Comments on: Are You an Internet Addict?

By: Will Drotar

Will Drotar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:26:57 +0000

Mozilla Firefox has a free addon called Time Tracker that acts as a stop watch that is always adding up the seconds and minutes you’re spending online.

If someone is interested in cutting back, I’d recommend this tool. You can set goals as to how long you’d like to spend surfing when you get on. And it has an idle-out option, that pauses the timer after the mouse cursor hasn’t moved for a while. I set mine to pause the timer after it hasn’t moved for a minute.

So there’s a time tracker that tallies up each day how much time you spend on facebook and other sites, but leaves off time you spend on homework and other information sites. Very convenient for showing you how much time you’re wasting.

And very good article BTW.

By: stepheny

stepheny — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:01:03 +0000

It seems that there are no bad habits anymore there are just addictions. Retreating into a book has long been my coping strategy of choice when the world is just too cruel to deal with. The Internet doesn’t provide the same things.

I am not addicted. It does not grease the social wheels for me. Now the parts of it that appeal to the compulsive reader in me, that is another story.

By: Kaimi

Kaimi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:45:47 +0000

But I can stop whenever I want!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26581172@N05/3213117227/

By: hawleigh

hawleigh — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:45:21 +0000

Whether you qualify as an addict or no, sometimes it’s nice to consider conducting a media fast: experience a week (or two or three) with the electric umbilical temporarily severed. Scary idea, I know, but it can be a revelation. Even going for a three day chunk without any screens (tv, computer, pocket toys) is enough to highlight, underline, and capitalize all the things you are NOT doing when you’re online, because suddenly there’s plenty of time and nothing cheap and easy to fill it. My media fast was scattered through with long walks, writing (remember pencil and paper?), home baked music, and other enjoyments that are subtler and deeper than the stuff I get online. For me, it was a welcome reminder that it can be refreshing to occasionally unplug myself and do something a little more direct.

By: jmb275

jmb275 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:09:48 +0000

On a more serious note, I do think, at least for my generation (20-30) the internet has the potential to really damage a family. I agree that some of the worry is generational hand-wringing, but I have witnessed in my own family how obsession with facebook, or forums, or blogs, or news sites can cause heartache in our family. For me, though, it is just like any other “addicting” thing that draw us away from our priorities. As long as we remain in control of appetites, no matter what they are, we’ll be okay.

By: Hawkgrrrl

Hawkgrrrl — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:42:12 +0000

The internet addiction website didn’t really talk much about the issue of having more “virtual” life than “real” life, which was the topic addressed by E. Bednar. To me, especially as a parent, that’s even more interesting than addiction per se.

By: philomytha

philomytha — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:11:17 +0000

Since I became an internet addict (although I only checked 3 of the statements, so maybe I’m not one) I’ve stopped watching TV entirely. The internet is my preferred form of vegging out now. I consider that a neutral change.

I do lack self-control enough that I had to get some software that disables the internet while I’m working.

By: Dexter

Dexter — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:03:53 +0000

My thoughts on the internet: if I am at work, it’s amazing how many sites can be interesting, because, compared to work, almost anything is more fun. So my 2 cents are if the site isn’t interesting enough that I would spend time on it on a Saturday, I shouldn’t spend time on it just because I am bored at work. Some days I succeed with this rule, some days I don’t. On the days I succeed, frankly, I hardly visit the internet at all because I really don’t enjoy it that much. It is just an escape from work but not something that is all that much fun.

By: Jacob J

Jacob J — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:41:43 +0000

As I often say: Time spent is time wasted.

By: MH

MH — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:52:18 +0000

I agree with Shannon. If I wasn’t online, I’d be wasting time in front of the tv.

By: shannonj

shannonj — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:45:57 +0000

I just assume that if I’m not wasting time on the internet, I would be wasting it doing something else.

By: Hawkgrrrl

Hawkgrrrl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:47:33 +0000

Some of this hand-wringing over “internet addiction” seems like a generational thing to me – like an old guy sitting on a porch in a rocker shaking his cane at the changing world. I’m sure that earlier this century, people were accused of all kinds of addictions that were really just lifestyle changes as new technology became mainstream: telephones, television, microwave cooking, etc. Some people consider virtue to be the provenance of low tech living.

But I like that the church’s stance has been neutral on technology (well, pro and con both represented).

By: Arthur

Arthur — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:09:05 +0000

Ha.

Well, there are times when my wife reminds me how ridiculous I am… like when she sends me an IM from the other side of the room.

By: Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:58:49 +0000

Looking at #2, it obviously is not an addiction to good grammar.

By: Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:57:40 +0000

It is not uncommon for our family (those still at home) to be in front of the TV with three laptops hooked up to the internet. At those times, it looks like we are addicted. I’m just not sure to what the addiction is.

By: Arthur

Arthur — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:21:46 +0000

I am a member of probably the first generation of people who don’t really remember the Internet not existing… and I honestly have a hard time imagining my own life without using it at all. I have had to take long breaks from the Internet because I was worried about what I thought were addiction-like symptoms. It’s something I have to constantly monitor.

That having been said, I spend most of my time reading information, news, blogs, and I like to stay at websites that I feel offer higher-quality content. I imagine if I had been born 50 years earlier, my life would be pretty much the same, except the Internet would be replaced by books… socially isolating, expensive, yet quite informational books.