INTP Discussion Forum > People and Psychology > Internet Addiction

Posted by: Odyssey May 4 2004, 03:52 AM

Hola! ~ (BTW you'll see why this is in the Psychology section in a bit.) INTPs have naturally analytical minds, so I want to pose an analysis to tackle. This thread is for those who have Internet Addiction to any degree. What do you think caused your current Internet Addiction (internal and external causes), what's the current state of your Internet Addiction now, and how would you use the natural strengths of your personality/psychology to overcome Internet Addiction? >>Main Causes >>Current State >>Use of Personality to Overcome? For me Main Causes: A) I used to have several hours of free time each day, but that was 2 years ago. Now it's an old worn-out habit. Bleh. _______B) An urge to quell a sense of ennui from the large amount of schoolwork _______C) Sometimes the craving to feel less alienated leads to an attempt to "catch up on" the rest of humanity Current State: It's difficult - when one Internet habit goes, another Internet habit tends to take its place. Lately it's excessive involvement in LiveJournal - writing itself is great (within calculated limits), but surfing others' for more than 10 minutes can swallow much time that could be used to further my goals. Use of Personality to Overcome: Gosh, this is the hard one. Um. When I want something enough, I find a way to get it, and don't stop until I do get it. I'm very goal-oriented, with a keen sense of how I'm progressing. Being self-aware, I often know when I'm slipping into a period of Internet Addiction... but then somehow I convince myself to "let go" (in a bad way). If instead I use self-awareness to redirect myself to my real priorities, that would help. Oh, and I'm also extremely values-oriented. I could harness the following Values that I already believe in deeply: Respect (respectability), Purposefulness, Expertise, Learning. What's the case for you? ~Odyssey

Posted by: CosmicDust May 4 2004, 04:20 AM

Apart from those nagging worries that I won't be able to get enough done, I like being plugged into the Matrix for now. It's sort of like having found my home planet. I can interact with others and have interesting discussions at will, without the time/space restrictions and difficulties of finding people to chat with off-line. I can be distant/detached and connected at the same time - perfect arrangement for a 5 with phobic 6 soc/sp! It's pretty much replaced journaling as a way of verbally dumping ideas for fun - I get to share the ideas with other people who just might understand them (if they make any sense that is).

Posted by: INTrPosr May 5 2004, 12:55 AM

Main Causes - Insatiable apetite for knowledge. I used to joke that the first thing that I would do when moving to a new town is get a library card. In the past five years, I could probably count the number of times I have frequent the library on two hands. Current State - The server was down at work today. Not only was I going crazy, but so was my boss and co-workers...... and they're all sensors..... I could not began to say how many times that I get on the internet in a day. Use of Personality to Overcome? -Hmmmm.... I could think of other addictions that I would need to rid myself of before I considered the internet. But for the sake of complying, I think that if I began to utilize my Ne more, then I would have less time for the net. Jack

Posted by: shaytana May 5 2004, 01:21 AM

Main Causes; How could I possibly pass down being connected to an unlimited source of information? Current State; I spend about all day online during the week, and some over the weekend but that is usually time spent with friends. I spend way too much time on forums, reading and just checking things out rather than doing work I really should be doing. I am not working right now and I really have to find a job. Ah well, I will redo my resume tomorrow. Uses of personality to overcome; well...I don’t really want to disconnect but I could benefit from cutting down and being more productive. The only thing that I can think of that might break this addiction would be to find something else that I am equally as passionate about to replace it.

Posted by: misspadfoot May 5 2004, 01:58 AM

Main Causes: I'm not all that sure. I do know that as I've gotten more familiar with the Internet, I learn how to find intelligent people quickly (e.g. the people here), and they have fantastic ideas that make me think. Not to mention that God- I mean Google- provides a wealth of easily accessible information. In short, it is utterly impossible for an INTP to get bored with the Internet. Breaking the habit of going online is beyond difficult. Current State: I'm constantly switching from forum to forum, depending on what type of people I find and what interest I share with them: classical music, Harry Potter books, writing, or (as in this case) personality traits. I also love LJs and I enjoy the occasional Flash or Shockwave game from time to time. Use of Personality to Overcome: When there's a will, there's a way for me to do anything. As a long-term, "I really should break this habit... tomorrow..." type of goal, I do have the will. But I don't have the immediate will to break my habit here and now. When the world is at my fingertips, forget school. I'm drawn to the Internet like a magnet. I need a sense of urgency, because clearly my long-term J self cannot win over my short-term P self. I need to get my P self to want to break the addiction. I just don't know how.

Posted by: Vagabond May 5 2004, 07:36 PM

Main causes: Killing my time in the most productive way possible - get all kinds of different information, getting to know people that I would never get the chance to 'meet' in real life (due to distance or to chance), felt intrigued by the technological aspect of internet (something like the first people that ever got to have a phone or a TV, lol) and of course, the fact that I love computers... Current condition: My male best friend is a person I got to know through the internet about 6 years ago (have met incredibly many times since of course), I keep finding new stuff to intrigue me that I would never encounter 'out there', I get on the net to search for info instead of having to use the phone (yikes ), jumping from forum to forum as well, meeting new interesting people, feeling I understand people a hell of a lot more, because anonimity makes everyone share more of themselves, hating my slow internet connection (grrr), and what I am most proud of - having cured my depression on my own, because the net gave me the opportunity to shut the entire 'real' world and society out without being totally cut off from humans... I think any other option would have made it absolutely impossible to heal myself without making a shrink richer or stuffing myself with anti-depressants (and I so HATE drugs!). So. Call me a net-junkie, but I have seen a lot of good things happen to me because of my terribly slow internet connection I am not addicted, I am interested, so I don't really try to overcome When I am someplace without a computer, it is OK, as long as there is something else for me to do. So I guess I am in balance up to now. By the way, when I had a job I only logged in for a couple of hours a week, so I really don't see a problem here.

Posted by: giftedmadness May 5 2004, 10:53 PM

Sorry that I am not keeping to the laid out format for this thread. Internet addiction has been the most negative aspect of the past 8 years of my life. And I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder! My solution? Simply don't have an internet connect in the home. I disconnected in late December 2003. Here it is May 2004 and I have moved out on my own for the first time without the help of student loans and government assistance. (I'm 25). It gives me a good reason to go to the library now, and to keep in school if only for one class a semester (to use the internet!). I figure if I live without it for another month or two, I will be able to bring it back into my home and will have the discipline to not be on it 30 hours a week. Let's hope!

Posted by: file cabinet Jun 15 2004, 10:49 AM

My battle with internet addiction.. the internet seemed to take over my life at some point.. I remember times when I had the choice between hanging out with someone or remaining on the internet. I chose the internet some of the time otherwise I would hang out with my friend(s). At one point in my life, I had my computer stationed in my room which kept me hooked all through the nite. One day, a customer at the cafe I worked at talked me(mainly because I had my lip pierced 3 times which I took out several months later), he asked me, "where do you want to be in 5 years?" .. and well, I didn't know, but I knew I didn't want to spend all that time in front of a flickering monitor. As a result of him speaking to me, I went home that night, opened my computer, took out the screws for the modem then damaged it so it would be inoperable. Talk about a sense of freedom! The world opened up, free time to read, free time to actually do my homework... of course I returned to the internet a couple months later due to a job I obtained which I mention in some other thread. I spend a lot of time on the computer now but I am much more productive and focused rather then mindlessly wandering the caves of the web. In a strange way, the internet feels like home, my playground.. when I left the internet and damaged my modem and returned months later.. my connection with any of my previous online 'friends' seemed to disappear.. I barely chat now and instead fill the void with other things such as working(btw, I think I'm a workaholic)

Posted by: drybonesdancing Jun 15 2004, 11:47 AM

Logging on daily gives my life some structure whilst allowing flexibilty. I can log on anytime i want, but i have that chunk of time reserved for this certain activity, another chunk of time reserved for reading, etc... I shuffle that around so i feel sufficiently fulfilled. Some control of my life is necessary here so my mind doesn't start killing me. Together with the awareness of other people in the world so i feel less alienated. It allows me to feel connected to the outside world whilst maintaining my own space. My current addiction is forums. MBTI and enneagram. I used to spend hours trawling for information on both, but they get repetitive after a while, you've to read through the same stuff before you find something insightful. The discussions here can be dynamic sources of information. Shoot the basics. I'll probably get off it when i find something else that fascinates me. It's like a lifeline. Unless i hold on, there's nothing for me to cling onto. But then again any other toy/interest will probably require information for which the internet is more or less the best place. Argh.

Posted by: Jkrs Jun 15 2004, 11:54 PM

Main causes: It's such a wonderful data source. If I have any kind of momentary curiousity, it's right there on the monitor inside of a few minutes - from wombat pictures to the LD50 for the various B vitamins (about .25lb of your average vitamin B suppliment for a 130lb human). The other part is that I don't connect well with others in person, and lack of human contact can really do a number on you mentally. Current state: Posting to this forum. When I'm done here I'll go back to a social/gathering area on my favoured MU** and participate indifferently in whatever conversations happen, while doing something else. Most likely reading, drawing, playing some game or another, or packing. That last is kinda important right now. Use of personality to overcome: Who said I'm interested in overcoming anything? I like my nearly endless wellspring of information. If I ever did decide to kick this habit though, I'd probably combat it with the greater addiction. I could be persuaded to drop offline, but they'll pry my pencils from my cold, dead fingers.

Posted by: Mithiel Jun 29 2004, 06:26 PM

Main causes: There is plenty of information and just so much interesting stuff to read online. I think I have had some kind of "reading addiction" ever since I learnt how to read. I love books and magizines and my sisters used to tease me about spending hours on reading the newspaper. I am also very interested in other peoples opinions and ideas and the internet is great way of finding about those without having to socialize too much or coming across as "nosy". Sometimes reading stuff online can be a bit like listening to a conversation (which I also like to do) but you have more choices in choosing to one you follow than IRL. So in short the main causes for my internet addiction are searching for information and curiosity combined with slight antisocial tendencies. Current state: a couple of hours (at least) online on a normal day reading newsgroups, blogs, fanfiction, this forum etc. I can take a break for a couple of days though if a)there is something else that I have to do, b)I don't have access computer or c)my shoulders and neck and wrists are becoming too sore ;) Use of personality to overcome: I don't really want to overcome my internet addiction as surfing online has basically replaced watching too much TV and reading silly women's magazines when I am bored. Sure I could also do something more useful with the time, but that's not very likely; I would just find some other way to waste time. I cut down the amount of newsgoups and blogs I follow occasionally as I get bored with them but I usually find something else instead after a while.