Internet add's to SA

[Scottish_Player]

Ive been looking at things that have been affecting my SA and trying to deal with them, one thing that seems to stand out is the internet. My SA got to its peak when i was about 17, and its the same time i got the internet put in. It made it easier for me to do stuff without actually having to talk to or meet people, i could get anything i wanted online from CD's, books, clothes you name and if i could get it on line then i would.

Looking back now i can only see that this has added to my SA and made it harder to get out of this black hole, right now when i come home from work Monday to Friday i will be on the net from around 5pm till about 10.30 and then the weekends will be from when i wake up till i go to sleep basically which i think is way to much. I have been reading about how too much time on the net also add's to depresion, this is one of the articals i have found that seems to support the theory http://www.acrosslimits.com/media/20020723-technophilia.shtml

What iam going to do now is get my self down too 2 hours of use per night during the week and about 3 hours at the weekend so instead of coming on here i will need to find my self something else to do.

I was just wodering how much time people here spend online and do you think it adds to mental illness?

 

[Scottish_Player]

i hate it and love it

Iam like that as well, i hate whats its done to me but at the same time i need it, i can sit for hours and hours on the net doing nothing it basicaly just passes time for me and keeps my mind occupied from thinking too much by doing stuff like playing games and downloading and listening to music.

 

[RichardCunningham]

I have nothing better to do so I spend it online.
Definately spend too much time on the internet.

 

[black_mamba]

I got seriously addicted to the net at 18 and it really messed up my exams at the time - I was falling asleep in lessons, getting grade E's when normally I'd be getting B's or A's, everything went downhill and I developed the most severe depression in my life.

Luckily moving away to university where I had little access to the internet other than on campus for short periods of time...changed everything. My SP was at an all time low and I had the best year of my life.

Obviously I'm simplifying a lot but the net really messed me up. Chat rooms showed me how to talk to people, forums how to learn and discuss issues, I made my own website, forged a split personality (online and offline personas) and generally became a bit more wise as a result. However, since being SP from the start I was endlessly fascinated by the online human interaction and this turned into a powerful addiction.

My sisters currently have their own laptop each (spoilt!!) and do nothing but sit on their arses all day in chat rooms or msn. It's so sad to see them going through what I did at their age. The thing is, they're so addicted and so misbehaved, if we were to remove their net connections completely they'd go hysterical.

Scottish player, cutting down is a very healthy thing. Good luck with it!!

 

[ShadowCat]

Obviously I'm simplifying a lot but the net really messed me up. Chat rooms showed me how to talk to people, forums how to learn and discuss issues, I made my own website, forged a split personality (online and offline personas) and generally became a bit more wise as a result. However, since being SP from the start I was endlessly fascinated by the online human interaction and this turned into a powerful addiction.

Chatroom and talking online have helped me some, I think. It's an easy way to talk to people.

My sisters currently have their own laptop each (spoilt!!) and do nothing but sit on their arses all day in chat rooms or msn. It's so sad to see them going through what I did at their age. The thing is, they're so addicted and so misbehaved, if we were to remove their net connections completely they'd go hysterical.

My brother is like that. He's addicted to those online games like Diablo and World Warcraft. That's all he does. I can't blame him though, there's nothing else to do around here.

 

[black_mamba]

Well I believe that theres always something to do. But I'm also against an outright ban on the net because I know how much someone can rely on it for social communication. If thats cut off abruptly it can be quite damaging.

But yeah, unless you're sitting in the middle of a desert or barren artic wilderness I don't see how there can be nothing to do/nothing better to do.

It's just a matter of regulating the time you spend online and getting the balance right between hobbies, work, family/friends and education.*

*delete where applicable.

Chatroom and talking online have helped me some, I think. It's an easy way to talk to people.

Chat rooms helped me so much. Before I discovered them I thought 'normal' people spoke to each other in some amazing, almost unreachable style. Then I realised they just spoke about the same stuff me and my sisters talked about. Hurray. I was normal after all. :lol:

 

[ColdFury]

If I didn't have the internet I just wouldn't do anything all day. It didn't cause my SA. I've been like this before I even owned a computer.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm only starting to use chatrooms and post on forums, but l can see how it can help social skills, even though it can be as nerve wracking as real world communication. I don't use the net everyday, but sometimes l wonder about other people, they seem to be on it constantly. Using it as a connecting tool is so much fun, l feel lonely when l stop chatting now, it's funny.

 

[renegade]

Chat rooms helped me so much. Before I discovered them I thought 'normal' people spoke to each other in some amazing, almost unreachable style. Then I realised they just spoke about the same stuff me and my sisters talked about. Hurray. I was normal after all. :lol:

Yeah, I discovered that normal people don't have like a secret code when they talked to eachother, I was paranoic about this. Chatting online for over half an year now helped me develop conversation skills, although it doesn't help you gain social skills, any ideeas on how to do that ? :?

 

[Chilling__Echo]

i think this topic is like the half empty half full glass.

yes the internet may keep people from going out and trying to be social, but at the same time, those that would otherwise be in their home doing nothing would be worse off, the internet provides some access to the world.

 

[allanboy]

Now that i´m on vacation i´ll certainly be way more than 7 hours on the internet.

on my case, being on the internet, makes me think and talk like people in the internet do, in this case, it americanizes me. And that aint good here where i leave, i begin being different than anyone else(enjoy different jokes, say different expressions).

 

[cypher828]

Ive thought about this quite a bit. The less i interect with people the more comfortable i am, but then there gets to be a point where i start to get lonely and depressed, and then i get to be even more anxious and i wish i could just sleep all day. It is even harder to go back out into the world after having taken a break than it is just to stay with the day to day grind. Yes the internet is a comfortable thing that keeps me from interacting in real social situations. Yes it is a mindless way to pass hours. But i dont know where i sould be headed anyway. Anyway there have been times when i havent had internet that i sat in my apartment alone for weeks/months alone and read books or did other stuff, so i dont know.[/u]

 

[LibertadIlusoria]

Without the internet, I'd just be sitting there watching TV, not talking to anyone anyway....

 

[LittleMissScareAll]

probably 7 hours or more on most days...
and i dont think the internet has added to my SA or depression(except when i see pretty girls, it's depressing and makes me VERY jealous) at all....actually it's helped me, if anything...just think, if not for the internet...i would have ZERO interaction with people...except my family. the internet is my ONLY way of meeting people or speaking to people...all the people i meet or who call me--i met them online. so if the internet didn't exist or if i couldn't get online, i would just be a complete loner who never spoke to anyone AT ALL...cause I can't just go up to people and talk to them, and nobody ever comes up to me and talks to me...so that would just leave me being a complete loner(and i'm a bad enough loner as it is)...which actually though, probably wouldn't be SO bad, considering all my horrible luck with all the people i've met online so far...

 

[LittleMissScareAll]

oh and if not for the internet i wouldnt have ever even dated anyone...cause all my boyfriends, i met online or met through someone online or met again online...though i wouldn't have missed out by never meeting them since they were all assholes. but still...it's bad enough being an almost 22 year old virgin...would be worse to have never even been on a date or anything.

 

[Septor]

If any thing the internet has been a life line for me to the real world ,so I know whats going on in the real world.I have been in complete isolation for 4 year,have not talk to a single soul including no interaction on the net.I could never type right and could never make any on friend on the internet so I just stop typing.

That being said i would be online for over 12 hours a day just reading stuff.Its only recently that I started to try to interact on the internet message boards but im not hoping for any friends or any thing like that.Im way past that point people just don't like me but the loneliness really gets to you and it hurts.

If it was not for the internet I would be complete out of touch with the world.

 

[B]

When I first used chatrooms several years ago, they were VERY beneficial to me. I think it helped so much because the rooms I went to were heavily populated with people who actually lived in my town and who I would see at school the next day. I was mute at school and I could relax through the chatroom and people could see I actually had a sense of humor. As a result I ended up with quite a few friends because of it and I managed to loosen up at school. So there are definately some benefits at first.

On the other hand, now I find chatrooms are just so negative and a lot of the people are so obnoxious (tho that probably has more to do with specific rooms I visited and not ALL chatrooms in general). A lot of people seem to have such a short temper, and the 'regulars' tend to chat among themselves and ignore most of the other people. I don't use chatrooms anymore, but for the several years I did use them they gave me something to do in my free time.

 

[TAMPA-BAY]

Has the Internet been bad for our SA?

I completely disagree. Its been a huge help for all of us.

Where else would we find people like ourselvs? The clubs?Partys? Shopping centers? On a busy street?

If it was'nt for the internet none of us would of ever met each other for ovious reasons.

We just have to remember to use a little bit of moderation.

 

[Kinetik]

Yeah, I'm with Tampa. I mean, it's great to be able to just say hello to someone randomly on the net. You could never do that out in the street. Well you could, but you'd get weird looks and possibly a restraining order against you. The thing is though, even if that were okay, most of us wouldn't dare to do it. I do try to stay a bit grounded, by having some interaction in the real world and a bit on here as well. I think it's important not to get sucked in to any one thing too much. You can meet some great people on the net though, and it doesn't always have to be about meeting up or anything. Often just getting to talk to someone can be a great help.

 

[LittleMissMuffet]

I pretty much agree with Kinetik and Tampa-bay.

Is the internet a stepping-stone or an obstacle out of social phobia...?

I could suggest that perphaps the techno world we live in today has actually made it harder for people to socialise and feel connected in the first place. ...yet perhaps the internet can help the socially marginalised after it may have contributed to creating them to begin with.

I also think that feeling like an outsider, 'strange', too different, is a big part of social anxiety and that the internet is a possible tool for finding a sense of community that people like us are sufferring a lack of.

It is also true that the internet could be an obstacle to connecting with the wider world. ....but I think that dealing with overcoming any kind of dependency or addiction, like over use of the internet or social phobia, is best done not being too strict or too lenient -which is a hard balance to get. And I think that getting this better balance is more about attitude and what's going on inside. So basically, I think the word moderation is important and is the thing to try for with an allowance for not always being perfectly balanced.