IAD

My name is Vincent and I have a problem.

I pride myself on not having many of the common addictions. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I have no craving for alcohol, I rarely gamble, I don't drink coffee, I barely touch pop, I don't do fast food very often, and I rarely resort to cannibalism. Ok fine, sometimes I have a temporary gaming addiction, but it goes away when I finish (or hide) the game. I don't "crave" it. At least not right now. And yes, I watch TV, but not random TV, specific shows and I just get caught up in the story line. At least I'm limited by the number of episodes :p. Volleyball is not an addiction, it is a love.

I am quite sure however, that I suffer from IAD: Internet addiction disorder.

1. Tolerance (markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of time on Internet). CHECK


2. Withdrawal symptoms. CHECK


3. Internet is often accessed more often or for longer periods of time than was intended. CHECK


4. There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control Internet use. CHECK


5. A great deal of time is spent in activities related to Internet use (for example, buying Internet books, trying out new WWW browsers, researching Internet vendors, organizing files of downloaded materials). CHECK (can you say "blog"?)


6. Frequent talks about the Internet in daily life. CHECK


7. Important family, social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced in duration and/or frequency because of Internet use. NO CHECK. YES! I GOT ONE!!!


8. Internet use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical, family, social, occupational, or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by Internet use (for example, sleep deprivation, marital difficulties, lateness for early morning appointments, neglect of occupational duties, or feelings of abandonment in significant others). SLEEP DEPRIVATION, DOUBLE CHECK

The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem.

Ok, I don't think it's a super serious problem, but it's a problem. Like, I get out. I will gladly leave my computer to go play volleyball, hang out with friends (if I had any here in Toronto), etc. But, if I am at home, you know where I am, and that's right here. Honestly, I probably spend like 12 hours a day online, if not more.

It's a waste of time. Reloading Slashdot, Google Reader, Google News, random browsing, checking e-mail a bazillion times, checking stats. Garbage. All GARBAGE.

Ok, there are some good things about the Internet, like keeping in touch with friends and family and blogging. Blogging is good. I enjoy it, it's therapeutic, and will serve me well in the future when I look back at this.

I feel that I could be spending my valuable time much more wisely doing more productive things. Productive coming in many forms - academically, personally, athletically. This (academic) year, I want to put more focus on personal growth.

Here are some things that I will try to do to reduce my Internt activity. I hope that by writing it down for everyone to see that it'll help me to follow them through. I encourage you to yell and scream at me when you see me online. Please do it.

1. No Internet in the morning.
   • This is a bad one. I waste a lot of time in the morning on the Internet. Even when I wake up early, I just end up starting my day late b/c I dick around on the Internet. I never used to do it b/c at least back in Winnipeg, I didn't have a computer in my room or a laptop. This one definitely has to stop.
   
   
   • E-mail is it. I'm going to cave and say that e-mail is ok. But nothing more than that. 5 min. tops to check if I have any meeting cancellations, etc. Everything else can wait until I get to my cubicle.
   
   
   • E-mail in the morning on weekends is ok, but still frowned upon. I should at least do the bathroom things and have breakfast first.


2. Stop checking e-mail 50 times a day


3. Stop randomly surfing.
   • I remember a time when I was so busy that I wasn't able to read every story on Slashdot. I will still read my feeds (blogs, comics, del) and read the news, but try to limit it to not much more than this. Activingly looking for new content (eg. digg and del pop) are a no-no.


4. Stop reloading Facebook to see what's new on the news feed


5. Stop going online so much at home.
   • I can blog. I can check e-mail, but not constantly. I can chat. Chatting is fine, surfing is not. I should be doing something productive while chatting, like cleaning, filling out forms and applications, doing work, etc.


6. Shower at 11, in bed by midnight, up at 7
   • As you can tell from the time stamp on this post, this one is going to start tomorrow.