Internet addiction

when internet was down at my house for 2 weeks i discovered a whole new real life socialising person inside me.

I tried many things to deal with my internet addiction: Moving the computer into another room, handing my network cables over to other people and telling them not to let me have them back for a week, and even at one point smashing up my hard drive so I could focus on my autodidactic hermit studies without feeling the lure of the interweb pulling me away from my desk.

None of it worked really, I always ended up finding a way out of it.

The only technique I have found at all effective is to try to terrify myself with the existential implications of spending 12 hours a day googling for porn. I think to myself: "Dave, you useless idiot. You will live perhaps eighty years. Then you will die. Every minute spent in front of the screen is another experience never had, another piece of knowledge never learned. I mean, Dave, wtf? Do you even enjoy this? Do you really?" And of course when I think about I don't. Using the internet is like watching television. It's not enjoyable per se, it's not even pleasant. It's just sort of...restful, anaesthetic. At that point I get disgusted with myself, shut down the computer and go outside, or read a book.

Naturally the fact that I am here shows that the effect wears off after a while though.

Yeah, that whole wasting your life away aspect to the Internet is very depressing. Not that all Internet use is like that, but a lot of it can be.

However: I do know that I get very little sleep much too often because I'm online late at night. And I'm really trying to get better about that. But I frequently come home late after band practice or whatever, and I think, well, I at least need to check my e-mail, or see if anyone left comments on my blog, or responded to that ILM thread I started ... and then what was meant to be a 5-minute check-up turns into an hour or two in front of the computer.

(oh my sides etc.)

It's no good for my brain (I am even having fitful dreams where I try to pick out boggle words!)

I don't think I can go cold turkey - do I set time limits or just set up alternative activities to entice me away?
I know I can do it cause I've cut out these addictions before

why not msn your friends and write your first novel on the web and look for a job on the web and study on the web erm while doing the dumbbells or something?

Anyone ever try to manage addiction with site blocking software (note - this is not directly related to my recent porn post)? I'm starting law school in the Fall and considering blocking everything non-school-related on my laptop as I tend to click compulsively and ad infinitum. My concern is that I will suddenly realize I need a blocked site. OTOH maybe I could try just blocking entertainment/bbs/porn/games etc. with one of those parental filters.

Bump. Still wondering if anyone has tried this software - if not for yourself maybe for your kids?

i did actually block ILX with AdBlock for a bit a couple of months back (never mind how long i held out)

So if I add AdBlock to Firefox, could I set it to block certain sites and then just have my wife set a password or does it not work like that?

If the internet didn't exist I'd just find other ways to procrastinate horrendously.

I would too, but I'll be studying in a law library, and I don't think I could possibly kill anywhere near as much time reading through 1980s Wyoming statutes volumes and would probably go back to work much more quickly

not pwd-based solution hurting, you would still require level of willpower

http://www.selfcontrol.com

the internet has gotten so boring that it cured any addiction I might have had.

yeah, self-control, ok. But it's just as much exercising self-control to say "I'm going to set a rule against buying donuts because I don't want the in the house" as it is to just try not to eat the donuts.

Get a couple of kids, it really helps to cut down on the internet but of course you end up spending a lot of time running after your kid asking if she wants to use the POTTY PRETTY PLEASE instead of pooing in her pants.

I really wonder what the fuck I did with 24 hours in a day when I didn't have kids nor internet. I really wonder.

But to be honest I doubt AdBlock or whatever the fuck program blocks certain sites would keep me from visiting ILX. Or Facebook. Or Ravelry. Or Gmail.

the power cord on my laptop broke, so i came 2 to work to use the computer and post on ILX/make scrabble moves.
on a sunday night.
i am a looooser.