The Internet is an Addiction

I think its finally time to accept the fact that the overuse of the internet is an addiction. I thought about this fact as I read about The National Institutes of Health funding a study on internet addiction. The study is being held at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

I see online activities, particularly gaming, as something that is difficult to use without having some detrimental effect. Evidence for this comes from a recent study by Vault.com, which estimates that internet use costs $54 billion annually in lost productivity.

Now granted, the internet has provided trillions of dollars in added efficiencies and therefore improved the living conditions of people worldwide. But, I think that many people do not understand that the old saying "too much of anything is a bad thing" applies to the internet as well.

But what do you guys think?Do you believe that using the internet too much can lead to an addiction?

 

Just look at the 10 most frequented pages in your history and sue all of them. It's their fault that they didn't tell you that fapping addiction is actually a thing.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

I like where you took this

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

I wish I could read more things like annual reports, filings, research, articles, etc. offline... I honestly prefer reading from paper/books to staring at a screen.

Where did you go for vacation? That sounds awesome, I want to do something similar, I just need to decide on a location...

 

I'm 30 and I would say half of my life was with little or no use of the internet. Aaaand....I barely remember it.

That's how bad it is.

Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
 
eatmybananas:
can we also say spending time with your children and leisurely activities are also responsible for a loss of economic output? Of course we can, but we also do not to be working 24/7 either.

short term loss - possibly

long term gain (and economic gain) - probably

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I'd say the "internet is an addiction" line is as accurate as the "television will kill us all" line of thinking from the 1950's. It's ultimately just old-timers who can't adapt, whereas the kids find something new to play with and don't even recognize the problem. It's the inverse sentiment of people who thought flying cars would be a thing, but both serve to confirm what we've known for ages, which is that human suck at predicting things.

in it 2 win it
 

I find myself addicted to the internet. I look at facebook, instagram, and snapchat compulsively. I wish spent that time reading and writing, or learning a new skill. I can feel how it has worsened my attention span. In life you have personal responsibility and outside forces that push you to do certain things. So I think there is a problem with the way these companies have hacked our brains to keep them addicted, but as with other bad habits I've kicked and good ones I have gained, I will man up and say enough is enough eventually and fix the problem. I didn't mean to be overly serious, or sentimental, but I have been thinking about this a lot. Just my 2c.

 

It's fair to point out that with mobile phones we have access to the internet 24/7 (as do employers, friends, ect. to us) so a job may require you to be online for obscene hours even after official working times.

This probably isn't an issue for the majority of finance guys here but I suspect a good deal of people are very touchy about work/life balance.

In the end yes, you are responsible for your actions and no one is putting a gun to anyone's head in regards to the internet, games, porn, and so on BUT I would argue maybe there is space for consideration about limits in regards to underage kids who rarely have a firm grounding in moderation. You don't let your kid access to all the cookies or Flinstones vitamins 24/7 so why would an iPad be different?

 

Blocked access to a few websites for two weeks when I was a senior in college (Facebook, Reddit, WSO, Youtube, Netflix, Pornhub, etc.). Pretty easy to do via your router settings and a few third party applications now.

The amount of free time I suddenly had by not doing those things was a real eye opener. A quick 5 minute facebook check easily turns into a 30 minute youtube session. Scrolling the front page of reddit could keep me occupied for hours. Pornhub was... well five minutes in and out no fucking around.

Now I try to be more conscious, and when I start to feel the urge to slack off, I will try and divert my attention into something at least informational/educational so the time isn't a 100% waste.

 

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