I can get addicted to anything
A Day at a Time
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
I can get addicted to anything
Balance balance balance. Oh how I strive for balance. My latest addiction is the Internet. I am finding I am spending way too much time on line at the expense of the real people in my life.
Shortly I will be pulling the plug and resurrecting my dumb phone. I'm sure the people at the Verizon store will look at me like I got dropped on my head. Normal people would just cut back but I'm not normal. In for a penny in for a pound.
Anyway I will be disappearing. I still have a laptop so I will not be totally gone but there will be a whole lot less of me online.
This is not to say the being addicted to SR is not a whole lot healthier than being addicted to alcohol or drugs.
SR is a wonderful tool in recovery but the Internet is having a negative impact on my life with SR being only a part.
Thank you for all of the kind words and especially thank you for the not so kind words that have kept me between the rubble strips of life.
Shortly I will be pulling the plug and resurrecting my dumb phone. I'm sure the people at the Verizon store will look at me like I got dropped on my head. Normal people would just cut back but I'm not normal. In for a penny in for a pound.
Anyway I will be disappearing. I still have a laptop so I will not be totally gone but there will be a whole lot less of me online.
This is not to say the being addicted to SR is not a whole lot healthier than being addicted to alcohol or drugs.
SR is a wonderful tool in recovery but the Internet is having a negative impact on my life with SR being only a part.
Thank you for all of the kind words and especially thank you for the not so kind words that have kept me between the rubble strips of life.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
MIR, me too! Can get addicted to almost everything I like... I am sure many of us on here.
For me the internet was probably my first addiction in my life, and I never "recovered" from it. I was also frustrated about this at different times of my life, posted about it here also more than once. What I've found is that my best balance is not coming from cutting back much on my internet time per se, more from also doing things in the 3D world on a daily basis, and often in parallel. The "parallel" is where my phone and iPad are good for me actually, because I can take them everywhere while I'm out and about. What was bad for me in the past was locking myself up in my apartment with my laptop... my drinking also progressed along with that, but I did it for a while after getting sober as well. I'm personally not disturbed much about my online time as long as there are also other things in my life, but I understand how these are sometimes competitive.
I hope trying to moderate the internet goes well for you
Please don't cut yourself off from help and connection with us if you need it!
For me the internet was probably my first addiction in my life, and I never "recovered" from it. I was also frustrated about this at different times of my life, posted about it here also more than once. What I've found is that my best balance is not coming from cutting back much on my internet time per se, more from also doing things in the 3D world on a daily basis, and often in parallel. The "parallel" is where my phone and iPad are good for me actually, because I can take them everywhere while I'm out and about. What was bad for me in the past was locking myself up in my apartment with my laptop... my drinking also progressed along with that, but I did it for a while after getting sober as well. I'm personally not disturbed much about my online time as long as there are also other things in my life, but I understand how these are sometimes competitive.
I hope trying to moderate the internet goes well for you
Please don't cut yourself off from help and connection with us if you need it!
Behold the power of NO
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: WA
Posts: 7,764
I completely get you. I am addicted to SR too but there is no way I would ever revert to a "dumb" phone.
I have taken a couple of breaks here and there but I just cannot quit completely.
I really like your posts and I hope you will keep on posting (albeit less often).
Just know that your grace, recovery and dignity in very painful times has truly been an inspiration to me. The way you handled it is what recovery is about in my book.
TTYL
I have taken a couple of breaks here and there but I just cannot quit completely.
I really like your posts and I hope you will keep on posting (albeit less often).
Just know that your grace, recovery and dignity in very painful times has truly been an inspiration to me. The way you handled it is what recovery is about in my book.
TTYL
A Day at a Time
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
The problem is moderation is not in my vocabulary. I'm using the Internet as a coping mechanism for my daughters death. It allows me to withdraw in to my own private world. I know from past experience being in my head without adult supervision is a bad thing. So if nothing changes nothing will change.
I am a believer in action so we will see how this all plays out.
I am a believer in action so we will see how this all plays out.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 2,459
There is a lot of research about internet addiction. I get it. I am not that addicted anymore, but I have been in the past. And it can be a distraction from real life. I don't see the harm if you aren't hurting people or yourself.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
When the idea of "Internet Addiction" first came up, most people didn't take it seriously. In the early days, when AOL was the only game in town, people were spending hundreds and thousands of dollars each month that they may or may not have had to be online. For those who weren't around, AOL charged a set fee for each hour's worth of online time. Compared to today's standards, it wasn't at all cheap. There were many stories in the news about people filing for bankruptcy, losing their jobs, ruining their relationships, and so on. The novelty was compelling, and the ease of "speaking" to hundreds of people each day or week at the touch of a button was irresistible for many people.
Now with the passage of many years of online experience and more accessible knowledge from the neurosciences, we've learned that we're addicted to many things due to the pleasure responses we get from our brains (among much else), regradless of the object of our addictions.
People have suffered badly, even died, as the consequence of online gaming addiction, one couple spending more time, virtually all their time, raising a virtual baby while their own infant girl suffered from malnutrition and other symptoms of neglect before she died.
As always, it's not what we do, how we do it, or how often we do it. It's the adverse consequences of what we do that makes all the difference. If you even have the thought that "I'm not hurting anyone else" by what you do, then it's probably a good idea to think about what you're doing.
I read yesterday about a kid in China who chopped off one of his hands in order to break his Internet addiction.
Now with the passage of many years of online experience and more accessible knowledge from the neurosciences, we've learned that we're addicted to many things due to the pleasure responses we get from our brains (among much else), regradless of the object of our addictions.
People have suffered badly, even died, as the consequence of online gaming addiction, one couple spending more time, virtually all their time, raising a virtual baby while their own infant girl suffered from malnutrition and other symptoms of neglect before she died.
As always, it's not what we do, how we do it, or how often we do it. It's the adverse consequences of what we do that makes all the difference. If you even have the thought that "I'm not hurting anyone else" by what you do, then it's probably a good idea to think about what you're doing.
I read yesterday about a kid in China who chopped off one of his hands in order to break his Internet addiction.
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