How to Overcome Internet Addiction

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Internet addiction is something that’s either laughed at or it’s a serious problem. While not having the health effects of other types of dependencies, it can still be a problem if it gets in the way of work or social life. Don’t be like a fly caught in the Web.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

The desire to stop

Step1

Recognize the problem: do you check email incessantly when it is not entirely necessary? Do you go back to the same websites again and again? How many hours a day do you spend surfing the web?

Step2

Recognize the reasons. The Internet is always available and cheaper than alcohol addiction, and legal unlike drug addiction. It offers escape just like drugs and alcohol. Once you realize these reasons, you can pinpoint Internet addiction as a real problem and not something to be scoffed at as not being a “real” addiction.

Step3

Cut down on Internet use. This is, of course, easier said than done. You can’t stop checking email any more than you can stop checking the mail box. You can, however, stop checking it with the same frequency. Set the maximum amount you use the computer a day. This applies to chat rooms, games, online gambling, social networking sites (Myspace), and other sites that take up your time.

Step4

Take walks, go out to eat, leave your office or home—i.e. get away from the computer. Breaking away for a few hours can help clear the head. If you have wifi, don’t take the computer with you.

Step5

Start a new hobby, read a book, play games with a friend, play sports—try to find offline activities that fill up your time.

Tips & Warnings

As with any addiction, it is heartening to know that there are other people who suffer from the same problem. There are now support groups for this new and growing problem.
Call people up on the phone who you normally correspond with via email. Set up a face-to-face meeting.
As with any addiction, you must determine what you are trying to escape from. The addiction is the symptom, but you need to deal with the cause.
If none of the above works, seek professional counseling. Internet addiction can be as debilitating as other types of addiction if left unchecked.

Comments

AFrieske said

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on 12/6/2007 I can't say that anyone can actually call overuse of the internet an "Addiction". I think you should be careful about trivializing such a term. Addiction is the worst thing in world if you have ever been unfortunate enough to experience it. So calling people who spend too much time online addicts is probably not proper and almost insulting.

Janie said

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on 9/12/2007 I would say the best thing to know is that it is not an addiction you won't have to tolerate any kind of real discomfort from changing your behavior patterns here, but sometimes one does have to take a break and that is appropriate, the thing one can do is start their own site like this if they get smart enough and let other people come and write for them and take advantage of that in some way?

Henry said

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on 5/15/2007 Check the first sentence of the intro again.

Checkpix said

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on 5/9/2007 I can't take this article seriously, however it is good for a laugh. I'm on line a lot. It's a key part of how I earn a living, but I much prefer time spent sailing, hiking, reading or playing tennis.

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