Digital addiction and the chaotic mind

[Denny]

"Last quest for the day... Just one more..."

"I can't wait to see how the story unfolds!"

"I need to win this match, can't stop playing now..."

"If I could just have enough gold to get that gear."

"Cliffhanger.... I can't wait for the next episode!"

"This article is interesting... Oh, another interesting article!"

The inner mind quotes are endless, me in a nutshell. Every week... No. Every day is the same more or less. If it isn't wasting hundreds of hours in Skyrim it's another random television show I've followed for the nth season. Not to forget all the websites and forums I'm keeping track off, when there's actually nothing important to keep track of.

Counting from my head I have 7 comic books, 12 television shows and probably 10 websites I keep track of regularly. This doesn't include the movies, computer games and random websites that I frequently stumble upon via Facebook or some other hellhole of a time sink.

I remember a while back reading a scientific article which covered the subject of the chaotic mind, a problem that is becoming more apparent for each year. The article went into depth how the internet and an abundance of media is rewiring our minds into a chaotic way stressful thinking, making subjects incapable of focusing on a task for a greater amount of time before being distracted by something else. I felt back then how much the contents of the article rang true to me and many friends I have. I have had a specific topic with a friend of mine many times which basically sums up to: "How I wish I didn't spend all that time on nonsense, it's time I'm never getting back and it feels my head is filled to the brim with bullshit. I bet our university studies would be a lot easier without it and we would probably be good at something else, like music or sports instead...". Yet I can't stop playing another game... Or watching another movie... Or checking that site one last time...

An hour ago I was having problems making a tough decision... It wasn't about family matters, a problem with a friend, economical issues... No... It was whether I should press shift+delete on my savegames directory of Skyrim... "Maybe I should save them later on Dropbox? I could change my mind and continue playing a month from now."

* Just one more... The use starts making marks on your daily life.

* Try to stop, your mind unwillingly finds excuses not to.

* One step away feels like a huge victory.

It sounds ridiculous but is eerily similar to substance addiction. Tobacco, alcohol or sugar, the recipe is the same.

Step 1 - Admitting the problem

I never had the problem of admitting the problem myself, I know others that do though. With any addiction the first and hardest step to recovery is admitting the problem. When it comes to substance misuse there's an external factor which not only is apparent to people around you, health problems arises and there's a public understanding of the details surrounding substance addiction. What happens when there's not a chemical component to put the blame on? When the problem lies completely in the mind of the subject, the "substance" is completely accepted by the public and not seen as a source of addiction? Some might even ridicule a possible addiction because there's no substance involved at all. How is a person to admit, or even recognize, that he or she is having an addiction when it doesn't come to mind until said person reflects upon where life has come to?

Recognition usually comes when health is taking a beating, be it in body or mind, or relationships and things like studies and jobs are being put on the side.

Step 2 - Rehabilitation

Luckily we're not dealing with coke or other heavy drugs which has withdrawal symptoms so severe that it can kill a subject in worst case scenarios. Being a completely psychological addiction it's up to the subject to solve the problem.

To avoid making this sound too much like a pseudo-science post from a quack-doctor I'll just get straight to the point. I'm having a problem with this, again, and I know how to get out. The real problem doesn't lie in the rehabilitation itself but rather not falling back. I think the best parallel to this is the frog getting boiled... You don't know you're back in before it's too late.

I read a post by spezzy regarding smoke addiction that reminded me about a very simple method of staying out.... For spezzy it's replacing the addiction with something more important to her, which is replacing cigarettes with CrossFit. I tend to think to myself; "What do I gain from this?". Can I look back and think "Was it worth my time?". It's usually all this in tandem that helps me defeat the power of my nucleus accumbens, the bastard that tells me it's more rewarding with quick fixes like finishing another quest instead of getting something useful done. Like, say, cook a decent meal or go study some extra for an exam.

I could be drawing, learning the keyboard, getting more done on my project, exercise or even get involved in a relationship. (heck, I wonder how many opportunities I've missed because I'm locked in my room all the damn time) I'm sitting here typing this not only because I'm venting some light steam but also because I believe I'm not alone with this, to be frank I believe there are several of you reading this denying that you would be addicted to something similar at all. Mostly because I know many in real life that is in complete denial... "Like spending an hour of Facebook is an issue?" Let's just say it isn't just one hour and not just Facebook...

Let me sum this up by saying it's time to fight this bullshit, give the addiction a punch where it hurts and tell my nucleus accumbens to be my bitch. My challenge to myself isn't to focus more on exercise, or practicing the keyboard, or studying more. Rather, by forcing myself to watch a lot less movies, play a lot less games and surf a lot less on the webs the rest will come naturally.

What is your digital addiction and what are you doing about it?

[Guest guest4729]

They did an interesting thing on cracked.com about how ideo game developers use things like a virtual "skinner box" to trap people into playing their games. If I wasn't on my iPod I would totally find it. I'll be adding more about this later when I get off campus for sure. I spent endless hours playing MMO's when I was younger and have a lot to say on this topic.

[Denny]

I think I know quite some of those tricks that article might have mentioned. "Play for Free", like a dealer you let the players try the product and then lock them in, then use micro transactions to fool people to buy just another cheap item and earn a lot of money in the process. Micro quests and items to make it feel like you're making progress (when you're actually not). Make even the most stupid action in the game rewarding by using false progress; achievement unlocked! "Awesomesupersauce! You did it hero!" (you finished the tutorial...).

It's kind of ironic, considering what I typed in my main post, but I can't wait to read the article you mentioned.

[Novius]

I can't even begin to count how many times I have told myself the same thing. I even spend time complaining to my friends who are pretty much in the same situation as I am and we always blame it on there not being anything to do around town (which is total BS). I signed up to volunteer to meet more people who I might be able to find some common ground with and hang out doing things other than playing video games or browsing the web or watching cat videos. Every time I try to get out of the habit of hopping on the computer or staying away form the xbox I always seem to fall right back into it.

Thanks for helping me find my new years resolution

[ETFnerd]

Well, I got to meet you here, so my time here hasn't been a total waste... I never got the allure of video games, but I find people fascinating. Articles that I learn something from are fascinating. 99% of them though are sloppy and I find them annoying, even offensive. I spent a lot of time on wikipedia. For an old dude like me it's off the hook... fo'shizzle... (I don't know if Snoop is big in Sweden...).

[sumdawgtwigg]

I wish you luck with solving your problem. You're def not alone in this. I tend to have the same sort of problem but not near as bad as I used to. When I first starting getting in shape, I began with running. I would go out every other day and run my guts out. Then one day during that time I decided I wanted to get another xbox because I missed playing. It wasn't long until I would start skipping runs to play more games. So, I sold the thing and my other life started to come back. Now, I have another one and slowly the same thing is starting to happen again. I need to find a happy medium though, not just get rid of one altogether.

[Guest guest4729]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html

Here's the article I mentioned before. If you know anything about the psychological experiments of B.F. Skinner it's a very VERY interesting read. If you don't I suggest you read a bit of background on his "Skinner box" experiments. Very interesting.

Similar reading about psychological experiments and peer pressure: Standford Prison experiment, Milgram Experiment and Ache Experiment.

The brain is an amazing thing and the way it responds to certain kinds of stimulus is super interesting me me. If I actually cared enough about it I would find a psych major interesting, but I only like bits and pieces of it so it isn't really for me.

Anyways, I KNOW I have an addiction to technology. I get all freaked out if I can't get on my laptop on a daily basis and I have to check my e-mail constantly. It makes everything MUCH harder - especially studying. I've gotten much much much better though. When I was younger I would play MMO's up to like 12 hours a day because I didn't want to miss anything when, in reality, I was missing out on real life as a teenager. I guess it was much better than sitting around smoking pot or getting in trouble with the law? D:

Plus I learned a bit about economics, strategies and other business concepts that I can apply to my major. For example: Today when I was cramming before my Marketing final I couldn't remember how to explain Wholesale Merchants and their subsections so I equated them all to MMO's. It was awesome and it helped me remember it for my final! Being nerdy/geeky comes in handy sometimes.

[Denny]

Shrevident >> I'm glad I could.

ETFnerd >> If you mean Snoop Dogg? Then he is known enough to be recognized but not much bigger than that.

sumdawgtwigg >> My version of throwing out the XBOX has been to delete all games from my computer and several series. (luckily the series is a constant so it's easy to calculate how time I can spend each week on them)

awsd00 >> I remember that article, very good one. I loathe cracked though because it uses the exact same method to keep people reading on the site, constantly popping up banners with killer headlines you just have to read.

The Standford Prison Experiment is a classic one that everyone should now about.

Do you have a smartphone? To me it helped to get rid of the mail addiction by adding K-9 Mail and Gmail to my phone. (I don't know the equivalent for iPhone) This way I don't need to sporadically check the mail, only have to check when it pings as with SMS.

[Guest guest4729]

awsd00 >> I remember that article, very good one. I loathe cracked though because it uses the exact same method to keep people reading on the site, constantly popping up banners with killer headlines you just have to read.

The Standford Prison Experiment is a classic one that everyone should now about.

Do you have a smartphone? To me it helped to get rid of the mail addiction by adding K-9 Mail and Gmail to my phone. (I don't know the equivalent for iPhone) This way I don't need to sporadically check the mail, only have to check when it pings as with SMS.

I agree, haha. They really do suck you into reading more and more. The same goes with TV shows. I'm a sucker for the show "How It's Made" on the Science channel. Once they tell me at the beginning what they're going to be showing I'm like "But...but...but...they're gonna show me how to make carpets and now I'm curious!" so I end up watching the whole show versus just the first part. Or shows that are like "To Be Continued..." so much hate. SO MUCH HATE. Y U NO FIT IT INTO ONE EPISODE?

As far as smartphones go, I don't have one of those but I DID just get an iPod Touch the other day. After about five years of use my iPod video thing has a broken headphone jack so I can only use it in my car or on a dock. I'll look for the Gmail app, I already have the Facebook one.

[bigm141414]

Great topic, Denny. I have a feeling that many of us here at NF have similar issues. I have a slight variation of this issue. Not so much digital addiction as it is information addiction. I crave information. Any type of information. Via books, the internet, the television. Whether visual, aural, or written I need to learn something new, to know more than the next person. Elitist? Perhaps a tad. New skill out there to try? Sweet, all in learning the mechanics, history, arguments for and against such a thing.

The internet does not help this since a) Wikipedia is a vast collection of interesting facts I don't know yet and forums help further the discussion of new ideas and information which leads me to search for more information. It can be bothersome at times if it gets out of hand (say when I was learning about fractal capacitors I spent 4 days at work doodling, not doing my job, and writing equations ).

I do understand the addiction to email though since I routinely check my work email at like 3am since my company is international. And I have about 40 RSS feeds I monitor at all times on Google Reader. And this forum, of course. I think I spend more time on this forum than some of the moderators. I think only ETFnerd spends more time on here than I do

[Guest guest4729]

Great topic, Denny. I have a feeling that many of us here at NF have similar issues. I have a slight variation of this issue. Not so much digital addiction as it is information addiction. I crave information. Any type of information. Via books, the internet, the television. Whether visual, aural, or written I need to learn something new, to know more than the next person. Elitist? Perhaps a tad. New skill out there to try? Sweet, all in learning the mechanics, history, arguments for and against such a thing.

The internet does not help this since a) Wikipedia is a vast collection of interesting facts I don't know yet and forums help further the discussion of new ideas and information which leads me to search for more information. It can be bothersome at times if it gets out of hand (say when I was learning about fractal capacitors I spent 4 days at work doodling, not doing my job, and writing equations ).

I do understand the addiction to email though since I routinely check my work email at like 3am since my company is international. And I have about 40 RSS feeds I monitor at all times on Google Reader. And this forum, of course. I think I spend more time on this forum than some of the moderators. I think only ETFnerd spends more time on here than I do

I think you're my twin. I feel very much the same way - I ALWAYS want to learn something new. During my tutoring hours I often read a lot of the news. If I have nobody to tutor or I have no work I often sit and read the news. Two hours is just about my breaking point for that though, but I could easily go and sit and watch the science, history or learning channel all day if it isn't silly mindless shows about teen moms or other bull crap. Wikipedia is also a downfall for me as is Google. I search for one thing and find myself an hour later going "Uhhh...what did I initially come here for?"

[bigm141414]

I <3 How It's Made

[Guest guest4729]

I <3 How It's Made

Refer to my post above your initial post.

I also mentioned my love of How It's Made. "Learn how they make hot tubs? Sure! Learn how they make harmonicas? Sure!" Hehe.

[WizardTrip]

I follow exactly what you're saying and how you feel. Like bigm141414 above, I crave information. Wikipedia has been mentioned, so I know I'm not the only one that hits that "Random article" button on the left side just to see what it'll bring up, then hit it again, and again, and again. And yeah, don't get me started on How its Made, Modern Marvels, and all those other information overload shows!

Although it is cliche to even say this about addiction, to me it is about moderation.

Currently, I occasionally play Eve Online, WoW, and recently Rift as my "go-to" games. I am also looking forward to SWTOR. I am no longer playing them hours and hours at a time, but I do enjoy them enough to keep at them. I have enough of a social life to keep me from spending too much time in front of my computer, and I make sure that the social life is a priority.

As for TV shows, I currently follow ~40 or more shows. Check out http://trakt.tv/user/icedtrip to see what I watch. The thing I have found is that I do not have to watch them the moment they air, etc. I can save up shows for when I do have time to watch them. I'll play catch up on sick days (which are fortunately quite rare), rainy weekends, or other kinds of down time. But to me, those days are kinda like treats. I am also a huge movie lover, but treat movies the same as the shows.

The main thing that I put focus on however are friends and a healthy social life. As much as I love these "addictions", I make it so that I will ALWAYS be able to drop them for any kind of social setting with friends. As an example, I am part of an all hunter's guild on a server in WoW (WHU guild) that has put on special events at different levels starting at level 1. I love these things, but I have missed the majority of them because social events have pulled me away. Honestly, there were quite a few of them that I would have rather have been online for, but I knew the healthier lifestyle choice for me was with friends.

[Lachy]

Has anyone pointed out the irony that if you hadn't been falling into these sinkholes you'd have never found the article that got you thinking about sinkholes?

I know exactly what you mean though. Definitely happens to me quite a bit. It doesn't bother me much, it's not impacting my life negatively (I don't think), I'm still working well, exercising, socialising, etc. So, I don't feel bad about time spent on things like video games, movies, internet. They're my indulgence, and I enjoy it.

If there was something I wanted to acheive and was constantly putting off because these trivial interests kept usurping my time, then it'd be time to reprioritise.

[Foolishnostalgia]

I can completely relate, I'm like the others, I'm an information junkie. I feel like I can never have enough, but then sometimes I stop myself and really think..."what am I going to do with this information?" Besides the random trivia that I can talk about, there is no real application. Just because I read about how a house is built, I know I don't have the capacity or resources to do it myself. This is a big thing I am struggling with because I love having down time, but the reality is I'm just wasting time.

I always use the excuse, "If i had some more money, I'd be able to ..." because I would love to learn a new skill, or hobby. You can only pursue fitness until exhaustion, so what about after that?

I'm all for making this a new year's resolution. Breaking my information addiction, time wasting habits, and trying to say yes to situations I that get my ass moving more.

[Guest guest4729]

I can completely relate, I'm like the others, I'm an information junkie. I feel like I can never have enough, but then sometimes I stop myself and really think..."what am I going to do with this information?" Besides the random trivia that I can talk about, there is no real application. Just because I read about how a house is built, I know I don't have the capacity or resources to do it myself. This is a big thing I am struggling with because I love having down time, but the reality is I'm just wasting time.

I always use the excuse, "If i had some more money, I'd be able to ..." because I would love to learn a new skill, or hobby. You can only pursue fitness until exhaustion, so what about after that?

I'm all for making this a new year's resolution. Breaking my information addiction, time wasting habits, and trying to say yes to situations I that get my ass moving more.

Or how about do fitness AND learn? If you've got an iPod or whatever you can download lectures, podcasts or videos to watch while doing cardio machines. Whenever I do a cardio machine at the gym I watch the history channel or the science channel. The other day I was watching how the Himalayan mountain range was formed while doing an elliptical. Teehee.

[jdanger]

you can download lectures

This seems like as proper a place as any to drop just about the coolest website there is right now (well coolest non TRG site anyway). I humbly present http://academicearth.org/

If you haven't seen this before clear your schedule.

[Guest guest4729]

This seems like as proper a place as any to drop just about the coolest website there is right now (well coolest non TRG site anyway). I humbly present http://academicearth.org/

If you haven't seen this before clear your schedule.

Thank you, I just lost a portion of my winter break.

[bigm141414]

This seems like as proper a place as any to drop just about the coolest website there is right now (well coolest non TRG site anyway). I humbly present http://academicearth.org/

If you haven't seen this before clear your schedule.

Damn you jdanger.

[jdanger]

Yeah, no, you're going to lose more than a winter break with this thing. Take the longest amount of time you've wasted aimlessly clicking through wikipedia reading about random crap, add video and multiply that number by about 5,000 and you might have an accurate estimate for how long this will consume your soul.

[aj_rock]

Related to jdangers post on that website, that was exactly what I was gonna suggest/try to do myself. If I'm gonna be 'wasting time', I may as well get something potentially useful out of it.

Mind you, I say that while posting from work... >.>

[The Tin Man]

After about five years of use my iPod video thing has a broken headphone jack so I can only use it in my car or on a dock.

Off-topic, but I got a new headphone jack for my iPod video for like $20 from ifixit. Did the same with a new battery for about the same price.

[VintageGeek]

Wow, I feel this addiction. I have seven tabs open on my browser right now (including the Academic Earth that was previously linked to in this thread). Each tab is a completely different thing - one is my email, one is Facebook, one is my food tracker, a Google search for farmer's markets in my town, a knitting site, and this.

I couldn't even read all the way through this thread without clicking away to check Facebook, or refreshing the forums page on my knitting site, or clicking up on my water counter on my tracker...

Wow, I have a really huge problem.

[andygates]

I used to worry about scatterbrained lack of mindfulness until I realised that worrying about it just meant I was anxious, scatterbrained and not mindful. Fifteen things at once is the way I am. It just took until the tabbed browser for the world to catch up with me.