Netaddiction.com

Subject: Netaddiction.com
From: Alice
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 08:02 PM

The mudcat forum seems to be the one thing I can't help but check, even on a day that is supposed to be a holiday. I've been on at least three times today, started a new thread, made a sound file, posted a few messages, read some threads that I'll remain silent on, and I'm trying to tell myself not to log on again until tomorrow!

So, are you neglecting your work, your relationships, your exercise routine, your studies, your chores, your musical instruments... all to log on and see....?
This URL was in an article in our local paper today:

www.netaddiction.com

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Brendy
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 08:05 PM

Like holding an AA meeting in a pub, though.

B.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: kendall
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 08:52 PM

The way I see it is...while I'm doing all those other things, I'm neglecting the mudcat. It's all in how you look at it.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Alice
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 09:41 PM

Brendy, yes, a quote from the article, "I understand the irony of treating web addictions online..."

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Brendy
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 09:56 PM

It's a new one, alright.

Or is it form of aversion therapy?

B.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 03:44 AM

No problem for me. I can go a whole 4 hours without checking the mudcat. I even got 8 hours of sleep one night back in, oh, I think it was April.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Bagpuss
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 04:30 AM

I'm the same - but mudcat is only my secondary addiction. First of all I have to check a similar board at a spoof movie review site to check if anyone has insulted me.

And you know that sinking feeling you get when you check your email and theres nothing for you.... anyone else check it again *just to be sure*...

No, just me then.....

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Quincy
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 05:42 AM

The last seven weeks I've been off work after an injury I sustained at work so Mud-cat has been a God-send!!
Trouble is, you know those people that can't have a 'grown-up' conversation without mentioning their kids? Well I'm getting to become one of those people that starts my conversations with.."Well there was this really great thread on Mudcat today........"

I'll keep taking the tablets!!!
best wishes, Yvonne

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: dwditty
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 06:19 AM

I don't have a problem. I can stop whenever I want. Really. I just don't want to stop right now. It's not that I can't. Hey, I should be able to enjoy an "occasional" thread or a mudcat radio show or a hearme session or a search of the DT or a...

dw

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: GUEST,Crazy Eddie
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 06:56 AM

Enters, sits down, looks around nervously, fidgets a little, clears throat.............
"Erm, hello everyone, my name is Eddie, and I'm a Muddaholic"........

And I'm only a GUEST!

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: dwditty
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 08:40 AM

Hi, Eddie!!!

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: bflat
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 08:48 AM

Do you think the separation anxiety I feel when I have to leave my computer is an indication that there is a "little problem?"

bflat

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 09:52 AM

The latest edition of Utne Reader has a good article about this, called "The Trouble With Romance." Some experts think that our on-line relationships only serve to further isolate us from each other. The reasoning goes that the time we spend on-line detracts from our 3-D relationships, and has now been added to the long list of reasons for marital discord and divorce. Yet the same article mentions that the number of romances and marriages as a result of meeting someone on-line are up. Go figure....

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Alice
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 10:43 AM

Well, that website, netaddiction.com, has a little quiz you can take. I was sure I would flunk, but my score said I was a normal internet user. ... now, the "norm" among internet users is?

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Giac
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 11:32 AM

I took the test and got a 49, the highest number still listed as normal. However, if they'd had a question on the panic that sets in when you can't get online...

This morning I flipped on the TV, but it was dead. I checked the plugs, etc., and the VCR was off, too. Oh well, I thought, just a tripped circuit breaker, I'll fix it later. Then I turned on the computer. It was dead.

"OH MY GOD, THEY'RE ON THE SAME CIRCUIT!"

Getting to my breaker box is a major ordeal, but I didn't let my shirttail hit til I got to it and reset the breaker. Relief! And, this is normal?

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 11:35 AM

I scored a 55.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Brendy
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 11:40 AM

But what are people 'addicted' to?
The search for information?

Unless in a very few circumstances, I think, perhaps, not.

If not that, then a big one has to be the attraction of people to 'chat sites'
And the way I see it, if one cannot stay away from that form of internet usage, then whatever problem there is, is much more deep-seated, and internet addiction is only a symptom of a much larger whole.

I use the internet quite a lot in my ordinary day-to-day life; I'm lazy hoor, in a way, and only use the libraries, now when I have to. But if I was on a dial-up connection, I wouldn't use the net as much. It's nice to have it, but I could live without it also. Same way as I could live without a T.V., or electricity.

Addicts tend to forget about the cost of things when it comes to getting the fix, and if the results of one's internet activity show larger than 'normal' phone bills, then there should be at least a little yellow light flashing somewhere in the back of the mind, encouraging you to keep an eye on things.

I see a lot of people posting here from work.
I wouldn't look into the addiction 'thing' there too much, though; boredom can also be a factor. Plus the fact that they're not really paying the bill. Take those same people back to their homes, and quite a lot of them wouldn't use it as prolifically, I would think.

I don't know too much how bad the 'problem' is in 'the west', but here, in Norway, there has been a big uproar about the chat telephone lines; unwitting parents getting bills that take up the average month's wage, etc.

It's a new addiction, I suppose. But it has the potential to be as destructive as alcohol, heroin, gambling, smoking, etc. And the 'addict's brain' goes to work to adapt itself to it's new playground.

But not everyone who drinks alcohol, makes a flutter on the horses, etc. is an addict. But everybody who does (and indeed who doesn't), is a potential addict, IMO, and being aware of it's effects on oneself; financially and emotionally, can save your life, in the extreme cases.

Oddly enough, I haven't checked out too much of that link that you provided, Alice; I skimmed a bit. When I have more time, I will. But if it helps some people, well, I'm all for it. The pages can be saved off-line, no doubt.

B.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Brendy
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 11:49 AM

Sorry. The first paragraph, or so was missing there. Don't know what happened.
Here's what went before:

An internet user is one thing, I think, Alice. An addict is another.

For example, in these days of 'always on', the internet is really just like another folder on the desktop.
While I'm sitting here 'working' at the computer; writing an article, song, etc.; if I need to reference something, normally I would have taken a trip down to the library, and located a few texts and spread them out in front of me.
Time consuming, I suppose, if you worry about that kind of thing. But I get much quicker 'results' by 'letting my fingers do the walking'.

That, I think, is a 'normal' use for the internet.....

B.

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Jeri
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 12:39 PM

I think the questions in the quiz are aimed at identifying people who's internet habits affect their ability to function in the real world, either by taking the place of face-to-face interaction or making them feel incomplete without it. Strangely, I came off as a normal user, even though I spend a lot of time on line. I'm here a lot because I can be, not because I think I need to be.

(And as far as neglectng things I don't want to do, like housework, I can find a thousand things to delay me getting started. I don't have to get dressed to be on the internet, though. Is there a term "mouse potato" yet?)

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Mbo
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 12:43 PM

Spaw knows all about nekkid net surfing!

Subject: RE: Netaddiction.com
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 12:43 PM

But who here is "normal"? Show of hands. If you're "normal", raise your right hand!

Ah-ha! As I thought! I don't see any raised right hands! That makes it unanimous the other way, so I don't even have to ask to see THOSE hands!

Dave Oesterreich