How do you cure internet addiction?
How do you cure this type of addiction? Is it really an "addiction"?
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M$7 Answers
Any behavior that, despite negative consequence to the exhibitor of this behavior, is continued to be engaged in can be considered an addictive behavior so yes internet usage could be a addiction.
The first steps to overcoming an addiction will be of course admitting one has a problem with the behavior in question but next would be to honestly identify the needs being met by the addictive usage of the internet. Once these needs are identified they can begin to be substituted. Stopping an addictive habit by just stopping and not replacing that addictive habit with another one is never going to be enough. One must replace the old and unwanted behavior with a new and more positive and acceptable behavior or the old behavior will undoubtedly begin again.
It is no surprise to me that those internet addicts tied up their counselors (if you could call them that) and escaped, not one addict will enjoy the early parts of intervention and recovery. Addiction is very difficult to overcome in any manifestation and our minds when addicted will lie to us in our own voices. Our minds will to us that our behavior IS acceptable and is NOT a problem and then the rest of ourselves will now defend this thought .. violently if necessary.
This story of 578 Vietnamese drug addicts that overpowered guards and escaped has a similar ring to it.
"Nearly 600 inmates in a Vietnamese drug rehabilitation camp overpowered security guards and escaped" (1)
And the lead quote form the article you have referenced.
"A group of young Chinese web addicts staged a mutiny at an internet "boot camp", tying up their instructor and fleeing the facility over its tough military-like techniques, state media says"(2)
The road out of any addiction is very hard and addiction is probably the least understood disease in the world. We know almost nothing about how to treat it and every individual will be different when it comes to what works as a method of recovery but it starts with wanting to stop, admitting the problem, and identifying the needs.
Remember the part of Raiders of the Lost Ark where they had to replace the Idol with the bag of sand? The addictive habits of an addict must be replaced by positive habits with the same care. The missing area in behavior in the mind, body, and spirit that is formed when the addictive behavior is ceased is a crucial "fill spot" and something needs to go there.. preferably a new constructive behavior that meets the same needs. The new habits replacing the old must meet the same needs or the consequences will be like in the movie.. disastrous.
personal opinion and experience
I work with "first day of detox" heroin, meth/speed and/or alcohol addicts.
(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/vietnam-jailbreak-578-inm_n_578160...
(2) http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/internet-addicts-stage...
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M$And it is very, VERY unhealthy. I'm no doctor, but being online all of the time makes you sick. There are so many issues (from my experience):
* weight gain
* propensity to eat
* likelihood of depression
* degradation of vision
* chronic headaches
* increase anti-social or social-avoidant behavior
* less focus on appearance, hygiene, or cleanliness
* related costs of living in an unhealthy environment
Here is how I break down this type of addiction, by type:
1) games
2) informational sites
3) forum interaction
4) social networking
5) Instant messaging
As a technology professional with absolute freedom and no oversight, dealing with my problem is like being a drug dealer addicted to cocaine - our drug is always staring us in the face.
Here are the methods I've used to combat this that have more-or-less worked for me.
1) Stop playing games. Just STOP playing games. They are fun, but there is nothing more counter-productive than playing games, and time can simply disappear. I was never a heavy MMORPG player, but I do play a lot of single-player old-school games. So the first step is definitely to cut out the games and create a schedule for them. If you want to play online games, pick a particular time for the week to play with friends, like a Saturday night. Or if you really like single player games, be your own mom and cut it to an hour a day, for instance.
2) Stop the never-ending browsing of informational sites. I am addicted to Wikipedia, Google News, Fark, and Mahalo (and sometimes the sick and twisted 4chan). If you look at my Mahalo history, you will see there are HUGE gaps of time where I've not been on, and this is because I've simply put my foot down and said "STOP!!! STOP YOU IDIOT!" No offense to Mahalo, but it is like a dopamine-delivery system, and we are like rats pressing a button for more Mahalo points, dollars, or the reinforcement that comes from a "best answer." Browsing news and informational sites all hours of the day leads to burn-out and overkill - I swear I read 100 wiki articles a day, and I remember about 1% of the info. This is a waste of time. It is better to focus on a few subjects and remember them than to spend all day learning -and then forgetting - about all manner of things. And start with one site or resource style. Say, "I'm not going to read any news this week." Dude, that alone will make you feel 100% better. Even though I fall back on the news bandwagon a lot, I have an unofficial policy of, "If it is REALLY newsworthy, one of my friends is going to either mention it to me."
3) Forums - stop. Just stop it. It is SO easy to walk away from a forum. You may be worried about your "cred" but these are STRANGERS. And a lot of animosity is generated in forums (as well as on comment sections in those informational sites above) so it is healthy to get away from the negativity. Again, if you just step away from your forums for a while, you will feel better and won't miss them.
4) Social networking - many of us are cracked out on Facebook, MySpace, etc. This is another easy one. Just pull the plug on your visitation for a few days. Then go back on the site. "What'd I miss? What'd I miss?" Wow, someone had their snake sexed, and someone else really likes this song, and someone else quoted a Limp Bizkit song. Is this really THAT fulfilling? Do you really need to know everything your friends (or strangers) are putting on their PR boards every moment of every day? Another time killer that is easy to ignore - just DON'T LOG IN.
5) Instant messaging. Probably the greatest corporate time killer in the world (aside from those companies that still haven't blocked eBay). You can spend an entire day talking to people online. It is good to interact with people, to develop grammar, to develop a written tone. But if you are killing days talking to people online, again, STOP SIGNING IN. My new method is to start a different screenname, JUST for work. Only talk to work people while you are working. This will cut off 99% of your online conversations between work hours. If one of your friends really, REALLY needs to talk to you, they will text you or, god forbid, CALL your phone. If you are talking to friends online at night, you have to give yourself a cut-off point, or it will never stop. They will just talk and talk and talk, and they will find you on Gchat, or AIM, or FB chat... you have to just sign-off.
So these are just some of the methods I've used to force myself to get off the internet.
You will feel so much better. And with all of that extra time, you can form an entirely new addiction -
INSTANT NETFLIX.
::sigh::
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M$
@meyermv - Again, my comments are anecdotal, but not only are the majority of the IT people at my office fat, a few of them have died from being so fat. They are dropping like flies. And I didn't say that "being online" does any of these things, I said that "internet addiction" does. I don't consider your example, "working on the computer 8 hours a day," as an example of "internet addiction," because 8 hours of computer use a day is now the standard rather than the rule for most jobs. I am online from around 7AM until 1 or 2AM EVERY DAY. My car is sometimes in the garage weeks at a time. This is what I am characterizing as internet addiction.
And I don't think, as you imply, that one may separate "being idle" from "being online" unless they have a treadmill next the computer and a steady mouse hand.
I would agree more with your disagreement with my "propensity to eat" statement, but again, this is just anecdotal, and most IT people I know are overweight, most people I know that sit online all day are overweight (or gaining weight quickly), and most online gamers I know are overweight. The overeating may stem from related depression. Of course someone would need to see a behavioral therapist to help them identify reasons for overeating, but I stand by my generalization - as capitalized upon by countless stereotypes - that "computer guys," who I'd say are the most likely to be addicted to the internet, are fat.
I disagree on these two points:
* weight gain
* propensity to eat
People gain weight because they are idle not because they go online. I am on the computer 8 hours a day for going on 4 years (I know it sucks), and work out twice a week. No weight gain here.
I also don't eat while I'm at the computer.
These two problems that are separate from 'being online'.
Take an hour once every two days and work out. Or every 15-20 minutes, get up and stretch. During breaks go for a walk. Don't have food laying around the computer and just don't think about food. Once you think about it, you're hooked!
My son was 4 in 2008 and loved to play computer games so much so that the entire building could come down around him and he wouldn't notice. My wife and I separated a few months after his birthday and I made a decision: Dad doesn't have internet at his apartment. Whenever he's here, the CPU still stays on but the monitor is off. He stays out of the room that's my home office. Otherwise I'd never see him.
He'll be six years old in a few weeks, and since October, 2008, he's never used the internet from exactly where I'm sitting--we've played Legos, played with my old Matchbox car collection (and begun to build his), drawn pictures (including Mothers' Day cards), done jigsaw puzzles, watched TVdone spelling and math games--we've even gone to the playground and tossed a Frisbee or played catch outside on nice days.
The times he's been here for lunch or dinner and we've ordered Domino's, I've helped him look it up in The White Pages.
The most dreaded punishment for him is "No screens." The three of us were at dinner and played the "No screens" card--when he's on "No screens," it covers everything--Nintendo DS, TV (and Wii) and computer. Mr. Wise-guy said "Well your phone has a screen." I said, "If you see Mom's number on it you can answer it. Otherwise, that's not a screen, it's a phone." I have a phone capable of internet and texting, I just never signed up for the services so I don't use them on my phone. I can send outgoing texts at 10 cents, which I only send to my ex if it's in relation to him and urgent--otherwise I just call.. i can't receive texts--I was getting so much spam I blocked it altogether.
So the simple answer is "Cut the cord." And get yourself some Legos.
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M$It worked for me with all the FB games. ;)
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M$
Back when if you wanted to socialize you had to leave your house and get yourself out there. For those who felt insecure, well, TV addiction or reading was their comfort. Now we have the internet in which we can connect with people from all over the world.
We are social creatures in need to communicate with others.
Find a cure for loneliness and then you'll see a person spend less time online.
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M$Totally meant to be funny, not at all serious, please don't vote for it unless you think it's funny, and for crying out loud, please don't be offended.
The Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch
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M$
Yeah, that or being so wrapped up in the internet that you forget to pay the internet bill, and then all of a sudden.............it just goes off, and you realize you are hungry........and sleepy........and you kind of smell.
Kinda smell is right...people tend to forget about being biodegradable! ^_^
Go for angling or other remote places where internet & mobile phone has limited connection.
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M$
But doesn't answering this question on the internet actually exacerbate the problem?
First Step: Write me a letter and I'll respond with a handwritten note on what the next step is.
It's quite obvious that the Chinese and Vietnamese are looking at rehabilitation from the wrong angle.
This also might be dealing with an addiction like food. Learning moderation (using the internet or computer without playing games or doing addictive things). As @philipy says, it might be hard to never use a computer or the internet again in our society.
Congratulations on 35 months, Buddawiggi!
I think the most important part of the equation is:
Addicts are not going to recover unless they want to. No one can force someone else into recovery. It doesn't work that way.
Once an addict gets the hope of recovery and wants that for him or herself, then there are infinite ways this recovery can be had. The trick is attracting them to want the recovery. This is almost exclusively brought about through - voluntary - contact with recovering addicts.
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/BigBook/pdf/BigBook_chapt5.pdf
For certain @silverhammer ..if a behavioral addict whose disease was manifested in internet usage were to enter this question and answer thread ..this question would surely mean a relapse and the mental obsession would grow from there, in a matter of moments the addict would be right back to the old behavior and right back to dealing with whatever negative consequences they were experiencing before beginning their recovery...
.. the biggest issue being that the progression of their disease would not have stopped while they had been sober of their addictive behavior and this time the results would be worse and re-entering recovery would be more difficult that the last time.
Very true that food addicts have the most difficult road to recovery of all. A food addict must continue to relapse (eat) and then recover again 3 times a day every day for the rest of their life... they have to eat. That's hard. If any other kind of addict had to do that the recovery rate would plummet to 0% and a lot of addicts would die in a matter of hours or days.
In a group I belong to a common question I ask a person who is just starting out is "What lengths are you willing to go to in order to begin recovery?" if their answer is anything else but "100%. Any length." then they, from my own experience, will fail at this attempt to recover.. it does not mean they will fail on the next attempt but this one is virtually lost.. I will not be able to change their mind.. they will either learn for themselves or die not knowing.
So as with any addiction one has to accept the possibility that although difficult they may not be able to do the every day things that non addicts and normal people can do, they may not be able to use the internet for the rest of their lives or at the very least for a number of years.
I am an addict with just 35 months of sobriety and I do not go to *any* bars or restaurants or places that serve alcohol, I do not go to holiday celebrations like the 4th of July or Labor Day or Memorial Day BBQs or get togethers unless the are *certainly* 100% booze free, I have no real life friends that are not also in recovery.. zero. I do not have the ability to participate in a lot of every day activities that are very common to the non addicts and regular people.. why? because I have to stay sober. This does not mean I will never have the ability to participate in these types of activities.. I just cannot now.
Good answer from @buddawiggi as you'd expect on this subject.
Just to add a few thoughts...
I don't know if internet addiction is in quite the same class as say drug addiction, but some of the lessons can certainly be transferred over.
One difference is that while it's usually best for a recovering addict to totally avoid using the substance they were addicted to, it's pretty hard in the modern world to say to anyone "never use the internet".
But it is possible to say things like "never use Facebook" or "never play online games".
As @buddawiggi implies a lot of this is about the "ecosystem" that keeps an addiction in place. e.g. The stuff you keep around, the places you go, the people you hang out with. One side of the equation is changing the environment so it doesn't keep prompting you to do the thing you want to stop. The other side of the equation is creating an environment that pulls you towards positive things that replace the part of your life previously given over to the addiction.
More of my thoughts on addiction and some links that might be useful in this previous answer of mine...
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/books-and-authors/i-read-the-book-tweak-what-was-the-name-of-the-last-drug-treatment-center-nic-attended