[Captain Ahab]

Can anyone help me with this?

I feel like I’ve lost a lot of productivity to the internet.

This shit is worse than meth.

I’ve been mostly productive online, in that I spent most of my online time doing research, debating people, looking at news articles, etc. I think the biggest time waster for me was Facebook and I deleted it recently.

I installed the stay focused program on my Google chrome. .
I do like the fact that stay focused has a nuke option. I can block all websites for a period and get focused on creative/intellectual projects.

Sadly internet explorer still makes an appearance from time to time

I am trying to limit my web browsing to thirty minutes a day max. There are times that I am doing research so I’ll push it up to an hour or two in regards to finding links for blog posts, career opportunities, job applications/searches, documentaries, etc.

Also, now that I have a smartphone, it hasn’t got any easier to wean off the internet now that I have it readily available in my pocket.



Ah well, anyone had any success with their internet addiction? I really wouldn’t mind going back to the days when I wasn’t so connected. I reckon pulling out a book while I’m waiting in line at the bank instead of my smartphone would serve me well in the near future.

Anything that can stop the mindless browsing is a step in the right direction.

[speakeasy]

I'm every bit as bad. I have yet to find any lasting solution.

[thegmanifesto]

Ditch the smart phone.

[Teedub]

I think I've been addicted to the internet for several years now, stretching back to around 2008. I don't think there is any solution other than forcing yourself not to use it.

[Captain Ahab]

(03-07-2013 04:32 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Ditch the smart phone.

Honestly, I am considering it. I really don't see the point of it other than I have a camera (which I don't have) and I have access to apps (which I don't even use).

I mean, I just got the thing two weeks ago.

I am starting to think I should not have drunk the kool aid.

*facepalm*

Google Nexus 4. *sigh* I think I would have been better off putting the 300+ bucks in my bank account.

[Giovonny]

I don't really "browse" the internet or "surf" the web.

I only log on if I know exactly where I'm going.

Check email
Read local news
Check Roosh/Gmanifesto
Research for work

Once that stuff is completed, I usually log off. 99% of the web is a waste of time. 1% actually adds to my life.

[thegmanifesto]

(03-07-2013 04:38 PM)Captain Ahab Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 04:32 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Ditch the smart phone.

Honestly, I am considering it. I really don't see the point of it other than I have a camera (which I don't have) and I have access to apps (which I don't even use).

I mean, I just got the thing two weeks ago.

I am starting to think I should not have drunk the kool aid.

*facepalm*

Google Nexus 4. *sigh* I think I would have been better off putting the 300+ bucks in my bank account.

The only "apps" I use are:

1. Phone Calls
2. Alarm Clock
3. Clock
4. Calculator (when I am not at my desk)
5. Phone Book

Update:

6. Oh yeah, I forgot volume control

Those are "apps" right?

[Captain Ahab]

(03-07-2013 04:38 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  

I don't really "browse" the internet or "surf" the web.

I only log on if I know exactly where I'm going.

Check email
Read local news
Check Roosh/Gmanifesto
Research for work

Once that stuff is completed, I usually log off. 99% of the web is a waste of time. 1% actually adds to my life.

True.

Honestly, I can name the sites I check out on one hand minus my email and twitter.

I feel all the internet is good for is sports scores and porn (neither of which add to your quality of life in the long term).

[Captain Ahab]

(03-07-2013 04:40 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 04:38 PM)Captain Ahab Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 04:32 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Ditch the smart phone.

Honestly, I am considering it. I really don't see the point of it other than I have a camera (which I don't have) and I have access to apps (which I don't even use).

I mean, I just got the thing two weeks ago.

I am starting to think I should not have drunk the kool aid.

*facepalm*

Google Nexus 4. *sigh* I think I would have been better off putting the 300+ bucks in my bank account.

The only "apps" I use are:

1. Phone Calls
2. Alarm Clock
3. Clock
4. Calculator (when I am not at my desk)
5. Phone Book

Update:

6. Oh yeah, I forgot volume control

Those are "apps" right?

lmao.

[liberman]

I still have my cheap cellphone that I bought 5 years ago still going strong, if it fails I am just going to by another cheap phone.
I use the same "apps" as Thegmanifesto!!

the alarm clock is particularly useful

[storm]

(03-07-2013 04:38 PM)Captain Ahab Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 04:32 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Ditch the smart phone.

Honestly, I am considering it. I really don't see the point of it other than I have a camera (which I don't have) and I have access to apps (which I don't even use).

I mean, I just got the thing two weeks ago.

I am starting to think I should not have drunk the kool aid.

*facepalm*

Google Nexus 4. *sigh* I think I would have been better off putting the 300+ bucks in my bank account.

Do you have a lot of projects which require your own initiative to complete? I was in your shoes not so long ago. Here is what I did:

1. Ditched the smartphone. The replacement (an old iphone) was only good for emailing.
2. Blocked the internet from my computer. Completely. I had to shuffle flashdrives from work computers or library computers to get files from the internet.

If you're not ready to do (2), then consider (3):
3. set up content blockers on your computer. Identify the most time consuming web pages and block them. Spend a few hours on sunday getting up to date.

[w00t]

I have blocked all timesucking forums during daytime (leechblock ftw).
Also cancelled my internet plan on my phone.

Yeah internet addiction is real.

[Giovonny]

(03-07-2013 04:45 PM)Captain Ahab Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 04:38 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  

I don't really "browse" the internet or "surf" the web.

I only log on if I know exactly where I'm going.

Check email
Read local news
Check Roosh/Gmanifesto
Research for work

Once that stuff is completed, I usually log off. 99% of the web is a waste of time. 1% actually adds to my life.

True.

Honestly, I can name the sites I check out on one hand minus my email and twitter.

I feel all the internet is good for is sports scores and porn (neither of which add to your quality of life in the long term).

Nothing wrong with checking sports scores, we all need hobbies and interests, so long as your not losing more money then you can afford to with the casinos/bookies.

Porn can be a good thing if used at a healthy level.

Personally, I don't watch it.

[cardguy]

The internet is great. And I'm totally hooked.

But - I don't have a smartphone, or use twitter or facebook. And I don't have a TV.

Still - there is nothing more fun for me than surfing the web for hours. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

[Hades]

When I was 12 to 17 and before the internet worked it's way into my redneck home town, I did great in school and got tons of shit done, and always had time to read maybe six to ten books a month. Now I'm in my fourth year of college and under the influence of heavy internet use, not reading many books, and my grades are average to shitty. Too much internet sucks.

[travolta]

If you're spending this much time on the internet you should learn how to profit from it. I spend most of my time on the internet these days, but most of it isn't wasted.

If you are a Mac user you can download an app called Self Control. You can blacklist websites for a pre-determined amount of time, and each site on the list will be blocked regardless of what browser you use. Even if you quit out of Self Control you still won't be able to access the blacklisted websites until the timer is finished.

[WesternCancer]

I've definitely got this problem too. I'll do 5 seconds of homework then switch back to the RVF, the only time I'll cut it out is if I fill it with another addiction like watching a tv series or something.

Other than the constant newness of it I think its partly because I feel like I'm kind of doing something. It keeps you busy without having to think of actually accomplishing anything. I'll think of something I need to do and go "well let me check the internet first" instead of just doing it. Especially bad if something isn't required to be done at any certain point, I just procrastinate and procrastinate.

[iop890]

(03-07-2013 04:32 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

Ditch the smart phone.

Seconded.

My US phone doesn't have a sim card, so when I came to Bangkok I switched to an older Nokia E-something one of my girls gave me.

I love this thing, it does everything I need(it calls people and has a clock), it's smaller and lighter than a touchscreen smartphone, it doesn't take 25 minutes to turn on because of the 500 apps it has to load, it has fucking BUTTONS. I may just keep using it when I go home.

[Wutang]

I'm in the same boat you are - I've lost many hours of productivity from mindless web surfing through the years.

What has worked for me is this - simply WAIT UNTIL NIGHT TIME BEFORE YOU TURN ON THE COMPUTER.

There's been so many times where I'll wake up in the morning and I'll be like "Oh I'll just hop on for 30 minutes, check my email, Facebook and read on on forums and then hop off". What usually ends up happening is that I'll get sucked in for about 2 hours. Once you sit down and start bringing up tabs on your browser it gets harder and harder to tear yourself away from the computer. Even if there's nothing new to see you'll find yourself refreshing forums, social media sites over and over again just because your mind is addicted to the constant stimulus. Even if you break away will your mind will still be affected afterwards. I find that after prolonged internet browsing, my attention span will be completely shot for the next half hour to full hour and it becomes near impossible to do anything that requires mental concentration such as studying.

So simply don't turn on your computer until the end of the day when you have already gotten to taking care of the things you wanted done. If it's too hard for you to resist turning on the computer, I would suggest that you just simply leave the house. If you have to do homework or work on something, drive to a coffee shop and do it there instead of your house. These days my most productive periods are when I am sitting at a Starbucks somewhere. Seriously, the moment that you feel the urge to turn on the computer is overwhelming, simply just leave your house.

[Big Nilla]

Get rid of the smartphone.

I remember when iPhones were new and I'd go out to eat with people and half the time they would be playing with their iPhone (hey stupid, some manners... obviously worse now); I knew immediately I didn't want to be like those people who are losing their basic humanity because of a stupid little gadget.

I get that smartphones can be useful and some people actually need them, but most people just use them as toys and status symbols. Not much of a status symbol these days since nearly everyone has an iPhone or Android. Last year I downgraded to a $10 phone and a $20 a month Virgin Mobile plan from Verizon's $40 a month plan. I work off of and need the internet, but I'm staying away from smartphones for as long as possible. Bad news.

[brianmark]

I think we all have an addiction to the RVF. I tend to go through sites for a while and then get tired of them. Thank goodness. I just need to quit finding any new sites.

In many ways were a hell of a lot better off w/o the internet. Especially in dating. Girls actually had to meet guys in person to get attention. Now any girl can sit at home and get all the attention he needs. W/o the internet I'd be gaming more girls. I won't get on dating sites because I have friends that are addicted to chatting w/ girls on them.

I'd get a demanding job. Don't use your internet on your smartphone. Go out and have fun. Hopefully you can pry the girls away from their phones.

[speakeasy]

(03-08-2013 01:58 AM)Wutang Wrote:  

I'm in the same boat you are - I've lost many hours of productivity from mindless web surfing through the years.

What has worked for me is this - simply WAIT UNTIL NIGHT TIME BEFORE YOU TURN ON THE COMPUTER.

There's been so many times where I'll wake up in the morning and I'll be like "Oh I'll just hop on for 30 minutes, check my email, Facebook and read on on forums and then hop off". What usually ends up happening is that I'll get sucked in for about 2 hours. Once you sit down and start bringing up tabs on your browser it gets harder and harder to tear yourself away from the computer. Even if there's nothing new to see you'll find yourself refreshing forums, social media sites over and over again just because your mind is addicted to the constant stimulus. Even if you break away will your mind will still be affected afterwards. I find that after prolonged internet browsing, my attention span will be completely shot for the next half hour to full hour and it becomes near impossible to do anything that requires mental concentration such as studying.

So simply don't turn on your computer until the end of the day when you have already gotten to taking care of the things you wanted done. If it's too hard for you to resist turning on the computer, I would suggest that you just simply leave the house. If you have to do homework or work on something, drive to a coffee shop and do it there instead of your house. These days my most productive periods are when I am sitting at a Starbucks somewhere. Seriously, the moment that you feel the urge to turn on the computer is overwhelming, simply just leave your house.

I had recently posted in the lifestyle forum in one of the productivity threads that what I'm doing now is tracking my time carefully. I bought a cheap digital wristwatch that has a stopwatch on it and anytime I do something I set the timer. Whether it's take a shower, sit on the toilet, cook, surf the web, run an errand, eat, do laundry, whatever. I've been setting the timer.

I am absolutely astounded at how much time flies by without my notice. The other day I got back from the gym and sat down at my computer just to check my facebook and the forum "for a minute". Set my timer. By the time I got up from my seat and looked down at my watch I'd been on 3 fucking hours. Granted, it's not like I'm just screwing around doing completely mindless things. I was taking some time to read up on the Venezuela situation and some other things, but of course a lot of it is just seeing what people are posting on FB or twitter.

If you fear that you are wasting hours of your day unaccounted for, just do what I did and buy a stopwatch and wear it as you do your tasks. You won't believe how much time you waste. Then you can decide how do things faster and more efficiently. Like don't take your smartphone in the bathroom or you'll be sitting on the toilet for half an hour. Don't eat while at your computer, it will drag a 10 minute meal into an hour meal. I like long showers but nobody really needs more than 5 minutes tops to get clean. I started timing my workouts at the gym. I found I was resting way too long between sets. I don't feel like I need more than 10 minutes for each muscle group(3 solid sets of 10-15 reps plus resting between).

For my browser I installed RescueTime, it shows you every single thing you're doing on your computer with charts and graphics so you can see how much time you are fucking around on what. You can also block sites that are time wasters so that you can't open them with any browser. I'm using Leechblock on Firefox as well and I give myself an hour and a half of free browsing time after 9pm. However I often cheat by going on my phone since I haven't figured out a way to block sites on Android.

[michelin]

(03-07-2013 11:52 PM)cardguy Wrote:  

The internet is great. And I'm totally hooked.

But - I don't have a smartphone, or use twitter or facebook. And I don't have a TV.

Still - there is nothing more fun for me than surfing the web for hours. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

Same thing here. I don't have a TV, but I do have a simple smartphone I use for essential stuff, mainly cheaper phonecalls (voip) and some podcasts for on the go. No social networking.

[reino341]

@speakeasy:

I don't know the specifics of Android since I have a phone from a competing enterprise, but if you can access the file system and edit the /etc/hosts file you should be able to block sites quite easily. I do this on my Mac to block porn sites. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was an app for Android to make it more straightforward than editing files manually.

And man I'd like to get rid of my smartphone but I still have 1 year of the contract left and in general I find it quite useful.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

I agree, internet addiction (or rather, compulsive usage) can be devastating to your productivity. Whenever I have work to do, I just randomly switch between tabs like someone else would be switching between TV channels and refresh to oblivion to see if there's anything new, rather than get back to work.

I'll check out the stay focused thingy.