Procrastination and the Internet

In school I grew up with the computer.  From the baby stages of DOS in elementary to the grown up stages of Windows XP and beyond.  Soon every home had a computer and with that came the internet. Maybe it was the other way around though.  Did the computer become a staple in every home only because of the internet?

The internet is the most captivating piece of technology with endless entertainment and is ever expanding with each passing year.  Today we have this party on a screen available to us anytime and anywhere in our pockets on a number of mobile devices.  Information available to us at any moment of the day.  So this means we have become more productive with all this information available to us, right?  We look up just the information we need or talk/text to just the person we meant to talk/text to and get back to the task we were working on?  Or do we become distracted as soon as the screen lights up?  Check email, play a game(just a few minutes), text back friends who texted you, update the social media status on where your at, I wonder what movies are coming out, what will the weather be like in the coming week?, and of course have to find out what people are complaining about the president this week.  That only took 15 mins right?  Probably more like an hour to an hour and a half.  How many times a day does this happen?  Now you have to throw together something for dinner.  It taking you twice as long or more to finish reading a book.   When did you say you were going to reorganize the basement or garage?

Research shows that 47% of internet use is wasted time.  It serves no real purpose.  So almost half of internet use is preventing people from having productive lives.  At what point does the internet stop being a tool and start becoming an addiction?

I used to be really addicted to the computer and internet.  Right after high school I was introduced to computer games.  They blew me away on how advanced and more complex they were compared to video games.  My brain was hooked.  I saved up around $1500 and bought my first computer.  I played games more and more after my purchase.  College didn't pan out for me and I quit the job I had at a foam factory that was giving me physical problems.  With my new free time my computer/internet addiction grew.  I was living with my parents and I had $20,000 saved up so money wasn't an issue.  My computer became my life obsession.  From when I woke up to when I went to bed(really late) I was on my computer.  For two years this continued until my money started to dwindle.  I had to get a job.  I still played games all the time when I wasn't working.  I wasn't the best worker though.  I couldn't focus well and I would miss bad parts.  One time I even mislabeled a box.  Eventually I figured out I was a computer addict and I cut my computer/internet usage drastically.  My work improved and I felt better physically and mentally.

I still find myself being drawn to the screen.  I play only one game now and this game can only be played a limited amount per day.  I have to limit my screen time to a manageable level for me not to become sucked in again.  Even the rough draft of this blog post I wrote by hand in a notebook.  It is slower to write this way, but I can concentrate better so for me it takes less time this way.

What I want people to take from this post is to be mindful of your screen/internet time.  It's easy to switch into auto pilot mode and lose track of time.  Set a timer if you have to.  Knowing you have a limited amount of time will help keep you more focused on the task you originally turned on the device to accomplish. If you don't you may procrastinate your time away, it may be an hour or maybe two years of your life.  It's time you can't get back.