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Yeah, I think it's best to use the internet mostly as a tool and not let it use you. By that I mean, don't spend much time browsing/surfing around what algorithms will show you.
Same. But it fades with time. Usually a couple weeks of downtime and detox time does the trick. Some of those voices still linger months or years later. They are less impactful and less relevant as each day passes.
Depends on how you mean it.
I will always rely on the internet for information. Whether it's navigation, email, school, or finding stats for my favorite players or teams, that is something I will always be engaged.
As far as unplugging from social media goes, I've done it. I'm down to this forum, LinkedIn (which I seldom use outside of job searching), and one hockey-centric forum. No Reddit, no Facebook, no Insta, no Snapchat, no TikTok. I couldn't be happier with that choice.
I’m the same — down to CD and one other very tiny forum. Rarely check FB. No Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc. I very rarely even buy anything online because I’m at a point in life where I have all the material possessions I want or need. After 25+ years of averaging 8-10 hours/day online, I just feel there’s very little left to discuss or research online. I mean at like 12-13 years old I was putting in 10 hour days reading the discussions/debates that adults/academics were having about philosophy/religion…by 13-14 I was all into politics…by 16-17 I was into reading investing discussions. I remember days when I’d be up all night reading people debating and going to school with 2 hours sleep.
The thing that REALLY inspired me to make enough money to “retire” before 30 was so that I could continue my voracious reading (and I’ve always hated reading books) without worrying about going to a job. I didn’t know there would come a point where I felt there wasn’t much left to read…like I’m content with what I’ve read about the “big” issues. But when you think about it, it’s kinda like I’ve been on the internet 50-75 years for a person that averages 3-4/hours per day. I bet a lot of other people here will come around to where I stand when they’re 70-80 years old and have been online 50+ years.
Been on the internet way to long also. Need to quit but cann't. I know now I've been on here way to long when a Moderator from this site tells me I need to get life instead of being on here so much. This is like a Drug can't stop.
Been on the internet way to long also. Need to quit but cann't.
I started feeling that way at about 30 years old…there’s a chance you’ll eventually get to a point where most everything on the internet just starts to bore you.
I started feeling that way at about 30 years old…there’s a chance you’ll eventually get to a point where most everything on the internet just starts to bore you.
My current retirement fantasy is to live on a small hobby farm near the Lost Coast of California, totally unplugged from technology.
I definitely cannot quit it now since my career depends on it.
I've been thinking about this lately. In the 1950s TV was new and a lot of people predicted it would inculcate bad habits. The character of Mike Teavee from Willy Wonka was an example of this fear. A lot of those fears turned out to be well-grounded.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s, raised by parents who in retrospect definitely watched too much TV. They were from the Mike Teavee generation. I vowed I would not watch TV like they did. And I succeeded; I don't watch TV to this day.
The only problem is that I spend too much time on the internet. Ever since I got a smartphone I have been attached to the internet by an umbilical cord. I am the Mike Teavee of this generation, maybe you should call me Mike Internet. I did not anticipate what would happen with smartphones, and I was ensnared.
I'm pretty sure my children will say one day, "Dad really spent too much time on his phone."
My current retirement fantasy is to live on a small hobby farm near the Lost Coast of California, totally unplugged from technology.
I definitely cannot quit it now since my career depends on it.
I've been thinking about this lately. In the 1950s TV was new and a lot of people predicted it would inculcate bad habits. The character of Mike Teavee from Willy Wonka was an example of this fear. A lot of those fears turned out to be well-grounded.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s, raised by parents who in retrospect definitely watched too much TV. They were from the Mike Teavee generation. I vowed I would not watch TV like they did. And I succeeded; I don't watch TV to this day.
The only problem is that I spend too much time on the internet. Ever since I got a smartphone I have been attached to the internet by an umbilical cord. I am the Mike Teavee of this generation, maybe you should call me Mike Internet. I did not anticipate what would happen with smartphones, and I was ensnared.
I'm pretty sure my children will say one day, "Dad really spent too much time on his phone."
Interesting post. One thing about the internet (even compared to the internet of 20 years ago) is that it is tailored to a science at keeping us hooked. A lot of people make a lot of money by keeping us basically living online consuming digital content…and you could probably say most of us live half our lives online in some way. I can’t say there’s any direct connection but you also have things like obesity rate at all time highs, mental health issues more common than ever, loneliness epidemic, people just generally less friendly, etc.
Perhaps like a lot of things…with all the good technology can bring us, it can also bring a lot of bad as it permeates through humanity. Could be another 50 years before we can fully digest and understand if the good really outweighed the bad.
Might sound crazy but I won’t be surprised if some time in the future there’s some sort of movement of people turning away from tech centered lives.
Interesting post. One thing about the internet (even compared to the internet of 20 years ago) is that it is tailored to a science at keeping us hooked. A lot of people make a lot of money by keeping us basically living online consuming digital content…and you could probably say most of us live half our lives online in some way. I can’t say there’s any direct connection but you also have things like obesity rate at all time highs, mental health issues more common than ever, loneliness epidemic, people just generally less friendly, etc.
Perhaps like a lot of things…with all the good technology can bring us, it can also bring a lot of bad as it permeates through humanity. Could be another 50 years before we can fully digest and understand if the good really outweighed the bad.
Might sound crazy but I won’t be surprised if some time in the future there’s some sort of movement of people turning away from tech centered lives.
Actually, some people are already turning way from "tech centered lives". For instance, during the pandemic, people got back to board games and camping. I saw sales of tents and camping equipment soar. As quick as the big box store had game boards, they were gone.
I think people are becoming wise of how the internet is being used to guide, if not force, the way they think and what they think about.
Sadly, the big draw, I believe, is "escape" from their reality all too often. As a senior, who knows that my age is not "middle", I don't want to sit on the internet and not think about it. I want to think about it every minute of the day, that my time is limited, so make the best of it, which is best not done on the internet. Freedom is ahead, and it isn't the freedom to spend my time hooked to electronics. I hope to be almost completely off-grid. "Cut the cord."
25 years. I’ve now spent over 25 years on the internet. Day and night. I probably averaged 10 hours a day. For an introverted kid like me it was a Godsend. I was a hedonist with learning new information and knowing more about stuff than anyone I knew in real life. But in many ways I think it set me back in life….and I think the ways it set me back are now filtering through society as a whole (way we treat others, lack of close relationships, depression, etc).
Lately I’ve thought the internet could be like a lot of things that get too popular — after a while it’s not as good. Everybody is on the internet now…everybody has opinions…everybody knows the lingo…the memes…the newest funny thing. We all know there’s a counter argument and a person to make it for any and every organic thought we have. The internet has been fully monetized and looking to make a buck in every way possible. There’s always people trying to shock us to get our attention. Beautiful…talented…smart people are all over. Everybody we know wants to tell us what fascinating thing they saw on the internet. Every kid we know is dying for their fix — a cellphone — by age 6-7.
When I “log off” (we can never really do that now with smart phones), I can almost still hear the voices of millions rumbling around in my brain.
Is it crazy to contemplate “retiring” from the internet?
It sounds a little crazy to me, but possibly an avenue to new more vibrant world. I know it would require a complete rewiring of my brain and having to absorb information at a much slower pace. I wouldn’t feel plugged in to everything anymore. It would probably also take me a while to find joy and happiness from the simple things in life that don’t involve the internet.
I’ve been through getting over drug addiction before (it’s bad) and I feel like quitting the internet would be just as hard as quitting any drug.
Wow, I could've written this. I talk about this all the time with my wife, and have for many years. I would call myself the "OG of the internet", and have a theory that after about 10 years of hardcore internet usage, people are different. I think we're seeing it today. I've seen the changes in her and others I know that have engaged more on the internet for the last 10 years. How exactly you change, I don't have the language for, but it is there. I'd love for someone smarter than me to research and write a book on it. Probably the best example of something tangible I could point to is to look at how people are with politics now, even average people. I think that we weren't really meant to see/hear what people REALLY thought, which the anonymity of the internet allows, and it leads to depression in my opinion. People are horrible to each other online. My journey started with a boring tech internship during college 21 years ago and nothing but a computer in front of me all day for 9 months. This was the beginning of Web 2.0, and forums like this were just beginning. I was hooked, always needing something to research, and also led to wasting way too much time on the unsavory side of the internet, which can really mess you up. The last 21 years have been a job with way too much free time and nothing but a computer in front of me as well.
I try my best to limit myself but always find new topics. I have no browser or time killing apps on my phone, which is password protected and my wife has the password, and I only have my work computer. Even that is too much though, I quickly build up a "rotation" of websites to waste time on. The best I ever feel is when we take 2-3 week camping trips with no screens, it feels amazing both physically and mentally.
I'm planning on retiring early in 2 years, and my plan is to have my wife login to her laptop for me for a set period of time, once a week or so, so during the week I would write down what I NEED to do online and have a window of time to do it. For those that think this isn't or can't really be an addiction, does that sound normal? It is embarrassing. The self-policing never works, there are always ways around passwords if you don't have an "accountability partner" similar to breaking other addictions.
Great post!
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