Self-discipline and social networks. Who invented the Internet Revealing the sources of the problem

Internet as a time absorber - online time costs that interfere with the realization of personal goals, solve work tasks, lead a healthy lifestyle, etc.

Relevance

Every Internet user knows that the global network has “lulling” properties. Getting into your favorite social network or browser, a person loses track of time, ceases to adequately assess how useful his pastime is, ignores plans and deeds, falling through online, like Alice is in a rabbit hole.

Internet dangers

The Internet "quietly" takes a lot of time. Time on the Internet runs very fast. 15 minutes or half an hour is practically nothing. Fly like an instant. Therefore, people so easily spend several hours on the Internet. And with all this, they say that they do not have enough time for something! Yes, this watch would be enough for a bunch of things in real life! Alas, they all go to the "gluttonous" Internet.

Internet creates illusions. The Internet creates the illusion of activity - I read it here, commented on it, posted a photo here and here, wrote a couple of messages. So it seems that you have a bunch of friends with whom you actively communicate, that you do a lot and give food to the brain. And when you return to real life, you understand that you did nothing at all. And your likes do not matter. Your comment is not interesting to anyone. And you can have many friends online, but there’s no one to go to the gym or theater with. Or you can call a couple of friends, but these are not the people you spend half a day on the Internet on.

Internet makes you lazy. The whole "burden" of sitting on the Internet is to press buttons and click on the keys. On the Internet, you do not need to learn anything, strain your brain or wash dishes. It is not surprising that after surfing the Internet, we return to real relaxed and lazy. We definitely do not want to do anything, we are "scrap" to strain.

The internet is endless. If any series or movie that you sat down to watch, sooner or later comes to an end, then this does not threaten the Internet. It is possible to wander, watch and read something endlessly.

Internet is ruining health. Sitting at the computer, we harm our spine, do not give work to the muscles. We also eat incorrectly, coming off just to order pizza or make a couple of sandwiches - and this is instead of a full meal. And all because healthy food still needs to be prepared, and for this we have no strength to tear ourselves away from online.

How to get rid of Internet addiction

In China and the United States, Internet addiction is already being treated. However, you can try to do something yourself. For instance:

Transfer the area of \u200b\u200binterest from online to offline, that is, find outside the Internet such exciting activities that will be more interesting than the Internet;
Communicate more, because real communication is much more interesting than virtual; you see the natural reaction of a person, you can not strain your eyes, looking at the screen, you can read emotions and have fun laughing together, so make a list of your friends or good friends, call them and arrange to meet;
To set goals, setting goals offline, you are kind of involved in the game to achieve - reduce weight, get a position in the company, change the design of your apartment, conduct an audit of the wardrobe. You will begin to feel that sitting online does not bring you closer to your goals, and you will understand that this is an empty pastime. It is much better to achieve something in fact, and eat illusions in the virtual space.

Are you worried that you spend too much time on the Internet? Despite the fact that the Internet can be a good source of the necessary information, as well as provide an excellent opportunity for social communication, many of us begin to suffer emotionally and physically from the side effects of excessive computer use. There are many different options you can take to curb your computer habits and spend more time away from the screen.

Steps

Identifying the sources of the problem

Understand what you risk. Sitting too long in front of a computer screen is not only a waste of time. This can cause physical and emotional burnout. Understand that excessive sitting at the computer can negatively affect you. A good understanding of potential risk will give you additional motivation for you to review your habits.

Make a list of what you do on your computer. In order to understand where and how you spend too much time on a computer or laptop, track the sites you visit and analyze everything else that you do on your computer. Which sites are causing the problem? Calculate how much time you spend on the Internet.

Do you use the Internet mainly for communication on social networks? Are you a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram user? Did you find yourself thinking thoughtlessly scrolling through a news feed? Try to figure out why you are so interested in social networks and how you could reduce the time you spend on them.
Many people use the Internet to watch television, movies, and other video materials. Do you spend a lot of time on Netflix and YouTube? Is watching videos the main form of your vacation? Is there anything else you could do instead of relaxing by watching online videos?
Are you overly keen on news? Do you read the New York Times, the Huffington Post and other news websites to keep up with the rest of the world? If so, then could you subscribe to several magazines or read a newspaper instead of studying news feeds exclusively using a computer.
Do you play any games? Many people use their computer mainly for playing games, whether it's online battles with other players or single-player games. How many hours do you spend on computer games every night / night?
Track how much time you spend on the computer during the week, make a complete list of all the sites that you visit and all the tasks that you do on the computer. Try to figure out which sites, applications, or games are taking you the most time.

Analyze how much time you spend in front of a computer screen. Many people are very surprised after calculating how much time they spend on sitting at a computer. Find out how many hours per day you spend in front of a computer screen. Perhaps this will give you more motivation in order to reduce the time spent on the computer.

Change your Internet browsing habits

Develop a schedule for using the Internet. When it comes to using a computer, you cannot completely abandon it. We are increasingly dependent on the Internet and email: this is necessary for work, social life, paying bills and making purchases. Developing a schedule for using the Internet is the most viable option for resolving the issue. Just limit the time you spend online without having to completely eradicate your habit.

Use technology to your advantage. There are many applications and add-ons that can block your access to websites that take you a lot of time. If self-monitoring does not help you reduce the time you spend sitting at the computer, then spend some effort on installing such an application.

Uninstall everything that you do not need. If you spend a lot of time at the computer because of games or some other applications, then think, maybe it is time to uninstall them.

Complicate your access. Sometimes the principle “out of sight - out of mind” effectively helps to reduce the time spent at the computer. Difficult access to the Internet or a laptop by itself can give you extra time to think about what you are doing, so you will have the opportunity to come to the right decision and take a break from the computer.

Take breaks. Even if we are careful in terms of the time spent at the computer, sometimes we still need to use the computer for work or study. If this is also true of you, then take breaks in order to minimize the manifestations of physical and emotional side effects from working too long on the computer.

Change in habitual lifestyle

Find a hobby. Often a computer serves as the main form of relaxation for a long time. If you have taken this path in terms of your entertainment activities, then try to find some new hobbies for yourself that will help you deal with excessive internet surfing.

If you want to do something after work, then do crossword puzzles, sudoku, play board games and cards. If you live with a roommate, family, or someone else who matters to you, then suggest a weekly game in the evenings.
Set days for yourself without the Internet or days with a limited time for using the Internet and use this time for other activities. Campaigns often help to ease Internet addiction. Try hiking on weekends or jogging after work.
If you read a lot online, then think about buying real paper books and subscribe to magazines that interest you. An evening reading can help you give up your computer.

Get psychiatric help. A persistent, active Internet craze is sometimes associated with preconditions for developing depression or developing feelings of anxiety. Although, perhaps you are simply suffering from computer or Internet addiction as such.

I calculated how many sites I use regularly, it turned out five: facebook, vkontakte, twitter, instagram, livejournal. An impressive list. Having accounts in all of the listed social networks, a person can do nothing all day but check the news in them in a circle.

However, blaming the site for taking too much time is silly. Nobody forces us to sit in social networks. The founder of vkontakte Pavel Durov also hints at this, inviting the person who decided to delete the page to choose a reason from several options. If the user selects the option “VKontakte takes me too much time”, his friends see the following passage in the feed: “I can’t live and work while there is a page on the Internet with my name. Happy to remain, limp vegetables! ”

So how to cope with the problem without deleting the pages (which we will restore later - who are we kidding?) And burning bridges?

The first step is to understand that you really began to spend too much time on social networks, and this turned into a problem. If you just want to spend the whole weekend reading VKontakte news, you probably should not give up this pleasure. But if you feel that you are wasting time that you could usefully spend, you should control yourself by not allowing you to sit on social networks for too long. And it is better to set aside a certain time for their visit, and not to break the routine. Your main weapon is self-discipline.
In order not to return to viewing social networks immediately after deciding to refuse them, fill the freed up time with something else: reading books, learning a foreign language, communicating, and sports. Replace the information fast food that you get from social networks with healthy information food.
Prevent social networks from deciding when to visit the site. Turn off the notification of comments and letters via SMS and e-mail. Prevent smartphone apps from sending you notifications. It can be difficult to resist an answer right away as soon as you see a new comment. This is written by the musician, sound engineer and blogger Rohan in the article "Self discipline versus the internet". He felt that he had a problem with the Internet when he realized that he could not resist, so as not to check his blog for the last time before going to bed. “I felt very stupid because I'm lying in bed and typing the answer to someone’s comment on the touchpad. If I hadn’t answered right away, who knows how much time I would have spent thinking about my answer! ” A message on a social network is not a phone call or SMS, it does not provide for an immediate response. The dialogue there can last several days, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Reduce to "accidental hit" in the network of social networks. Remove social networks from browser bookmarks and start page. If by inertia you went to the site, which can happen quite often, make sure that it does not capture your attention. Always leave your profile after the end of your time limit for viewing social networks. Then each time you will be taken to a page with a username and password, and you will have time to remember the new routine.
Rohan tells you - do not check social networks before going to bed, there is nothing worse to discover that you were going to go to bed an hour ago, but did not go to bed because you were too keen on article or conversation, which, of course, could not be more important than your sleep.
Do not "go" to social networks even when it seems that you have nothing to do - when you are waiting for someone or traveling by public transport. This time can be spent more profitably. Think, poets wrote poetry on the road, but how much would they have managed to compose if all this time they checked photographs on the Instagram?
The etiquette of using a smartphone has not yet settled, but, obviously, no one likes it if one of the company members suddenly bumps into their phone. The apparat has devoted a whole series of articles to this and other problems of today, they are available by hashtag. The article "Google-reflex" is devoted to whether it is worth using a search engine when communicating with people. In addition, the main rule of behavior applies to the public "sitting" in social networks - there is nothing wrong with it, if in the process you do not sacrifice other people's time and attention.
Often we use social networks as a rest at work. If visiting third-party sites does not go beyond the statutory 20% of the rest time, there is nothing wrong with that, this should not bother you or the employer. But isn’t it better to spend this time with greater benefits - to rest the eyes, stretch oneself, breathe fresh air?
Increasingly, people are procrastinating in social networks. On the Internet, time flies unnoticed, and often a person discovers that he spent a few hours on nonsense, instead of doing the work. How to deal with the bad habit of leaving things for later, you can read in our article "How to cure procrastination."
Control yourself. Install a time tracking system on your computer, for example, “Discipline”, it’s free. Then you will see how much time you actually spend on social networks. We warn you - the numbers can shock you!
If you can’t tear yourself away from the screen of your smartphone even in situations in which such behavior is unacceptable, for example, at weddings or a funeral, you should check if you have other signs of Internet addiction?

Steve Pavlina was extremely pleased with the results of giving up Facebook for 30 days. He remarks: “Obviously, the“ friends ”on Facebook with whom you communicate the most are people with addiction. They often update the status and leave more comments because they spend many hours on social networks.<...> In a word, you spend a lot of time communicating with the most inspired people - extremely unproductive and not able to value their time. ”

We should consider whether social networks turn us into the people described by Steve.

Photo: Dmitrieva Daria / Rusmediabank.ru

Many of us (especially those who are honest with ourselves) have long admitted how much time is spent on the Internet.

And breaking this vicious circle is quite difficult. It is worth making a couple of clicks - and you are already in, the time in which always flows unnoticed. What to do? How to free up time for more important things - productive work, vibrant life, rational life and quality relaxation?

First of all, you need to find out if the Internet really takes you a lot of time, whether it interferes with you in other matters.

To get started, make a list of what you do not have enough time for. It can be anything - cleanliness, reading books, learning a foreign language, working, talking with friends, fitness, quality relaxation, etc.

Then, during the week, write down to the accuracy of 15 minutes what you spend the day on. After a week, and if you don’t have the patience to wait, then after 3 days you can also calculate how much time you spent on the Internet. Are you terrified? To enhance the effect, look again at the to-do list for which an invaluable resource is lacking. Now you can work with the problem.

Favorite

The Internet is very addictive if you read everything. If you make bookmarks for yourself in the Chosen and read only what really inspires / leads to new thoughts / improves your mood (underline as necessary), then you won’t spend much time, since each resource is updated with a certain frequency, and you are interested in it Not everyone.

To use the Internet as a reward, you must have a list of tasks that must be completed. Clearly articulate them and get down to business, remembering that as soon as you get rid of the list of the most necessary, you can with good conscience watch cool videos, read news of friends in the feed, see photos.

Quality holidays on the Internet

Of course, it would be wrong to launch “all dogs” on the Internet. There are many options for quality relaxation. Firstly, these are lectures and articles on self-development, strengthening spirituality, raising the professional level, and organizing different areas of one’s life. Secondly, reading reviews of films, thanks to which you can only watch a really worthwhile movie (and you can watch it directly through the Internet by connecting to a large screen without spending money and space on DVDs).

Finally, this is a communication of interests that many lack in real life. Suppose you have and you are registered in a social network, where people like you, embroiderers or dressmakers, fans of Coelho’s novels or rationalizers of your time, creative people and business people who open a small business gather. Of course, such communication can not be called useless and wasting time. However, do not forget to separate the grain from the chaff. Such resources should not create the illusion of activity in you, if in fact you are not conducting any activity. Follow the folk wisdom of organizing time: “Business is time, fun is an hour,” and staying on such sites will not ruin your effectiveness.

Quality alternative

It often happens that a person sits down in front of the Internet simply because it never occurred to him to do something else. And the computer is always in sight - you just can’t get past it. Make a list of other types of recreation that are no less interesting to you, and the next time you don’t have the strength to think about what to do, take a look at this list. You may have forgotten that you borrowed an interesting book from the library. Or they completely forgot that they wanted to try a new embroidery pattern. There are many interesting activities in human life! .. Reminder will not let you forget about any of them.

Who invented the internet? What is he for us for? What does he give us? What do we need him for? ...
People came up with the Internet to make life easier for people, to make it easier. Yes, it has become easier, but it did not become more interesting from this. The Internet takes up too much time, it has made our life monotonous. And what is a monotonous life? This is boredom! And in general, I believe that people who live on the Internet are single people, they are not with us, they are in their own world, in the virtual but in their own, they are separate from us. It's horrible. You agree with me?
Yes, the Internet has given many opportunities, it gives us some kind of knowledge, but at the same time, it kills us, it kills our personality. After all, he cannot replace live communication, you cannot hear the intonation of a person, see emotions, facial expressions and movement when communicating, all this the Internet can not give us. Also, he will never be able to replace us with a feeling of warmth from touch, you can’t hug a person on the Internet, you can only write it on an insensitive keyboard and add a smiley face. Communication on the Internet leads us nowhere. Sitting in front of the screen and typing messages to friends, you can hide your feelings so that they won’t be able to understand that you feel bad or that you dislike this person. They collect a bunch of different information (mostly false) and make gossip from this. And in your life you have problems because of this. Moreover, the problems can be quite serious for you. All this affects the human psyche, it can develop into a disease. A sick psyche is not a very pleasant diagnosis ....

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