Forum addiction

10

Hey,

If you start to find you're spending all your free time on a forum how do you go about breaking the bond? This has happened to me before, a few years ago, and I have no memory of how I broke the 'addiction'. Serious advice please.

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

same here lol, im also a forum junkie! :biggrin:

Reply 2

Sithius

16

Go to the fridge and grab a social life and maybe a bottle of beer.

Reply 3

73337

18

Ring your friends. If you haven't got friends make some.

Or destroy your computer.

Reply 4

Ron Stoppable

14

Online forums, like TSR, are tricky beasts. They can be a powerful productivity tool, but you need self-awareness and discipline to prevent them from becoming a pitfall of procrastination.

Daily participation in any single forum for more than a few months is almost invariably unproductive. Eventually the initial benefits like gaining knowledge and making new contacts produce diminishing returns. And then the negative effects like forum addiction set in. Regular participation (even from unconscious habituation) will still provide some benefits, but the longer you participate, the less efficiently those benefits are realised. So, get forums off your bookmarks - make it harder to get to them. Do it now, before you read the rest of this.

Once you've done that, set reasonable boundaries for yourself and write them down. You can limit the number of times per week you check each forum, the total amount of time you spend participating, or the number of posts you'll allow yourself to make each week. Track your weekly usage on a spreadsheet, using the SUM feature to make the values total themselves to keep you consciously aware of your participation habits.

If you cross these boundaries, you'll know you're at risk of falling into a pattern of addiction. And if that ever happens, it's time to immediately take a break.

Reply 5

73337

18

Ron Stoppable

Online forums, like TSR, are tricky beasts. They can be a powerful productivity tool, but you need self-awareness and discipline to prevent them from becoming a pitfall of procrastination.

Daily participation in any single forum for more than a few months is almost invariably unproductive. Eventually the initial benefits like gaining knowledge and making new contacts produce diminishing returns. And then the negative effects like forum addiction set in. Regular participation (even from unconscious habituation) will still provide some benefits, but the longer you participate, the less efficiently those benefits are realised. So, get forums off your bookmarks - make it harder to get to them. Do it now, before you read the rest of this.

Once you've done that, set reasonable boundaries for yourself and write them down. You can limit the number of times per week you check each forum, the total amount of time you spend participating, or the number of posts you'll allow yourself to make each week. Track your weekly usage on a spreadsheet, using the SUM feature to make the values total themselves to keep you consciously aware of your participation habits.

If you cross these boundaries, you'll know you're at risk of falling into a pattern of addiction. And if that ever happens, it's time to immediately take a break.

Reply 6

Scotsman1988

1

One of the first things you need to do is identify why you spend so much time on Forums. Only then can you start to realy start to sort out your problem. You have to attack the route cause - be honest with yourself!

Reply 7

zhivago

2

1988

One of the first things you need to do is identify why you spend so much time on Forums. Only then can you start to realy start to sort out your problem. You have to attack the route cause - be honest with yourself!

...Hmm, think this is a bit deep.

It's probably just because it is there. You're in a routine, and like any, it's difficult to break out of. It's a phase as well, you won't spend your whole life on TSR or whatever, even if it feels like you will at the moment. It only takes, say, a week (or even a couple of days of not using it), and you'll probably forget about it and not be that arsed. It's not, like, heroin or whatever.

Besides, your question really isn't rocket science. How do you stop using it? You just, um don't type the address into the browser. Try going without for a whole day. Then once you've done that, try and repeat it the next day. You should (I hope) have other things to occupy you, otherwise then perhaps the above poster wasn't being too deep after all!

You'll soon find that really that forum isn't that good/you don't miss it all that much. I used to be addicted to TSR when I was around GCSE age, but I haven't used it in ageees. This is my first post in like a year or something. It's a phase you'll get out of anyway.

PS. If it is TSR you're addicted to you'll soon get out of it as it's pretty crap.

Reply 8

username9303

3

As long as you don't find yourself ignoring your friends or social life or whatever to be on a forum, and you don't have a problem leaving it for a while if you've got other things to do then it's not a problem :smile:

Reply 9

Axiom

1

It's only an internet. Just unplug the Ethernet cable or whatever.

Reply 10

Enchanté

14

Why not ask for a temporary ban, then find oher things to do during your ban,sure when it ends you'll go back on but won't be as addicted :smile:

Reply 11

Gem

14

Join me and give up TSR (and the internet) for the week of CHILDREN IN NEED :biggrin:

Sponsor me by clicking on the link below :flutter:

Reply 12

Shreerac1

OP

10

xXLil'-AnGelXx

Why not ask for a temporary ban, then find oher things to do during your ban,sure when it ends you'll go back on but won't be as addicted :smile:

Yeah I did this before, got myself banned for a week, but Ive just slowly phased into a routine again. I think I just need to take a few days off.

Reply 13

Bedshaped

14

This is kinda like computer games, although when I was addicted to online gaming I just uninstalled.

Um, not sure with this one, try...forcing yourself never to go on your computer when you get home.

If your doing schoolwork that doesn't require the internet, try taking out the internet wire :wink:

Reply 14

Rainbow_Chick

1

Yeah you should ask for a ban before starting uni i had so much free time i was here all the time i mean all the time. I have not been on hear as much now that i have started uni. It is hard to stay away.

Reply 15

Horatio Caine

12

I haven't been here that long, but it's already an addictive forum.

It's not yet an addiction that is interupting my life, but I still have to come on here every day. :p:

Reply 16

Shreerac1

OP

10

I used to be 'addicted' to playing halflife opposing force online all the time. In the end I asked my parents to take my keyboard and mouse with them to work so there was no chance I could play. That worked, but I feel that at my age I should be able to control my internet usage :frown:

. Don't understand why when I know its bad I still do it.

Reply 17

HeadShock

just get banned post up porn or somthing

Reply 18

Squelchy

Just stop posting. Presumably you have friends? Spend time with them.

Alternatively, there's no real need to stop posting. How about do it interspersed with work. Say you're sat at the computer writing an essay or reading online journals or something, make a post every 5 or 10 minutes inbetween working. That's what I tend to do. It makes sitting at a computer for hours on end more bearable.

Reply 19

username30638

13

Ron Stoppable

Online forums, like TSR, are tricky beasts. They can be a powerful productivity tool, but you need self-awareness and discipline to prevent them from becoming a pitfall of procrastination.

Daily participation in any single forum for more than a few months is almost invariably unproductive. Eventually the initial benefits like gaining knowledge and making new contacts produce diminishing returns. And then the negative effects like forum addiction set in. Regular participation (even from unconscious habituation) will still provide some benefits, but the longer you participate, the less efficiently those benefits are realised. So, get forums off your bookmarks - make it harder to get to them. Do it now, before you read the rest of this.

Once you've done that, set reasonable boundaries for yourself and write them down. You can limit the number of times per week you check each forum, the total amount of time you spend participating, or the number of posts you'll allow yourself to make each week. Track your weekly usage on a spreadsheet, using the SUM feature to make the values total themselves to keep you consciously aware of your participation habits.

If you cross these boundaries, you'll know you're at risk of falling into a pattern of addiction. And if that ever happens, it's time to immediately take a break.

Nice bit of copy & pastage there. I bet Steve Pavlina is delighted.

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