Digital addiction and the chaotic mind

[Mama T]

Damn you jdanger.

holy crap, for reals.

i'm gonna study up on "What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought" and use it as real awkward first date banter (next time i find a boy to date).

also, yes, my attention span these days is just out of control. i'll be on one tab, then think of something and go to another tab, then repeat 5 times, then be like, 'what was i doing?' and go back to the original tab for about 1 minute, and start all over again. pomodoro technique is my only savior - and i highly recommend it.

[bigm141414]

i'm gonna study up on "What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought" and use it as real awkward first date banter (next time i find a boy to date).

Nothing like a deep philosophical discussion over a candlelit steak dinner (guys still take girls to steak dinners, right?)

[Mama T]

Nothing like a deep philosophical discussion over a candlelit steak dinner

philosophical discussion about baby brains.

(guys still take girls to steak dinners, right?)

any guy worth dating does.

[WizardTrip]

also, yes, my attention span these days is just out of control. i'll be on one tab, then think of something and go to another tab, then repeat 5 times, then be like, 'what was i doing?' and go back to the original tab for about 1 minute, and start all over again. pomodoro technique is my only savior - and i highly recommend it.

I always wished I could just use Hugh Grant's technique in "About a Boy". Unfortunately, I have a job :-(

But I'd had a great idea.

The important thing in island living is to be your own activities director.

I find the key is to think of a day as units of time...

...each unit consisting of no more than 30 minutes.

Full hours can be a little bit intimidating...

...and most activities take about half an hour.

Taking a bath: One unit.

Watching Countdown:

Okay...

One unit.

Web-based research:

Two units.

Exercising: Three units.

Having my hair carefully disheveled: Four units.

It's amazing how the day fills up.

I often wonder, to be absolutely honest...

...if I'd ever really have time for a job.

How do people cram them in?

any guy worth dating does.

Damn right!

[vizh]

dang, why didn't i find this thread sooner? it describes, like... my entire life

webcomics, forums, superhero mmos meant for 12-year-olds...!! i'm an english major and now i can't even concentrate on a book! i've ruined my own life with the internet

[jdanger]

holy crap, for reals.

i'm gonna study up on "What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought" and use it as real awkward first date banter (next time i find a boy to date).

Haha that was one of the first ones I watched too. I like the babysperiments the best. AKA how do we trick babies for fun, profit, and science! But I suspect it's mostly for fun.

also, yes, my attention span these days is just out of control. i'll be on one tab, then think of something and go to another tab, then repeat 5 times, then be like, 'what was i doing?' and go back to the original tab for about 1 minute, and start all over again. pomodoro technique is my only savior - and i highly recommend it.

Random polling, I currently have 18 tabs in five different Chrome windows open. I.. like to multitask. Or avoid eight different problems all at the same time. It's all a matter of perspective I suppose.

philosophical discussion about baby brains.

I wonder what they taste like.

Wait, I think I'm doing it wrong again.

[kg4ghn]

Yeah this pretty much describes me as well.

Any time I get the faintest interest in anything new, I have to research the hell out of it via google, forums, books, etc. For example I have everything I need fitness-wise in doing stronglifts but I can't help but read more and more about different exercises and programs.

[cosmia]

I'm glad this thread exists! I have a really bad Internet addiction problem, and I've known it for a while. I wish I could say it's an addiction to information, but it's not even anything as positive as that. I'll cycle through all my usual sites, get all the information I want/need... and then just keep cycling through them aimlessly because I have a really hard time turning the computer off. It's a psychological thing I can't understand. I could be spending time reading a book, playing the piano, writing a story, even playing a video game!... and yet I just sit here like a zombie, click click click click, even though there's nothing left to look at anymore. It doesn't interfere with me going to the gym or yoga, but once I'm home from work & working out, I just sit on the computer for most of the night. Bad, bad, bad. I really do think it has a lot to do with not wanting to turn off the computer and go focus on one thing. The Internet has fucked up my brain so badly.

I think it's just become more of a bad habit than anything else, and habits are really hard to break. Especially for me. I am a creature of habit in many, many ways. I've known for a while that what I need to do is just not use the computer at home. Ever. Put the damn thing under a pile of stuff, do not touch it. I have my own computer at work, so I can check my email / forums / whatever else there. There is no need to be online at home! Ever. I am hoping that smashing the habit will end the problem. This is going to be one of my goals when the new challenge starts up in January. I might even get drastic and give my laptop to my boyfriend so he can stash it away at his place. That way the temptation will be completely removed. Which will be good for me.

Academic Earth, though, that looks amazing. I'll bookmark it for a brighter future in which I can use the computer again without falling into a horrible five hour spiral of pointlessness.

[wanna_B_nerd]

Yet another cracked link

http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html

7 reasons the 21st century is making you miserable. By far one of the greatest things I've read on the internet.

[Nucleus]

Tl;dr.

I'm kidding. In all seriousness, this is a massive problem for me too. When I'm tired, skimming articles and watching telly calms me down. The internet makes it far too easy, because you can chase every train of thought instantly without pausing to re-evaluate if you're making good choices about how you're spending your time. Every second, a new hit. And while it calms you down, I've noticed it's not actually restful.

Work's actually what changed this for me. When I had more free time it was a bigger problem. I spent more of my teens in a stupor than I care to think about. But at work, I'm constantly on the go, constantly under pressure and constantly needing to make decisions. I was really concerned about my ability to concentrate after all that instant gratification, but it comes back when you need it. All that fuzziness and chatter just dissolves and it calms me, but at the same time it's energising because I'm there in the world, having real experiences and connecting with real people.

I've managed to loosen the hold my laptop has on me partly by never being home and partly because I find myself wanting to be the person I am when I'm experiencing the world rather than the half-a-person I am when I'm being entertained. Having said that, I still have more of a technology problem than most people I know.

[LRB]

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.

Can I just say? With the greatest respect and admiration: you suck. I will NEVER get anything done now.

[LRB]

Random polling, I currently have 18 tabs in five different Chrome windows open. I.. like to multitask. Or avoid eight different problems all at the same time. It's all a matter of perspective I suppose..

Twenty-one, bay-bee!

[HorrorGeek]

Can I just say? With the greatest respect and admiration: you suck. I will NEVER get anything done now.

Ditto.

And 14.

[Thrillho]

I stop around 7 or 8.

And is AcademicEarth free or not? I see a conspicuous absence of either "cost" or "free" anywhere.

[NotBadForAHuman]

Funny that this thread was necro'd because I was just thinking about this today at work when once again I was trying to write up the community plan for a game we're launching soon and could. not. focus. I have been trying to get this done for weeks and I just can't focus on it. I know what I have to do over the coming months and can do it in my sleep but I can't focus long enough to get it into a coherent, presentable plan anymore.

It's been getting worse over the past few years. Tens of windows across two monitors mean I spend hours every day flick flick flick flick between them. I work on Facebook, and Twitter, and forums, and email, and Skype, and Communicator, and it never stops. Never. And that's just the work stuff...

I honestly feel as though my brain has been rewired and can't handle more than 60 seconds, max, of anything at a time before it has to flick to something else. flick. flick. flick. It's like my brain is a TV and the channel up button is stuck. Is it possible to develop ADD as an adult?

It didn't used to be like this. I remember life before the internet and Windows! I miss that life. Sometimes I wish I could just take a year without any technology and just.. reset. Read real, paper books. Paint with real watercolors on beautiful textured paper with sable brushes. Not feel so scattered and fragmented. Work a job where I talk to strangers all day in person, and see their faces, and connect with them in reality, not pixels.

My 23 year old son is even worse and my younger kids are starting to follow suit, even my 9 year old daughter. She still prefers to play outside with friends when she can, but my 11 year old son is having trouble too.

I fear for the future, I really do.

[Innkeeper]

I recommend Cyber Junkie by Kevin Roberts. As someone who struggles with bad digital habits, his insight was valuable.

[DoogieT]

K, I'm jumping into this discussion. Rambling follows.

1. First off, everyone read Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal. It'll help you see that games can be a force for good and not evil.

2. I probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for games. They were the only thing I could do in my teens and early twenties that wouldn't give me panic attacks. If they didn't exist I probably would have killed myself or gotten addicted to drugs or booze.

3. Now that I'm better, I play a lot less. I used to think working in the game industry was the dream job, and I freelanced as a game reviewer for ten years. I'm not sure what I want to do with my career now.

4. This past week I stumbled on to a remake of Star Control 2, which cost me a lot of time during my undergrad back in the day. I installed it and uninstalled it three times before this morning where I realized I was now powerful enough to beat the Ur-Quan but couldn't be bothered to actually fulfill the rest of the tasks, so now it's done.

5. I will never go near an MMORPG. I know all too well what could happen. That said, my body has this sort of build in "enough's enough" threshold where I get frustrated that I'm not finished a game and I get rid of it or delete my saved games. I gave up on Borderlands for this reason and will never try SkyRim or any of the other huge titles. I won't even try a game like Final Fantasy (Whatever) because they're so long. I want to experience the world and the game play and get back to my life.

6. I've made far too much progress in my real life to ever want to go back to playing games like I did when I was anxious or working reviewing them. I have a decent body now, I can hold a conversation with a beautiful woman without freaking out, and I can enjoy life without constant panic attacks. I'll only play games that I know have endings (Darksiders, Halo, etc.) I don't play online games anymore that have endless play, like Street Fighter IV. I used to play it for hours before going to bed and then when I realized how miserable it was making me (missing an ultra combo, losing to a scrub, etc.) I just got rid of them and started reading.

7. Part of the reason for all of my growth now is that I had to quit cold turkey. I moved to a new city to go back to school (and make up for time lost while anxious) and I had to leave all my consoles behind me. I bought a 3DS and beat a few games, and then a PSP Vita and beat a few games.

(still rambling)

8. I think of all the time I spent playing games and how much of a better musician I could be if I spent it practicing. I'm the proud owner of a new electric guitar and I'd rather level up in that than I would in a game.

9. I guess what I'm trying to say is that games are both a force for good and for ill. I'm not surprised at all to read the Cracked article, which makes perfect sense to me.

There is no #10.

[Leimanu]

I always wished I could just use Hugh Grant's technique in "About a Boy". Unfortunately, I have a job :-(

But I'd had a great idea.

The important thing in island living is to be your own activities director.

I find the key is to think of a day as units of time...

...each unit consisting of no more than 30 minutes.

Full hours can be a little bit intimidating...

...and most activities take about half an hour.

Taking a bath: One unit.

Watching Countdown:

Okay...

One unit.

Web-based research:

Two units.

Exercising: Three units.

Having my hair carefully disheveled: Four units.

It's amazing how the day fills up.

I often wonder, to be absolutely honest...

...if I'd ever really have time for a job.

How do people cram them in?

Damn right!

Lol! I forgot about that! Love that movie, and a good way to look at a free without turning to the internet or tv.

I call my laptop my "baby." That's ridiculous.

I get so obsessed with one thing online, that I much watch it all. When I went to massage school, I rented a room in a place without a tv. I thought that I'd break my tv obsession, but then I found out that there's tv on the internet now (ugh, hulu). And full mystery science theater episodes. Recently went through a thing with the Nostalgic Critic, and now I found that he has a whole web site of other quirky vloggers! ACK! Currently waiting for a video to load of Angry Joe review Lollipop Chainsaw. I don't even play video games.

I know I could use my time to improve myself. Lots of free massage instrucion videos. YouTube vids of how to do exercises or crafts. I did do a lot of job searching today. But when it was break time - todd in the shadows, facebook, this site. RAWR.

The worst part? For this 6wk challenge, I meant to limit my internet time. Major Fail.

[Innkeeper]

Thanks for sharing, DoogieT. I've been contemplating getting rid of my gaming PC for a while. Maybe it's time I take the plunge...

[EnygmaEve]

My big huge problem is that I can't unplug before bedtime. There's a growing body of research that suggests that staring at the warm blue glow of electronics before bedtime keeps you from producing enough melatonin to pass out, and I am plugged in to the minute I drift off, either messing around on my cell or Kindle. And if I have a lot of trouble nodding off? Guess what I do then?

My sleep is getting to epic amounts of fail.

Going to start setting an alarm an hour before my "go to bed, you fool" alarm goes off that reminds me to unplug and get away from the TV, XBox, Computers, Phones, etc etc.

This also means I will have to find a new hobby that will keep me busy for 1 hour a night that doesn't involve any of these. :|

[Benjsec]

Unless it's backlit your kindle won't count. That's the big advantage of the passive e-paper displays. Just make sure the lamps you use have a warm colour profile (sadly, that generally means non-energy saving, but they are improving) or better still, use a candle!

[EnygmaEve]

Unless it's backlit your kindle won't count. That's the big advantage of the passive e-paper displays. Just make sure the lamps you use have a warm colour profile (sadly, that generally means non-energy saving, but they are improving) or better still, use a candle!

Yeeeeeeeeah, it's a Kindle Fire.

All of my lamps in the house are of the energy saving variety, but, I have a huge thing for asian home decor motifs, so they're all inside paper lanterns, and that allows me to control their hue.

[Denny]

Also make sure you get some of that morning light.

[DoogieT]

Also make sure you get some of that morning light.

Not that I know anything about the science of this, but why would it only apply to teenagers? Sleeping has been the bane of my existence. I lie in bed for hours without sleeping and usually don't start my day until about 11:00 because I'm always out of sync. I was thrilled to learn there's a condition for this so it's not all in my head...

[Denny]

The title is most likely based on a study on teenagers, rather than coming to the conclusion that it's exclusive to teenagers. Morning light has been the base for several studies in Nordic countries regarding health, well-being and light therapy and most that I can remember of has shown that morning light is essential for good sleeping patterns and feeling well. The URL I linked was just a random one I picked after some Google-fu in regards to melatonin levels and morning light.