Internet addiction has serious withdrawal symptoms

[Fred Astaire]

Spending an hour reading news every day doesn't seem like an addiction to me. But, bong hits and farmville for 3-4 hours is a different story.

[Elvis]

I love to laze in bed reading a book. So I'll be lying there reading away and my eye will go to the top of the page looking for the "Edit" menu button so I can search the book for a particular word. It takes a minute for the frustration to pass.

I suppose "i-pads" etc. will change all that but I hope good old-fashioned books don't go away.
(I don't have an online laptop, and, so far, I refuse to install a computer in my bed...for one thing, I might never get out of bed.)

[Nordic]

There's still no substitute for the old bathroom reading, if you know what I mean. Although I suppose an iPad could work for that .....

And what about the magazines in Dr.'s offices?

[Allegro]

I love to laze in bed reading a book. So I'll be lying there reading away and my eye will go to the top of the page looking for the "Edit" menu button... It takes a minute for the frustration to pass.

...(...I refuse to install a computer in my bed...for one thing, I might never get out of bed.)

Well put, Elvis. With my obsession for reading these days, I'm forbidden from even taking books into the bedroom, much less a computer.

[SanDiegoBuffGuy]

I closed my retail store last year after a 10-year run and now do everything on-line and through a paper catalog. My computer is always on. I really do need it to make a living. It's 95% of the way my income is generated.

I signed up for Facebook just last week (yes, welcome to the 21st Century, Buff Guy) and it really did suck me in for about 7 days until the novelty wore off. I am still on it daily, though, and it is just another time sucker (like RI?).

One of the reasons I moved to San Diego AND got an iPhone is so that I could work from the beach, Balboa Park, etc. Being hooked up like that is wonderful. In some alternate universe I am sitting in a cubicle somewhere on a Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 with a tie strangling me and a boss with half my IQ standing over me. Here, I can go to the beach on a Tuesday afternoon and work at my pace, if I want to. Customers can call me with orders, and as long as I'm not swimming in the ocean, I can take them, or just call them back in a few minutes. It's WONDERFUL.

I wouldn't give up this connectedness. And how else would I have tracked down so easily one of my best friends from kindergarten without Facebook? I think we all just got to get used to all of this because it is relatively new for us as a culture.

Because of the big military presence here, one day I was at the beach in January and a pair of jet fighters flew overhead. I was on the phone with a customer placing an order. She heard the noise and asked: "Are you located near the airport?" I confessed and told her I was at the beach. Her reaction was kinda funny: "You bastard! Do you realize where I'm calling from??? Saint Paul!!"

[Nordic]

I closed my retail store last year after a 10-year run and now do everything on-line and through a paper catalog. My computer is always on. I really do need it to make a living. It's 95% of the way my income is generated.

I signed up for Facebook just last week (yes, welcome to the 21st Century, Buff Guy) and it really did suck me in for about 7 days until the novelty wore off. I am still on it daily, though, and it is just another time sucker (like RI?).

One of the reasons I moved to San Diego AND got an iPhone is so that I could work from the beach, Balboa Park, etc. Being hooked up like that is wonderful. In some alternate universe I am sitting in a cubicle somewhere on a Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 with a tie strangling me and a boss with half my IQ standing over me. Here, I can go to the beach on a Tuesday afternoon and work at my pace, if I want to. Customers can call me with orders, and as long as I'm not swimming in the ocean, I can take them, or just call them back in a few minutes. It's WONDERFUL.

I wouldn't give up this connectedness. And how else would I have tracked down so easily one of my best friends from kindergarten without Facebook? I think we all just got to get used to all of this because it is relatively new for us as a culture.

Because of the big military presence here, one day I was at the beach in January and a pair of jet fighters flew overhead. I was on the phone with a customer placing an order. She heard the noise and asked: "Are you located near the airport?" I confessed and told her I was at the beach. Her reaction was kinda funny: "You bastard! Do you realize where I'm calling from??? Saint Paul!!"

Sucks to be you.



Sounds nice. I like all of that, too, although it's getting to a point in my line of work where everybody assumes you have a smart phone that will read and send e-mails. Which can cause some problems. I only got a cell phone in the first place when it became apparent than to not have one would cause problems because, well, people assume you have one and that if they give you bad directions you can just call them from your car and whatnot. People are starting to make fun of my crappy little cell phone, but I'm an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of guy. I'll catch up one of these days, when I get enough money to switch over to something decent. Right now it's all about just survival.

[surfaceskimmer]

I have suffered on three or four occasions. I usually remedy it by going to the library and looking for a decent book. Now, the stacks of books from Daedalus and Amazon awaiting their turn runs from 6-15 at any given moment, plus the old stuff. I gave up TV and newspapers a long time ago as time-wasting BS. You can have my iPod when you can pry it out of my stiff, cold hands. Having been a news junkie from my teen years, I'd guess it is a form of the hunter-gather's need to scan the horizon, an element of the OODA loop in orientation and observation, and perhaps (though I don't play in any of the "social" media) a desire for some sense of connection. Peter Russell's movie "Global Mind" comes to mind. I have forged one really good and deep connection with someone through the Internet (now phffft), and a few deep bonds and friendships with people I've never seen in person. But I think I may be on the verge of growing out of it and moving on to something else...

[surfaceskimmer]

One other thought: The addiction is clearly related to the need for growth and stimulation in the brain; it's like exercise for our neuro-plasticity. But it lacks true and meaningful connection to the body and the spirit part of that triad/unity. Which gives me a clue about an antidote...