How would you characterize your internet browsing?

[you]

How long do you spend on the internet and/or in the computer and playing games, and how do you normally feel/is when doing it?

I ask this because I feel a horrible problem with an almost impulsive vice to waste my time away on the computer whenever I can. I have long stopped playing games, so I usually just browse internet and *chans. However, I've noticed that, when I start browsing, I look for things that interest me and go check the updates on my daily sites and channels. This normally takes about ten to twenty minutes, depending on how much material has been updated or posted in these sites. From here on out, I almost lose consciousness, browsing mindlessly for literally hours until my bodily necessities or my family interrupt the process. That, or if I'm about to pass out from the fatigue. During this period, I don't derive any kind of joy from anything I see or read, and time normally passes by in skipped sections of about forty minutes to one hour(or whenever I end up turning up to look at the clock).

Does anyone else in here experiences this when using the internet or when engaged with a type of activity in which you think you're addicted to?

 

[uuy8778yyi]

do gardening

jigsaw puzzles

poetry

radio programmes

instead

 

[mbarvian]

I can definitely sympathize here, though I'm not sure it's unique to the Internet (though technology is probably worse than other things because it requires almost zero engagement from the rest of you). I think the overall "problem" here is just that short-lived comfort/ease of being distracted. I'm sure you've heard this from others on here, but one of the best things I've done to become aware of these habits is mindfulness/meditation practice. I often find myself jumping around (almost "unconsciously", like you said) when I'm trying to avoid a situation, e.g. an awkward silence in a conversation with a coworker. It's pretty liberating when you catch yourself in the act, rather than "waking up" minutes or even hours later like you mentioned. It's certainly an effort though, and even then you still maybe only catch about 5% of them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Noodlz]

I've experienced the same, but I've gotten much better at using the internet with a purpose and getting off when I'm browsing for no good reason. It's easier to manage when you've got actual goals to work towards.

 

[you]

I'm constantly gathering (bookmarks, copying text on to a document, saving imageboard webpages) but never actually soaking in any of it. I'm always saving it for later when I'm in a better circumstance and can properly absorb it all. Just skimming and saving.

It's somewhat true that if I were to start reading through things now in my mental fog and poor air quality it wouldn't be the most optimal way to retain that stuff. But it's gotten ridiculous. The entire day does by with my eyes glued to this computer screen, but as always, I have nothing to show for it by the time I leave. I'm actually curious as to what I'm doing all day. I watch youtube videos that I subscribed to, then maybe go on a tangent of related videos. Never taking more than two hours, I'd say. I thought I kept losing time to masturbation, but that never took more than two hours tops and now that I can't get it up day after day I learned that isn't what it is either. So if I can't remember, it must not be anything meaningful. I'm not busy. I'm not busy, but I always have the attitude of quickly storing something away so I can get to the next thing without ever going back to that collection and make use of any of it.

I had to explain this to my therapist and it's then when I noticed how bizarre it is. I don't think he even understood me. Usually people on the internet either look for certain information, entertain themselves with videos, music or games or chat with their friends.

I noticed that it takes me half an hour at most to check the latest updates on the sites I visit. After that I should start studying. But I think that the thought of doing work is so scary to me that I keep looking for interesting threads to distract myself. I enter a state where I keep refreshing boards and skip over posts. I am not looking for specific information. Just trying to distract myself. I mostly look at pictures and read short posts and don't engage in meaningful discussion. And I can't stop because I am so used to this fast flow of mostly useless fast to process information.

Because of that I have nothing to talk about. No knowledge and no skills. Even now knowing I have to change I still am browsing imageboards. I will waste another day and when I am lying in bed free of distractions be angry at myself again thinking the next day will be different but it won't.

I think many people today suffer from internet addiction. It should probably be taken more seriously as a social problem by society in the same way as drugs/alcohol/gambling. Pretty much from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep I'm on the internet, not really because I want to but because I have nothing else to do, and it feels comfortable and numbing. On the other hand, maybe the world is just ***t and its best for us to withdraw from it into the internet.