Online Addicts Abandon Real World

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/12/1073769485753.html' target='_blank'>http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2...3769485753.html</a><br /><br /></div>"Gabriele Farke celebrated her 40th birthday in a chat room. Her real-life friends had long since given up on her. For two-and-a-half years, she spent every spare minute logging on under the screen name "HexenKuss" (witches' kiss). Her compulsive internet surfing cost her job. Her online addiction left her no time or energy for other activities. When things got really out of hand, the media specialist trainee from Buxtehude, Germany, had just enough strength to take action. She founded the first self-help group for online addiction in Germany."<br /><br />We've discussed this before, but I don't think we've ever done a survey - are you an online addict? Do you feel different if you go without checking your email for 24 hours?

[dma1965]

I was in the hospital over New Year's eve and day for the birth of my son and used my 4155 and GPRS phone to connect to the web and surf and email while I waited for him to come, and then after everyone was asleep I surfed some more. I am hooked, and a great connected device like the 4155 does not make it any easier to stop.

[yvilla]

This would have to be the first poll ever here in which I'm solidly in the majority. :(

[arebelspy]

Why do you think I got the XDA II? So I'd have the internet/email always on me. :D

-arebelspy

[arnage2]

when i go to hawaii every year for 2 weeks i can only go online for afew hours total during the whole trip. (wifi is scarce)

[rmasinag]

I'm a true addict, but now since abandoning online gaming(for my grades sake!), I cant justify cost of cable at home, so i'm losing that. But both of my jobs I have my own PC. This doesnt help with my addiction, which I'm trying to reduce to about 2 hrs a day, from 4, and now I have to go running cause I can't surf the web when im' home. :(

[TzviYosef]

Recently I went on a one-week cruise. I went through slight withdrawals. Oddly enough, even though there was Internet access on the ship I rarely used it, but the moment we reached America's shoreline again (around 4:30am), I was awake in my stateroom getting news updates and checking email using my Samsung i700. So, I guess I am somewhat of an addict. :lol:

[David Prahl]

Was there an online version of the support group? An IRC channel, maybe?
:)

I spent a week of vacation last summer in Wisconsin's Door County. It's a great place, but I only found two wifi hotspots in the whole city. Believe me - I was looking hard! A hospital and "default." :wink:

Since I'm reviewing an X3i right now I'm carrying two PPCs with me at once. There's just something magical about having 1 Ghz of computing power in your pants pockets... :armed:

[suhit]

Hi my name is Suhit and I am addicted to the net :(. I check my email and do all kinds of morning surfing before even brushing my teeth. I literally roll out of bed into a chair in front of the computer.

I was in Texas recently for a wedding. For about a week I was in a house with one phone line, and my uncle screaming at anyone that would use it for modem connections, because he may miss some wedding related call. I mean c'mon, what is more important, wedding or email? ;-) Anyways, I actually would wait until 3 or 4am, until I was sure he was asleep, to get online. And then wake up really early, like 6am to quickly check email. I don't even keep those hours for my exams :-).

Suhit

[sponge]

I don't think that not being able to be 100% connected makes you addicted. Personally, I've got to update PocketGamer, and fuffill other obligations, that I obviously can't do if I'm offline for a week.

[OSUKid7]

Believe me - the second my internet or network goes down, I connect to my neighbor's wifi connection :lol: yeah...not exactly 100% legal, but hey, their network is unencrypted and crying for some actual use ;)

[maximus]

I experienced serious hair-loss since moving to Indonesia, eventhough I still have 56K dialup and GPRS.

I think I will go completely bald without any access to the internet for more than 1 week :p

[bigkingfun]

I was a lot more addicted to being online (email mainly) before I started getting the enormous amount of spam I now receive daily. I can't really remember how long ago that was any more. I used to check my email first thing in the morning to see if anything good came in. Now I check it first thing in the morning so I can get rid of most of the junk from overnight.

My biggest fear about not being online for an extended period of time is having to filter through the hundreds of junk messages I would receive in order to find the few I might actually want to read. I wouldn't really have withdrawal symptoms otherwise (although I would probably be afraid I would miss something on this site and go back through the archives when I got connected again :D )

[ctmagnus]

I think I will go completely bald without any access to the internet for more than 1 week :p

http://www.magnusson.ca/Images/gollum4.jpg

:mrgreen:

Me? No, I'm not addicted. Of course not. Don't be absurd. ;)

[Paragon]

ctmagnus

That is far too funny!

I can hear him....."It's my precious!"

Dave

[szamot]

Addiction is such a strong and uncomfortable word, especially for this new century. I would most definitely say that I am NOT addicted, I would say I am a highly discriminating connoisseur of information. As such I need to feed this need, I need to fuel it, I need to have it constantly around me, to say informed, to say fresh and abreast of all that is important to me, all day, half the night, constantly reading, checking for updates, posting, searching…..hell yeah I need to feed this ugly craving – I love it, I am addicted. YES it is my PRECIOUS!

[Pat Logsdon]

Sure, I can go two weeks. I'll be a homicidal maniac at the end of it, but wouldn't that be a small price to pay for proving myself to be the master of my domain?

If I REALLY had to go two weeks, I think I would have to apply one of my superpowers to the other. I would Procrastinate about Being on the Internet. :mrgreen: They MIGHT just cancel each other out long enough to save my sanity.

[maximus]

Ct: that was very funny :p

Seriously, everytime I comb my hair, I noticed that there are 3-5 of them stranded on the comb. Everytime I washed my hair (once every 2 days), I lost 20-30 of them. So sad.

[Ketsugi]

I used to think that I was addicted. I check IRC and email first thing after rolling out of bed, and I'm online anything between 4 to 12 hours a day, unless I'm on my game console. But I've found that when I go holiday, I can easily be completely cut off from the Internet without too much worries. I guess I do get a little jumpy from thinking of having to deal with a deluge of email and spam when I get home, but other than that I don't feel very much withdrawal symptoms.

Although I must say that carrying my iPod everywhere does help alleviate that a bit ;)

[jeasher]

Yeah I voted that I could unhook for a week. Then I started thinking about it. No e-mail. No news. No sports. No shopping. No technology. No digital photos. No PPCThoughts. No INFORMATION!!!! I can't take it! I change my vote! My name is Jason and I'm addicted! Only when I go to Mexico will I be totally disconnected.

[cyclist]

Whether I can go without the internet depends on whether I expect to be able to be online. On holiday no internet can be part of the relaxation like no TV, no newspapers; I do other things instead like read. Couldn't do without reading on my PPC though.

But if net access goes down at work or home I really miss it badly. When it took 2 days to get our phone line fixed after it physically broke I was climbing the walls after a day of no internet.

[MLO]

No.

I'm an NT systems admin. By the time I get home at the end of the day, I don't want to be in the same room with a computer...much less go online. I've got DSL with Windows XP and a nice flat panel monitor, and I barely use it; I mostly use it to connect to work, and to look up essential info (train schedules, weather, movie listings).

I do have an iPAQ 4155, and I enjoy the possibility of wireless...but I use it maybe once a week when I hit the Starbucks on a Sunday a.m. When I first got it...I downloaded Cironds sniffing software, and had fun scoping out the WiFi hotspots...but that quickly got old.

MLO

[Godsongz]

I know how you feel MLO, I'm in the same boat. I do still end up spending probably too much time in front of my home computer anyway though.

I went away on vacation last summer for 2 weeks with no Internet connection, but I still had my PPC for reading ebooks and playing games now and then. In the beginning of February I'm going on a retreat for 4 days and cell phones are not allowed, PDAs are verbotten, laptops are flat out, I can't even wear a watch! :huh: That should be a good test of my addiction level.

[jeasher]

After seeing these last few posts, lets clarify. If I'm on vacation, I can unplug no problem. If I'm in my daily routine, I can't (or wouldn't want to) unplug. This technology is part of my daily routine. I NEED parts of it. Things like this forum are the problem. ;)

[arebelspy]

The funny thing is, I've been checking this site every hour or so (or less, like usual) and you can TELL people are being honest.

It started out with a really high percentage of addiction (70+%), which has slowly declined, declined, declined..

Makes sense, when you consider the addicted ones would be online the most, the first people to see the poll and vote. Then on come the people who aren't addicted (takes them longer to see it because of this), they vote no, and the % of addiction dwindles. :D :lol:

-arebelspy

[yawanag]

Before I put my foot out of bed in the morning, I read the Bible and several Devotional ebooks. (That blesses my addiction, doesn't it?) :way to go:

I downloaded "Workrave" a program that let's you know when you need a break from the computer. I curse it when it interrupts me from doing what I'm doing on line. :devilboy: Finally, when it buzzes and tells me I've reached my limit for the day, I mutter "Screw You!"

[sub_tex]

I downloaded "Workrave" a program that let's you know when you need a break from the computer

That program would be about as effective in getting me to get offline as telling a midget to stand in front of a moving train and say "stop" and have it stop. :lol:

I admire your control.

edit: remember that Yosemite Sam cartoon where he stands on the train tracks in an attempt to hold it up and it drives right over him? THAT'S what I'm talking about!

http://www.barbneal.com/graphics/yosemite.gif

[Cypher]

I know there are truly addictive substances out there (that create a chemical dependancy), but with anything outside that small subset, I think we're talking more about addictable personalities rather than addictive passtimes. Every so often someone will find a few of those unfortunate souls who are wired that way and use them to decry the addictiveness of the Internet. What they fail to realize is that, if the Internet didn't exist, these folks would be addicted to TV or something else.

[David Prahl]

I've checked this thread three times today already, the first of which was when I was putting my shoes on this morning. But I can stop whenever I want to. (Hey, look! A topic reply notification!)

[OSUKid7]

I've checked this thread three times today already, the first of which was when I was putting my shoes on this morning. But I can stop whenever I want to. (Hey, look! A topic reply notification!)


anyone want to guess how many topic reply notifications I've gotten today? :lol: heh...I tell people now 95% of my email isn't from actual people...most of it is forum reply notifications or newsletters...if I actually want to talk to someone I usually IM them or post to a forum if I want to talk to more than one person.

[ctmagnus]

I tell people now 95% of my email isn't from actual people...most of it is forum reply notifications or newsletters...if I actually want to talk to someone I usually IM them or post to a forum if I want to talk to more than one person.

It's like looking in a mirror. ;)

[OSUKid7]

I tell people now 95% of my email isn't from actual people...most of it is forum reply notifications or newsletters...if I actually want to talk to someone I usually IM them or post to a forum if I want to talk to more than one person.

It's like looking in a mirror. ;)

heh :wink: and I'm back here checking the site cause I got another email...yet again lol

[corphack]

a day without the net is a day without sunshine (I gotta get a life!)

[ctmagnus]

a day without the net is a day without sunshine

'Tis true! The last time I went 24 hrs without Internet access, it rained like a son-of-a-[beep] the whole 24 hours.