Serious Question: How bad is your Internet addiction?

[vigilant]

(hell i've been here for the last 3 days)

take a shower...

[nathan28]

But the internet...every night I promise myself an early night only to go to bed at 2 or 3 or 5am.

...it's the flashing lights

you're entraining your brain into a 60 hz state probably. that's ultra-high beta (if you believe in those fairies) which means more alertness, less relaxation. more to the point, you're exposing yourself to a massive dose of light.

light after sunset = less melatonin = less sleep = altered stress hormonal patterns = more cancer

some of the paleo guys are adamant about minimizing light exposure, like unplugging off all electrical devices after 9PM.

i try to be in bed by 10pm, and usually am unless work gets in the way. but on the weekend if i have the tv on (not necessarily even facing it) i can stay up until sunrise, no drugs necessary.

-----------------------

anyway on the job i do "hurry up and wait" almost all day long. i'll worry about internet withdrawal when i have more action/time-needed things going on.



that said the internet is alienating as hell. i like real people but like i said, hurry-up-and-wait until 10pm four nights a week really dampens that.

[NaturalMystik]

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to the internet, based on the true meaning of the word addiction. However that being said I'm fairly addicted.

I'm a freelance web developer working from home. A good part of my job requires me being online, building, keeping up with trends, R&D etc... The rest of the time I guess I'm just working furthering my role in the venue of global consciousness by way of the matrix. Communicating, sharing, expanding, entertaining, learning etc... A great sense of power comes from seemingly unrestricted access the largest repository of information ever to exist... I suppose it's a bit intoxicating...

It seems like when I'm doing something offline, it's only a matter of minutes before I drop the task at hand and reach for the internets. When I'm without it for a day, I spend some time pacing around not quite sure what to do with myself. But then I get used to being back in the real world. That is until I'm near and internet connection again.

I wouldn't say it's a problem though. Just part of my life, one foot in the real world and one foot in cyberspace...

[barracuda]

My name is barracuda, and I'm an internet addict.

I consider it a priviledge to be here today, but truth is I've been in and out of these forums for the last fiteen years, trying to come to terms with the endless days and nights spent wondering if it'll ever be over, if I'll ever be "normal" again. But we all know that when you're an addict, once you've crossed that line, it's forever. I'm just grateful that I have today, and that I have the support of the people here, that I share this journey with.

When I was younger, it all seemed so harmless, but I've never really been able to control it. I started out the usual way, a MacII, an outboard modem on dialup, usegroups and porno and yahoo, and AOL, and before I knew it I had moved into freelancing html, and 72 dpi .jpg files littered my 40 meg hard drive. Hell, I worked on every PhotoShop version since 1.0. Still, at that time I was thinking everything was okay, but AOL turned out to be my first portal, and I guess I got kind of hooked. About ten tears ago, I moved from casual browsing into serious surfing, and it was around that time that I found I had to check memepool.com every day, and wsws.org, and pretty soon I was reading every article on Counterpunch and truthout, multitasking my ass off, and that's about the time I found I was really and truly addicted, hooked. I thought I could let go of it, but right about then the attacks in New York happened, and I experienced the entire event through a T-3 line on a high end Powerbook with a video and graphics card and double monitors. There was no going back. And Google IPO'ed. I lost my wife, my friends, my job... I sold everything I had to sit in a squalid apartment with an old laptop and a phone line. Back to dial up, that was my bottom, busted down to 56k, relegated to a text-only preference setting. You know how hard that is? I guess you do, or you wouldn't be here.

It had become a need, a stomach churning first thing every morning, last thing before bed need. Television? Newspapers? It's been decades since I took any of that seriously. Real people, really living, leaving the keyboard? Forget it. Ever been in love? I was in love, and I had to have my lady, or I was lost. I started getting stomach pains, eyestrain... I finally got strung out on the hardest stuff, dlisted, boing-boing, youtube, then the financial sites and conspiracy forums that eat every minute of your life and demand more watching, multiple windows, and the lowest: user-generated content, whoring my own pathetic writing out just to interact, lying to my family, giving away anything to be part of an online community, tearing my shirt when I lost my connection, sitting at the library consoles and cursing their safe-search functions. I know I'm no better than anybody else, but I was never a hacker, at least. I still had something.

And that's when I found this place, and you people, and I gave up, and gave in.

Mostly these days, I wake up and I'm alright. I got back my job, I can sit and have breakfast, drive the kid to school, and it doesn't even cross my mind. Not that I've gotten over it. You never do, and I never will. But with the help of the people in these rooms, and belief in my higher power (Apple Support), I can make it one day at a time. I've surrendered. But I never forget that I'm powerless. At least until I get the phone bill paid again. One day at a time.

My name is barracuda, and I've got today...

[Penguin]

Hahah, barracuda. I hope youre half in jest.
Me, Im one of those old timers (thou not all so old) - I grew up with computers. First one I laid hands when I was 3.

First time online, maybe 1991-93, sometime in that period...Dialup 2400 bps, connect to school/university Freenet, Gopher...Text stuff from a black and green Hercules display, 2 floppy drives on a 8088. Several friends ran BBSs, thou I didnt much use them.

Also nights spent at LAN parties or roleplaying. Both took indordinate amounts of time back then...

When I moved to my own flat and bought a used PC to replace my 86 vintage Atari ST (whee, used it till 2000), I also immediately got broadband. What, 1 mb line cost as much as a 10 mb line costs now. A bit under 40 e month. In addition I have a wireless 3G connection for 9 euros per month, unlimited use, unlimited data, get online anywhere
Yeah I know - needing a backup / mobile line in addition to fat pipe? Sheesh...But, but in case my landlink is down! I do worry a bit about the cell radiations effects and use the modem only when needed and place it on a long cord away from myself.

I think my fascination with the net comes from my love of libraries - libraries have stolen much of my life as a kid. Used to spend several afternoons each week there. Net is like a library with people you can talk to. A huge library with everything from smut to diamonds. And people you can hate or like.

In 2001 my net use did skyrocket a bit. I had dumped my TV couple years before - I didnt see any of WTC shizz on a TV, except on a shops window (with frozen people staring at em). Started to dig into it on the net, and ended here eventually. Been since, thou not posting...

I tend to use it a lot when I got nothing better to do (like work). When its a great summer day, you wont find me inside thou. But I might still take the laptop with me...

I find a tiny laptop is a supreme communications platform. Mine runs Linux, has a webcam, mic, good connections, wlan, battery to 5.5 hours...And is so small that it almost fits in a large pocket. I almost always have it with me - so I can jack into IRC and other chat networks anytime, to talk with my friends, or to send/receive files. Its largely replaced my phone - phone is only used for short quick calls "open the door Im downstairs" etc...

And Im addicted to many things, number one of them music. I cant go without music for long periods. And if I do, I get psychedelic effects from it after a break, like tingling sensations running thru my spine from the toes to the top of my head...And periodically go without each of em just to make sure Im not too addicted to anything.

[Code Unknown]

I think my fascination with the net comes from my love of libraries - libraries have stolen much of my life as a kid. Used to spend several afternoons each week there. Net is like a library with people you can talk to. A huge library with everything from smut to diamonds. And people you can hate or like.

Exactly the same for me, Penguin. It's like a "grown-up-sized" library. A library those of us with pre-digital childhoods couldn't have imagined a library could be in our wildest library dreams.

[OP ED]

(hell i've been here for the last 3 days)

take a shower...

but we're in the shower?

[lucky]

on line
main line
no time
internet crime
logging on
signing off
sitting still
brain gone soft

information upload
neural net implode
truth and lies
web bot spies
is this it? singularity
welcome to my meltdown party.

[Seamus OBlimey]

The Truth..

[Perelandra]

I think my fascination with the net comes from my love of libraries - libraries have stolen much of my life as a kid. Used to spend several afternoons each week there. Net is like a library with people you can talk to. A huge library with everything from smut to diamonds. And people you can hate or like.

Exactly the same for me, Penguin. It's like a "grown-up-sized" library. A library those of us with pre-digital childhoods couldn't have imagined a library could be in our wildest library dreams.

+ 1
An infinite library...in my comfy chair.

[§ê¢rꆧ]

This thread wins for relevancy. +1 for JR

Barracuda's post wins for creativity.

Like NaturalMystik, I'm a freelancer. So being on the net is part of my job in some ways; but time spent down the rabbit hole isn't billable hours. Lately I've been watching my deadlines whooooosh by, as I trawl the net for more and more information. I have a sensitivity to light, and I spend far, far too much time online. Usually at night. In some ways I can see this an addiction, and a problem.

But what am I doing here? Finding the others, in a way that my species could never before. Sure it's all about the information, but that can be found in other ways. I think it's the community of similar-minded folks that keeps me coming back. I mean, in meatspace, maybe I'd find five or ten of you (at most) in my local community of 500,000. I'd have to travel miles and miles to find more. At RigInt, I'm synching up and meeting some of the most interesting people on the planet, all in one place, at any time of the day, at my convenience.

I think time in polynymous communities is often seen as 'wasted' because people drift in and out of them, rarely reaping the rewards of real community. Bad behavior can be magnified by the psuedo-anonymity.
But it is such a novel, powerful way of interacting with other intelligences around the world I think it's a very worthwhile pursuit. I don't really spend much time in any other forums. I was very slow to settle in here but I am so happy I did.

When the weather is nice, at least, I punctuate the wake cycle with a long walk outdoors. It's funny, but when I am out and away from the computer, I see people with their wireless devices constantly checking in other their little hand-held screens. I have no desire to and have no gadgets (although I do think they are cool, I just can't afford them). When I'm away from the computer - I want to actually be away from it. I consider myself lucky to be able to spend as much time with it as I can. It is very rare that I'm not at the computer for one reason or another, so I make the most of my 'away time' by being in the moment of being unplugged.

I wish I had nathan28's job of hurrying up and waiting, while working the net. That seems ideal.

[IanEye]

The Internet?

Honestly, I can kind of take it or leave it.

Here, let me show y'all....

[NaturalMystik]

Well said §ê¢rꆧ - like minds indeed...

[JackRiddler]

The Internet?

Honestly, I can kind of take it or leave it.

Here, let me show y'all....

WTF?

This post by IanEye of Feb. 13 is the last one he did out of 1650 since 17 Jan 2006, according to his profile, which he has now marked "delete this account." He hasn't been back since.

Adios amigos?

Did this topic prompt a spontaneous demonstration of his freedom to walk away from this site and, as the post suggests, the Internet itself? Or was it something else I missed?

[Col. Quisp]

I wondered about that too...well, i guess he made a break for it.