I haven't dealt with my laptop based computer addiction, but I have solved my cell phone addiction.
It's important to understand how much behavior around technology is based on ingrained habits. My goal with dealing with my phone was to "short-circuit" the habitual/addictive behavior.
To do this, I did two things.
1. I turned off all automatic notifications on my phone, as well as all background updates of apps/email/etc.
2. I created a simple rule: I can use my phone whenever I want, but I have to wait five minutes after 'thinking of using it.'
Combined, these two rules have been effective in short-circuiting the addictive properties of my cell phone. The five minute wait time gives me the chance to have deliberate/conscious thought about my phone use. The lack of automatic updates happening in the background gives me a chance to catch myself, if I unconsciously start using my phone. For example, it takes 20-30 seconds to load email. If I unconsciously open the email app, nothing has changed. Sure, I can tell it to load the email, but the time it takes to load the email gives me the chance to realize I'm breaking my five minute rule.
I feel like I'm able to use my phone as a tool again. After around a month of this, I'm no longer scared of my phone's power over me.
Sadly, I haven't figured out an effective system for my computer yet.
After a long addiction where I had used my phones as projects rather than tools, I decided to unwind. The blinking notification light was the first one to go, as I couldn't concentrate when it was active (which was most of the time). The next step was to buy a huge battery which made my phone twice as thick, but I only needed to charge it every few days which was a huge thing not having to worry about constantly. After a couple of weeks I started disabling more and more of the apps which made my phone buzz, and at the end I had only the most basic apps.
At the final step I realized that I had a huge expensive phone with only basic functionality and a web browser that always seemed to steal my attention (procrastinating on the web). I bought a Nokia C5-00 (dumbphone) and told my family that if they needed to reach me, they'd have to text or call - everything else would be dealt with a couple of times a day on my tablet.
It's been a year, and I love the freedom to work and be with friends and family without constantly having my phone in my face. I also seem to handle boring situations much better as I no longer can rely on my phone to entertain me whenever I have 3 minutes to spare. I am now a 22 year old Swedish programmer with a dumbphone that I charge once every 1-2 weeks, and I love it. Also, the reactions from co-workers and train conductors scanning my SMS-tickets are very interesting.
The "set Do Not Disturb for 12:00AM - 11:59PM" trick has been amazing for me the past month or so I started the experiment. I set it to allow texts and calls from my Favorites through (e.g. wife, mom, dad) -- but essentially every other type of notification is non-urgent and likely even non-important.
By far the best app to silence has been my email. I consider it a luxury that I can come home and not worry about it. I highly suggest it to anyone who thinks they have a screen addiction.
I solved that problem with a far simpler solution. I don't own a smartphone. I spend eight to ten hours watching a screen at work. Don't want to spend another five doing the same thing in my leisure. I also don't own any tablets, for the same reason, except a Kindle which I use every now and then in commuting. Most people I meet feel surprised when I tell them I don't have a smartphone especially considering that I'm a "computer guy". But the thing is I don't really need it. I can't do any productive work on it and even if I could I wouldn't want to. As for the PC, I'm also off any social network, excluding Hacker News which is addictive but at least I'm learning stuff so I don't consider it procrastination.
Disabling notifications, both on my phone and on my laptop, was one of the best things I ever did, hands down.
For the laptop, I've experimented with logging out of most social networks with some good results.
I block out an hour every day or so for email and the like, and during that time, I'll re-log-in to Facebook. But outside of that, I stay logged-out, and 2FA helps by making the login process even less convenient.
Messenger and Twitter do get re-enabled when I'm at a conference or need to coordinate with people via those channels, but otherwise, it's just another cognitive burden and potential source of bees-in-head.
When I'm at home, I also leave my phone in the charger in the bedroom. Out of sight really has been out of mind.
Oh, and no phone in the bathroom has been a very good rule as well, in terms of breaking bad habits.
"I think of different communication media as having different urgencies / time constants. Emails are a daily report. My phone's notifications are an hourly report. Notifications which I forward to my watch are the instant things. Be sure to mercilessly "mute" most apps from bugging you on your wrist. With this setup, I never feel the urge to check my phone. If there is something important, it would've buzzed my wrist."
Totally agree with turning off Notifications. People, who complained about busy their life, seeking solace from technology, the updates/alerts, et al. have asked for tips or tricks. I told them to disable all notifications. Many are surprised, some feels that I'm turning into a savage, while some got angry.
Anything that asked for permission for notifications, alerts, just do not allow them. That should solve most of the problems.
Totally agree with turning off all notifications on the phone. This simply makes the phone experience so much better. Knowing you only reach for it when you need it, instead of getting dragged into checking other things while already looking at the screen due to the notification, really calms one down.
I still have an iPhone, but I'm (by choice) on a contract that has 500Mb of data per month and then a very expensive per Gb cost after that. Being aware of what percentage of my 500Mb I've used makes me very careful about wasting time on the phone. Works well for me and keeps me productive.
For me, the solutions are bookmarks. I keep a folder "Daily". Several times a day, I open all bookmarks inside that folder and go through the opened tabs one by one. Moreover, I unsubscribed from any kind of impersonal email.
Similar for my phone. I have vibration turned off for all apps, and most limited to just 'badges' for me to check when I want. I feel more relax; it's a better way to live.
Oh man, oh man, this is so close to my experience. I went lo-fi since the beginning of 2017. Real testimonials of a drug/facebook/internet addict who has the problem out of control here.
I killed my Facebook account 3 months ago, and switched to a dumb phone (from a Pixel phone ;-) since the beginning of the year. Now I'm rocking a webOS phone and no IM account except for hangouts which I check on my computer when I want. I no longer reach my pocket to check for message or anything when I enjoy my meal or go travel somewhere. There is no push or anything I can play when I wake up in the middle of the night to keep me up. Also, looking up and navigating to places by instinct sucks, and is fun at the same time. I no longer have any idea how highly rated any place is before I walk in, and I had plenty of surprises since then. Just last weekend I traveled somewhere and interacted with the locals because the only place in town was closed - I wouldn't have if I had a smartphone to "OK Google." Without the smartphone, I now carry a big, beaten up mirrorless camera in by bag, so I am more or less have to do more "proper" photography now, instead of disposable instagram stuff to get likes (this I have to credit the Pixel, it was an incredible camera for how thin it is). Learning photography with a camera is super fun, although the end result seems to be the same.
I'm an immigrant. Other than the Trump stuff my liberal friends were talking about here, there was another alternative flow of stressful/irrelevant celebrities news from my home country. I realized that without Facebook, I actually extremely rarely check or care what's going on, about who is fucking who and who is getting fat. The amount of stuff getting in my brain is dramatically reduced. I thought I would miss Facebook, and it turned out I don't. The benefits far, far exceeded the negatives.
Without Facebook and a constant smartphone influence to consume, I write way more, about what I like and what actually matters to me, not to get likes from my friends and to appear intelligent. I get downvotes from Hacker News when I say something stupid, which I don't get from Facebook. It's alright :) I honestly feel I learn everyday.
I get so much better sleep, way less stress and I have so much free time since then. It was like an enlightenment for me to be taking control of my life. I will try to cut back the internet also as the author suggested. Now excuse me, I have to get back to work on my writing.
Some people are alcoholics. They can't exist near an open can of beer without their life going to shambles. But most people aren't and don't have the urge to binge drink.
I'm not sure how this is any different. The author of this article is an Internetaholic, therefore I should cut my tether to the Internet? And what of my LTE connection?
I think this blog post is entirely too idealistic about the benefits of turning off the Internet, but I don't think comparing excessive Internet use and Alcoholism is appropriate.
Having personally been on the fringe of "high functioning" alcoholism on a few occasions, I don't think the comparison works. Alcoholism is inherently negative. Drinking alcohol in moderation may not be extremely harmful, but is still not necessarily great. While I certainly won't tell anyone how to live their life, cutting out alcohol use is still a "good" thing. Even if it's not a problem for you. Edit: I also still drink periodically because I enjoy it.
Internet use is not inherently negative. "Addiction" to the Internet may not be great, but is not necessarily all bad. The tricky thing about Internet use is that it's generally not something with negative social connotations. So even if someone is "binge consuming", one is not likely to feel negative social pressure because of it.
So I ultimately agree that he shouldn't be touting no Internet as a solution for all people, but I can't get behind the Alcoholism comparison.
An alcohol manufacturer rarely has an army of designers, data scientists and engineers working non-stop to make their product more addictive and measuring their success on engagement growth.
I do think that a lot of people are very dependent on the internet in this way—and that there's very few things in life that we find to be indispensable to ever be disconnected from—air, sustenance, light, and... internet?
The fact that many find it to be so inconceivable to go from having the internet 24/7 to having the internet for your entire workday and any time you spend in a public place with internet, really points out how psychologically dependent we've collectively become on the web.
I think the problem is that apparently many people default to some level of potential "internetaholicity"; it explains the insane success of something like FB after all. People take time to recognize the various Skinner Boxes and develop the kind of sophistication so many on a site like HN take for granted. MMORPG's, Mobile F2P Skinner Boxes, and messaging programs really are going right to the core of human behavior.
How many of us didn't at least go through a phase of abusive use around the internet, or games, or something like that? When you add that having an FB account and the like is often seen as ultimately normal, it starts to add a lot of pressure for some people. As someone who has always hated something like FB, it's been disturbing to see it sink hooks into so many.
That said, I saw it coming because when I was a teenager I was hooked on mIrc for a while!
SO no... don't cut your tether, you're either naturally immune or like me developed an immune system. You should recognize though, that plenty of people aren't going to have such a successful outcome playing with that particular fire.
I think comparing it to alcohol is incorrect. It's more analogous to cigarettes. You start and it's very hard to stop. You increase your intake and it's very hard to even reduce it. Honestly, I think the internet is much more addictive than cigarettes and more comparable to very hard, addictive drugs.
A less extreme idea embedded in here, that I'd like to try, is writing things down that you'd like research instead of impulsively Googling stuff. I think this wil have at least two benefits. 1. This will prevent you from impulsively interrupting what you're doing (like work or eating dinner)
2. Will filter out things you don't actually care about. When you sit down to go through your research list, you might discover you don't actually care about half of them thus saving you time and effort.
Interesting how I never considered this option. It never even hit my horizon. I'm actually in the process of increasing speed since faster speed equals faster access and better productivity. Right? After reading this article, I suspect I'm wrong.
Thinking about how easy it is to get distracted when I'm online 100% of the time, no access is probably a good choice. It's going to hurt but this is something I'm going to try. Good article.
Cute. Kind of like a paleo diet. Check back in in 2018, let me know how that's going for you.
I mean, I get it, you have to rebalance, which sometimes calls for going overboard. Just don't get too excited about it being the One True Way. 50 years from now?
In college I had tried to get into programming (including taking a CS class) and had, each time, bounced off (not because I couldn't get it, but tutorials seemed boring and a passion wasn't ignited).
Fast forward to after college, I found myself at a career-y job I disliked. Each lunch break I loaded up my (shiny new 2011) Macbook Air with a few tabs-worth of chapters of How to Think Like a Computer Scientist [0] and headed to a Wendy's that didn't have an internet connection. So, for 45 minutes I could eat my spicy chicken nuggets and apply what I was learning from the book in console at a Python command line. It was so simple and fun, I was hooked. Within a month I was taking on programming-related responsibilities at work, soon thereafter auditing a class at Uni (I specifically chose cause it interested me), and within 4-5 months was being paid by my professor (from audited class) for web dev grant work, and a few more months and I was being paid as a developer by the University directly. The rest is history.
I think one key part of why it stuck the fourth time was because my routine allowed for 45+ minutes of time away from the internet each day with learning materials. The satisfaction of learning is incredible but more of a "slow drip" compared to the kind of instant satisfaction one can get by opening Netflix, Facebook, or whatever. Going without the latter during a key period I think changed my life.
May I suggest that the problem is one of quality much more so than of quantity, and that a solution that takes a more fine-grained approach than just shutting off your ISP altogether can give you the best of both worlds?
"How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist"
Once you see how subtly dark patterns borrowed from advertising and casinos tap deeply into your subconscious impulses without your knowledge, you will likely jettison any cavalier conception of things like Facebook, smartphone notifications, etc., and begin to treat them like the subversive, profit driven intrusions that they are.
Let's as well not forget that just about 100% of the web used to look like it would today if you disabled all Javascript and CSS. The change is not a coincidence, and it's important to recognize who benefits from the intrusive web, and what we lose when our scenic view of the historic part of town has been blocked by the new casino development.
But... but... I need the internet for online gaming and aimless browsing!
It's true. This stuff is addictive, and I've known that for over two decades now. And I've been addicted ever since my older brother told me about the Internet when he went to university. I don't fool myself that I can stop anytime; I clearly can't. I don't want to. But it's true that it's sucking up way too much time.
I don't read books anymore because I read HN and Google+. I have trouble of focusing on boring administrative chores because there's always this info-driven dopamine boost within reach.
I'm a minimalist but it doesn't mean that i have nothing in my flat. I enjoy watching stuff on netflix or playing computer games.
Being a minimalist and have basically nothing is just another form of 'hi i'm peter and i did something to an unnecessary extreme, please look at me'.
No internet at home no one will do this. Lots of people will try it but will stop doing it and haven't learnt anything from it.
Being a minimalist means having that mindset and evaluating all the time but being content with the status quo. If you have the feeling that you are using the internet too much, reduce it somehow but not by removing it completely.
It is the same with diet: No one will keep there weight when dieting. Change your eating habbits instead.
I wish there were better ways to regulate your own access. It's easy enough to make good decisions about where you spend your time when you're in a good frame of mind, but it's almost impossible to do that every minute of every day. It's a bit like eating I think. It's not too hard to buy healthy food when you're at the grocery store, but it's hard to say no to a plate of cookies every time you walk past when they're sitting on your table.
I wish there were good software solutions, like a way to schedule a blacklist of websites on your phone and computer that you simply couldn't get around. Almost everything I've seen is set up to block access for children, or is easily bypassed. I feel like it's an area that could be a huge benefit to a lot of people.
Completely killing your home internet is extreme. I'd have to change careers, hobbies, and it would even interfere with friendships. But there's no reason why it has to be all or nothing.
I tried living totally without internet access, and while I felt a lot better overall, I eventually had to give in. Nowadays phone books aren't usually delivered to homes anymore, so if you want to get in touch with a store or find a doctor's office, you need internet to search for it. Since I wasn't driving at the time, I couldn't just head out to an internet cafe when it was something important.
For similar reasons, I've had trouble detangling from Facebook. 10 years ago, if a friend was getting married they'd send out announcements -- now they just "announce" it on Facebook, and if you don't log in that week, you don't find out about it.
So part of the reason it's hard to disconnect is because the previous methods of staying in touch have atrophied in favor of these new, more toxic systems.
Nevertheless, I'm trying a couple of things (with varied success -- I really do much better cold turkey):
- Trying to reward myself with internet time after I score enough points in Habitica (aka HabitRPG)
- Trying to turn off the modem at a certain time of night like 10 pm (I find I sleep better too -- might be coincidence but I've noticed the difference many times)
Ultimately what would help me would be a pay-per-use internet plan versus an "always on" internet plan. If I know that my plan fee increased after 20 hours / month, I'd have access when I needed it, but then I'd have to "save up" for special occasions like streaming a show. As of yet I haven't found an external limit that doesn't also make life too logistically challenging.
It's so sad to see such techniques just because people can control themselves. Ok, a life with a full list of friends on facebook is fake, but the opposite is fake too. It's just another hypster minimalist move. Some tortured guy looking for meaning in his life, as all of us, but with enough paternalistic arrogance to pretend he knows better than us what's good for us, usual story.
People of my generation around me, myself included, tend or tended to boast how we are living without any TV at home compared to our parents or the time we spent watching TV when we were younger.
Now, people in my flat sharing were watching series on their own laptops most of the evenings, otherwise spending their time on internet.
In retrospective, I wonder if we will have the same "relationship" with Internet our parents have with the TV, and if our children will behave the same with Internet as we do now regarding our pride not to use a TV anymore.
I think I should do something similar to my addiction to HN. I find myself glancing HN feed several times in the day with insatiable need to know the shiny new things. I'm going to try to restrict myself to one time a day visit to HN. Lets see if that can get my lazy ass to finally make more contributions in GitHub and do something more productive.
It's a way to help you prevent yourself from spending too much time on HN. If you turn it on you'll only be allowed to visit the site for maxvisit minutes at a time, with gaps of minaway minutes in between. The defaults are 20 and 180, which would let you view the site for 20 minutes at a time, and then not allow you back in for 3 hours. You can override noprocrast if you want, in which case your visit clock starts over at zero.
I use http://hckrnews.com and ONLY view the Top 10 per day. After the first visit or two all subsequent visits last only a second as a realize there's nothing new.
Sure, facebook/twitter/social media et al are obviously utter dross, but why cut yourself off from learning & knowledge like some sort of troglodyte?
People say books are great - and sure they are, but I have yet to find a book that 100% answers every question I have right there on the page as I am reading it. I frequently find myself thinking "hmm interesting - I wonder...." and look up stuff on the internet for more background/context/history/examples/whatever.
In my opinion curiosity is something that should be encouraged and not put on a rationed list of "things to do later, if you have the time"
My advice would be:
- delete all social apps
- star your immediate family contacts so that all other calls/notifications etc are silent
- stay observant and curious, and embrace the pursuit of knowledge & learning
Exactly, I have vast wealth of contextual knowledge because of browsing Internet regarding multiple stuff from philosophy, computer science, history etc.
This has resulted me to find and appreciate connections between various stuff, things I never would have in a analog fashion of only reading books(which I do as that deepens the knowledge).
The internet expands and augments our perspective with that of so many others in a searchable fashion with element of serendipity & discovery to it.
Social media may contain lots of irrelevant noise, but that doesn't define the internet, like reality shows don't define existence.Te web in general has been a extremely positive gift to me, and to spurn it is not a option for me at least.
I total agree with the sentiment. I stopped using facebook for about 3 years. It was almost instantly obvious how much time was wasted on people's whining, fake news and dog photos. It is easier to do when it only affects yourself.
However it is a whole different story when things, like a cable tv, affects every member of your family. I was faced with fierce objection when I brought out the idea to cut out cable tv, and removing all TV from home.
It seems to me that the market value of "media" is how much time people are willing to waste instead of doing other stuff. For instance facebook now worth about 400B. What happens to global economy if facebook doesn't exist and people divert their attention to do whatever they interested in?
A famous author once made the following observation - When faced with the option of either doing more exercise or less eating for losing weight, take the option which requires you to a) spend less time and b) not add anything new to your life (i.e. the cognitive overhead).
Apparently, people who tried to eat less were also more successful in losing weight.
Cutting off home internet is the option of less eating. Seems more drastic, but is actually more tuned to how our brains work.
Your suggestion is similar to doing more exercise. It can also work, but it is just a whole lot more work and cognitive overhead.
Besides, its not like the author is asking people to go off the grid.
I really like the idea. But I think the author needs to be super transparent to his audience and be honest about when he re-enables his internet connection. Otherwise it is just socialmediaing the audience with nice pictures of his "life", building a façade that is not truthful.
I keep my internet off most of the day (via kernel firewall). Have a command that gives me a few minutes of internet so I can look up docs, then shuts everything back down.
If you're on a Mac then i can recommend Dash app for offline docs libraries.
For me it's completely different experience to code offline (very enjoyable). More thinking involved - less Google/SO.
[+] [-] JacobJans|9 years ago|reply
It's important to understand how much behavior around technology is based on ingrained habits. My goal with dealing with my phone was to "short-circuit" the habitual/addictive behavior.
To do this, I did two things.
1. I turned off all automatic notifications on my phone, as well as all background updates of apps/email/etc.
2. I created a simple rule: I can use my phone whenever I want, but I have to wait five minutes after 'thinking of using it.'
Combined, these two rules have been effective in short-circuiting the addictive properties of my cell phone. The five minute wait time gives me the chance to have deliberate/conscious thought about my phone use. The lack of automatic updates happening in the background gives me a chance to catch myself, if I unconsciously start using my phone. For example, it takes 20-30 seconds to load email. If I unconsciously open the email app, nothing has changed. Sure, I can tell it to load the email, but the time it takes to load the email gives me the chance to realize I'm breaking my five minute rule.
I feel like I'm able to use my phone as a tool again. After around a month of this, I'm no longer scared of my phone's power over me.
Sadly, I haven't figured out an effective system for my computer yet.
[+] [-] smeroth|9 years ago|reply
At the final step I realized that I had a huge expensive phone with only basic functionality and a web browser that always seemed to steal my attention (procrastinating on the web). I bought a Nokia C5-00 (dumbphone) and told my family that if they needed to reach me, they'd have to text or call - everything else would be dealt with a couple of times a day on my tablet.
It's been a year, and I love the freedom to work and be with friends and family without constantly having my phone in my face. I also seem to handle boring situations much better as I no longer can rely on my phone to entertain me whenever I have 3 minutes to spare. I am now a 22 year old Swedish programmer with a dumbphone that I charge once every 1-2 weeks, and I love it. Also, the reactions from co-workers and train conductors scanning my SMS-tickets are very interesting.
e: grammar
[+] [-] hbosch|9 years ago|reply
By far the best app to silence has been my email. I consider it a luxury that I can come home and not worry about it. I highly suggest it to anyone who thinks they have a screen addiction.
[+] [-] elorant|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donw|9 years ago|reply
For the laptop, I've experimented with logging out of most social networks with some good results.
I block out an hour every day or so for email and the like, and during that time, I'll re-log-in to Facebook. But outside of that, I stay logged-out, and 2FA helps by making the login process even less convenient.
Messenger and Twitter do get re-enabled when I'm at a conference or need to coordinate with people via those channels, but otherwise, it's just another cognitive burden and potential source of bees-in-head.
When I'm at home, I also leave my phone in the charger in the bedroom. Out of sight really has been out of mind.
Oh, and no phone in the bathroom has been a very good rule as well, in terms of breaking bad habits.
[+] [-] unexistance|9 years ago|reply
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11762946
"I think of different communication media as having different urgencies / time constants. Emails are a daily report. My phone's notifications are an hourly report. Notifications which I forward to my watch are the instant things. Be sure to mercilessly "mute" most apps from bugging you on your wrist. With this setup, I never feel the urge to check my phone. If there is something important, it would've buzzed my wrist."
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Brajeshwar|9 years ago|reply
Anything that asked for permission for notifications, alerts, just do not allow them. That should solve most of the problems.
I wrote an article about it long back (2014) and people really seem to like it [personal plug] - http://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activit...
[+] [-] toomanybeersies|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mycloud|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makerofthings|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orschiro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] samdoidge|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jimmies|9 years ago|reply
I killed my Facebook account 3 months ago, and switched to a dumb phone (from a Pixel phone ;-) since the beginning of the year. Now I'm rocking a webOS phone and no IM account except for hangouts which I check on my computer when I want. I no longer reach my pocket to check for message or anything when I enjoy my meal or go travel somewhere. There is no push or anything I can play when I wake up in the middle of the night to keep me up. Also, looking up and navigating to places by instinct sucks, and is fun at the same time. I no longer have any idea how highly rated any place is before I walk in, and I had plenty of surprises since then. Just last weekend I traveled somewhere and interacted with the locals because the only place in town was closed - I wouldn't have if I had a smartphone to "OK Google." Without the smartphone, I now carry a big, beaten up mirrorless camera in by bag, so I am more or less have to do more "proper" photography now, instead of disposable instagram stuff to get likes (this I have to credit the Pixel, it was an incredible camera for how thin it is). Learning photography with a camera is super fun, although the end result seems to be the same.
I'm an immigrant. Other than the Trump stuff my liberal friends were talking about here, there was another alternative flow of stressful/irrelevant celebrities news from my home country. I realized that without Facebook, I actually extremely rarely check or care what's going on, about who is fucking who and who is getting fat. The amount of stuff getting in my brain is dramatically reduced. I thought I would miss Facebook, and it turned out I don't. The benefits far, far exceeded the negatives.
Without Facebook and a constant smartphone influence to consume, I write way more, about what I like and what actually matters to me, not to get likes from my friends and to appear intelligent. I get downvotes from Hacker News when I say something stupid, which I don't get from Facebook. It's alright :) I honestly feel I learn everyday.
I get so much better sleep, way less stress and I have so much free time since then. It was like an enlightenment for me to be taking control of my life. I will try to cut back the internet also as the author suggested. Now excuse me, I have to get back to work on my writing.
[+] [-] brian-armstrong|9 years ago|reply
I'm not sure how this is any different. The author of this article is an Internetaholic, therefore I should cut my tether to the Internet? And what of my LTE connection?
[+] [-] Trundle|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] haswell|9 years ago|reply
Having personally been on the fringe of "high functioning" alcoholism on a few occasions, I don't think the comparison works. Alcoholism is inherently negative. Drinking alcohol in moderation may not be extremely harmful, but is still not necessarily great. While I certainly won't tell anyone how to live their life, cutting out alcohol use is still a "good" thing. Even if it's not a problem for you. Edit: I also still drink periodically because I enjoy it.
Internet use is not inherently negative. "Addiction" to the Internet may not be great, but is not necessarily all bad. The tricky thing about Internet use is that it's generally not something with negative social connotations. So even if someone is "binge consuming", one is not likely to feel negative social pressure because of it.
So I ultimately agree that he shouldn't be touting no Internet as a solution for all people, but I can't get behind the Alcoholism comparison.
[+] [-] prostoalex|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smhost|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] osdiab|9 years ago|reply
The fact that many find it to be so inconceivable to go from having the internet 24/7 to having the internet for your entire workday and any time you spend in a public place with internet, really points out how psychologically dependent we've collectively become on the web.
[+] [-] M_Grey|9 years ago|reply
How many of us didn't at least go through a phase of abusive use around the internet, or games, or something like that? When you add that having an FB account and the like is often seen as ultimately normal, it starts to add a lot of pressure for some people. As someone who has always hated something like FB, it's been disturbing to see it sink hooks into so many.
That said, I saw it coming because when I was a teenager I was hooked on mIrc for a while!
SO no... don't cut your tether, you're either naturally immune or like me developed an immune system. You should recognize though, that plenty of people aren't going to have such a successful outcome playing with that particular fire.
[+] [-] k-mcgrady|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] truetraveller|9 years ago|reply
Alcohol-ic so Internet-ic
[+] [-] dplgk|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WheelsAtLarge|9 years ago|reply
Thinking about how easy it is to get distracted when I'm online 100% of the time, no access is probably a good choice. It's going to hurt but this is something I'm going to try. Good article.
[+] [-] daxfohl|9 years ago|reply
I mean, I get it, you have to rebalance, which sometimes calls for going overboard. Just don't get too excited about it being the One True Way. 50 years from now?
[+] [-] spenvo|9 years ago|reply
Fast forward to after college, I found myself at a career-y job I disliked. Each lunch break I loaded up my (shiny new 2011) Macbook Air with a few tabs-worth of chapters of How to Think Like a Computer Scientist [0] and headed to a Wendy's that didn't have an internet connection. So, for 45 minutes I could eat my spicy chicken nuggets and apply what I was learning from the book in console at a Python command line. It was so simple and fun, I was hooked. Within a month I was taking on programming-related responsibilities at work, soon thereafter auditing a class at Uni (I specifically chose cause it interested me), and within 4-5 months was being paid by my professor (from audited class) for web dev grant work, and a few more months and I was being paid as a developer by the University directly. The rest is history.
I think one key part of why it stuck the fourth time was because my routine allowed for 45+ minutes of time away from the internet each day with learning materials. The satisfaction of learning is incredible but more of a "slow drip" compared to the kind of instant satisfaction one can get by opening Netflix, Facebook, or whatever. Going without the latter during a key period I think changed my life.
[0] - http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english3e/
[+] [-] nicklaf|9 years ago|reply
"How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind — from a Magician and Google Design Ethicist"
https://journal.thriveglobal.com/how-technology-hijacks-peop...
Once you see how subtly dark patterns borrowed from advertising and casinos tap deeply into your subconscious impulses without your knowledge, you will likely jettison any cavalier conception of things like Facebook, smartphone notifications, etc., and begin to treat them like the subversive, profit driven intrusions that they are.
Let's as well not forget that just about 100% of the web used to look like it would today if you disabled all Javascript and CSS. The change is not a coincidence, and it's important to recognize who benefits from the intrusive web, and what we lose when our scenic view of the historic part of town has been blocked by the new casino development.
[+] [-] jghefner|9 years ago|reply
> You probably don’t, and maybe it’s time to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.
That's where I stopped reading as obviously this article is not directed at me.
Unless there is a way to troubleshoot and fix remote servers in the middle of the night without internet.
[+] [-] mcv|9 years ago|reply
It's true. This stuff is addictive, and I've known that for over two decades now. And I've been addicted ever since my older brother told me about the Internet when he went to university. I don't fool myself that I can stop anytime; I clearly can't. I don't want to. But it's true that it's sucking up way too much time.
I don't read books anymore because I read HN and Google+. I have trouble of focusing on boring administrative chores because there's always this info-driven dopamine boost within reach.
[+] [-] sigi45|9 years ago|reply
I'm a minimalist but it doesn't mean that i have nothing in my flat. I enjoy watching stuff on netflix or playing computer games.
Being a minimalist and have basically nothing is just another form of 'hi i'm peter and i did something to an unnecessary extreme, please look at me'.
No internet at home no one will do this. Lots of people will try it but will stop doing it and haven't learnt anything from it.
Being a minimalist means having that mindset and evaluating all the time but being content with the status quo. If you have the feeling that you are using the internet too much, reduce it somehow but not by removing it completely.
It is the same with diet: No one will keep there weight when dieting. Change your eating habbits instead.
[+] [-] mikenew|9 years ago|reply
I wish there were good software solutions, like a way to schedule a blacklist of websites on your phone and computer that you simply couldn't get around. Almost everything I've seen is set up to block access for children, or is easily bypassed. I feel like it's an area that could be a huge benefit to a lot of people.
Completely killing your home internet is extreme. I'd have to change careers, hobbies, and it would even interfere with friendships. But there's no reason why it has to be all or nothing.
[+] [-] Arete3141|9 years ago|reply
For similar reasons, I've had trouble detangling from Facebook. 10 years ago, if a friend was getting married they'd send out announcements -- now they just "announce" it on Facebook, and if you don't log in that week, you don't find out about it.
So part of the reason it's hard to disconnect is because the previous methods of staying in touch have atrophied in favor of these new, more toxic systems.
Nevertheless, I'm trying a couple of things (with varied success -- I really do much better cold turkey):
- Trying to reward myself with internet time after I score enough points in Habitica (aka HabitRPG)
- Trying to turn off the modem at a certain time of night like 10 pm (I find I sleep better too -- might be coincidence but I've noticed the difference many times)
Ultimately what would help me would be a pay-per-use internet plan versus an "always on" internet plan. If I know that my plan fee increased after 20 hours / month, I'd have access when I needed it, but then I'd have to "save up" for special occasions like streaming a show. As of yet I haven't found an external limit that doesn't also make life too logistically challenging.
[+] [-] vans|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] multani|9 years ago|reply
In retrospective, I wonder if we will have the same "relationship" with Internet our parents have with the TV, and if our children will behave the same with Internet as we do now regarding our pride not to use a TV anymore.
[+] [-] Latty|9 years ago|reply
This is hardly new. People complained about individuals wasting their lives reading books all day too.
[+] [-] reacharavindh|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shakna|9 years ago|reply
From the FAQ:
In my profile, what is noprocrast?
It's a way to help you prevent yourself from spending too much time on HN. If you turn it on you'll only be allowed to visit the site for maxvisit minutes at a time, with gaps of minaway minutes in between. The defaults are 20 and 180, which would let you view the site for 20 minutes at a time, and then not allow you back in for 3 hours. You can override noprocrast if you want, in which case your visit clock starts over at zero.
[+] [-] therealdrag0|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bamboozled|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] teh_klev|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattlondon|9 years ago|reply
Not sure I agree with this entirely.
Sure, facebook/twitter/social media et al are obviously utter dross, but why cut yourself off from learning & knowledge like some sort of troglodyte?
People say books are great - and sure they are, but I have yet to find a book that 100% answers every question I have right there on the page as I am reading it. I frequently find myself thinking "hmm interesting - I wonder...." and look up stuff on the internet for more background/context/history/examples/whatever.
In my opinion curiosity is something that should be encouraged and not put on a rationed list of "things to do later, if you have the time"
My advice would be: - delete all social apps - star your immediate family contacts so that all other calls/notifications etc are silent - stay observant and curious, and embrace the pursuit of knowledge & learning
[+] [-] laughingman2|9 years ago|reply
This has resulted me to find and appreciate connections between various stuff, things I never would have in a analog fashion of only reading books(which I do as that deepens the knowledge).
The internet expands and augments our perspective with that of so many others in a searchable fashion with element of serendipity & discovery to it.
Social media may contain lots of irrelevant noise, but that doesn't define the internet, like reality shows don't define existence.Te web in general has been a extremely positive gift to me, and to spurn it is not a option for me at least.
[+] [-] a_c|9 years ago|reply
However it is a whole different story when things, like a cable tv, affects every member of your family. I was faced with fierce objection when I brought out the idea to cut out cable tv, and removing all TV from home.
It seems to me that the market value of "media" is how much time people are willing to waste instead of doing other stuff. For instance facebook now worth about 400B. What happens to global economy if facebook doesn't exist and people divert their attention to do whatever they interested in?
[+] [-] vcool07|9 years ago|reply
- Install a nanny software to block time-sink sites at specific time (chrome nanny was an awesome tool)
- Schedule appointments in advance with your friends/relatives to keep the relationships active
- Enroll in social events to be around with people and work for a cause you care
- Go for group studies/writing workshops/book clubs etc to rekindle your passion of reading/writing
There're a hundred other hacks which you can use to ensure you're productive/social !
[+] [-] thr0waway1239|9 years ago|reply
Apparently, people who tried to eat less were also more successful in losing weight.
Cutting off home internet is the option of less eating. Seems more drastic, but is actually more tuned to how our brains work.
Your suggestion is similar to doing more exercise. It can also work, but it is just a whole lot more work and cognitive overhead.
Besides, its not like the author is asking people to go off the grid.
[+] [-] janwillemb|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RoboTeddy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] halokonrad|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] retreatguru|9 years ago|reply