Internet Addiction – Myth or Reality?

Year 1994. Not really the dawn of human civilization (Humans were already civilized by then. At least most of them :) ).

But for me it was the beginning of a love-hate relationship. This is the year I touched computer for the first time and boy I hated it. I kept on hating it for the next 4-5 years until it was finally thrown in my lap. I realized what I was going through is a resistance to initiation. Giving up was the only choice. Plus porn was picking up as well.

Fast forward to 2010.

I can't think what to do if I don't have a computer near me. I won't be able to write that Last Great American screenplay I want to write since forever. The trouble is if I have a computer in front of me which is capable of connecting to the Internet the first thing I'll do is check my yahoo mail. Pop goes the productivity.

Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the age of Internet Addiction. Extent of the problem "You are not alone."

Believe it or not the problem is more widespread than you can think of.  Most of the people I know check their work mails, sometimes as late as 1:00 AM in the night to as early as 6:00 AM in the morning. Just other day I was standing in the line to get a sandwich at Subway and there was this lady in early thirties checking her Facebook status on her iPhone (Maybe looking at her hookup requests). It's not that communicating is bad but Facebook during lunch can only mean one of the two things -- Either you are an addict or you really want to get laid by somebody, anybody.

How to know you are an addict

This website conducts an online test to check if you are an addict or not. Off course the credibility of test solely rests on the truthfulness of your response.

http://www.netaddiction.com/index.php?option=com_bfquiz&view=onepage&catid=46&Itemid=106

This website uses some scoring system and based on that you'll know if you really need some help.

What to do if you are addict

Denial is the first thing you'll do. :)

If it's a serious problem that affects your productivity or worse personal relationships then consider it the same as drug addiction. This institute somewhere in Midwest charges fifteen grand to fix your addiction.

http://www.netaddictionrecovery.com/

What to do for Addicts in progress

If you think you are on that path do something. Start with the smaller problem first. Tackling internet addiction.

For me unfortunately writing can be done on computer only unless humanity / technology folds ( à la Escape from LA).

For my addiction I use a very simple software called Freedom. This is available for both mac and windows. http://macfreedom.com/ What it does is disables your internet up to 8 hours. A lot can be done in 8 hours.

This can be started as a temporary solution and once you feel comfortable you can stop using it. If you think this program really helped you, please consider donating to the developer. He just saved you $15000.

Internet is without question the wonderful source of information but it poses one simple challenge -- when to stop?

Remember "abundance of information always creates deficit of attention".