, with that in mind -

- Plan your time on the computer. If you're like me and need your computer for certain things, schedule it out. Perhaps that's a written timetable or just a mental note of 'I'll play when it's finished'.

- Reach out to your friends/family. Let them know you need some support.

- Make time for activities outside.

- Schedule things in with friends or other people - literally make appointments that you can't skimp out on. Seek out things like sports, bars and concerts that are way more interesting.

- Have a think about where this addiction is coming from. Is it an escape? Is there something in the real world that's hard to live with right now?