HACKER Q&A
📣 annyeonghada

How do you deal with Internet and information addiction?


I'm wasting my life away in search of the one piece of information-that-will-change-my-life. I'm aware that such a thing does not exist, I'm aware that I need to just experiment with my life and there are no failure-proof formulas but I find myself constantly battling against this pathetic FOMO.

I think we (humans) built a perfect Skinner Box with randomly distributed reinforcement: the Internet is mostly arid, but there you have it, the occasional oasis of useful information, and it keeps you going: "It's not all that bad, see" So much knowledge!". And it appears to be true, but then I look back at what I've learned and it's "not much", but I've looked at what I've lost and it's so much: stopped going to the gym, stopped playing my instruments, stopped going to the conservatory, and now I'm only formally enrolled in University but haven't studied in a while.

I've tried two years of therapy with 5 different therapists and, sincerely, I've no more money and time to waste in such unfruitful ways. I'm fairly certain that I'm depressed, but where the causation lies: it came first the depression or the Intenet addiction? All I can remember is that these kind of tribulation started onw or two years after I was "plugged".

I'm becoming my worst nightmare, an unsuccessful NEET with a shadow of his former self and intelligence, with no identity anymore. I wish I could just unplug it all: I love the times when we have a blackout or when I go visiting my father without internet connection: I read for more than 3 minutes, I relax and without watching youtube. Internet addiction and depression are feeding each other, both symptoms of my malaise and dissatisfaction with my life: the addictive activity promises to be the cure to the problem that itself has caused.


  👤 Avtomatk Accepted Answer ✓
I have spent the last 3 years in absolute solitude, I have not even spoken to my nuclear family due to problems of coexistence...

I can tell you that depression is nothing more than your body crying out to you to socialize, but not to socialize with anyone, but with a person with whom you can live peacefully...

Living alone your life loses meaning, soon questions arise such as: Why do I suffer so much in my work? Does it make any sense to suffer just to survive for no apparent reason? The reasons to live are given to you by your "friends".

But where to find those friends? I don't even know, at school you get mixed up with random people and if you're lucky you find someone, at university it's the same, but if you were unlucky enough not to find friends in either of them, you're finished, then you have to work and there you will not have time to make friends, unless you have time to do a sport or a hobby.

If you ask me what the solution is, it is a very long article that I am working on.


👤 groffee
The internet is absolutely garbage for information and I think most people don't even realize it, it's so superficial. Go print out a wiki on any subject, it's a couple of pages at best, compare that to even an introductory textbook and you'll see the difference.

But your problems sound deeper, I'd recommend you unplug. Just go cold turkey, leave your devices with your parents and try a week without internet. If possible go visit some friends/family out of state and leave your devices behind. Or even just start with a daily walk in the park or around the block with no music, no phone, just yourself in the moment.


👤 night-rider
Reframe FOMO as JOMO (the joy of missing out). The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore. Just because information is abundant it doesn’t mean you can’t focus on a niche