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[Mullet Master]

Everyone, I am frustrated with myself. Last night, I dismissed an opportunity to hang out with many people whom I haven't seen for a long time, and instead of doing something really important, I stayed at home. The majority of the time at home was spent.. you guessed it... on the internet. Today, instead of going to see another friend who I haven't seen for a while... I'm on the internet.

In the past , I have had to quit the internet cold turkey to get things done. As in , scorched earth - no connection at home. I'm about to pull the plug on it again if I can't get things under control.

Here's some things I've done already to curb my internet usage, but that's not enough.

1) Forums - I only post to one forum now, this one. I have quit reading threads in sections other than the ones most important to me, that is Other Games, Life Advice, and occasionally Forum Games & Roleplaying. I really only make a half dozen posts, at most, per day. I refuse to sign up for any other forum. I spent a lot of time in many forums in past, and really have tried to curb their usage.
2) Time wasters - I don't play online casual games of any kind. Most are very shallow and mindnumbing, and even the good ones are much less fulfilling than finishing another title.
3) Youtube - I make it a rule, one video from Youtube then close the tab/window. Even if it's a video where I'm trying to learn something, I need that "break" to prevent a 45 minute one video after another from occurring from something innocent. You know, the neverending stream from related videos or other videos linked on the page?
4) Facebook/Social Media - I already only spend about 30 mins/week on any sort of social media. I don't see how it is practical to cut this time down, esp. considering it takes my phone 5 mins to load FB on crappy Edge network.

It seems like the majority of time I spend on the internet is completely wasted, just mindless browsing. I really need to start writing down what I am doing, because I can't remember everything I've done even this morning.

[Trapezohedron]

Unplug your internet. If you're leeching off of public wifi, keep that device you're using inside a bag or your pocket and think of doing something else. Personal reflection, maybe?

Finally, make sure it's a hassle for you to turn the internet back on. Do whatever you can.

[weenog]

Stop playing with the internet.  Get your play time in elsewhere.  Treat the internet as a tool for communication, research and business only.  Maybe add downloading useful programs to the list if you can't get them elsewhere.  Ask yourself whether you're really going to need tools for that before you decide to bring a laptop out with you, or grab for your phone when you aren't planning to make a phone call.

If you want to be really extreme, restrict your internet time to leeching internet in a public place directly across from the police station and when it's -20 F outside.  That will tend to cut down on your internet use pretty drastically.  Learned that one while homeless (and yet still connected, sometimes).

[Jo]

The cure for me was to actually have no internet. It sucked for a week then I rediscovered exercise and reading.

Now I have it again. And I'm back. 

[Leatra]

I go to my family's Summer house every year for like 3 months. I have no internet and computer there. Just a shitload of books, a pissload of beer, and... somethingload of friends.

Of course, when I'm at home, I just run to my PC. Last night I found myself on TvTropes with like 10 tabs in 5:00 AM. You know, sometimes I decide not to hang out with my friends when they call me and just spend time on the internet, like you. Sometimes I just socialize for the sake of socializing and think about things to do when I get back home. I think the reason is simply that I'm not someone who likes socializing. Even when it's Summer and I have no internet, I feel like staying inside the house. Maybe I simply don't like being too much social.

Yeah, my only tip is when you go on a vacation, don't bring the internet into it.

[Funk]

just stay a way from, youtube, TvTropes, online games, manga  and fanific.

[xczxc]

Top Tip:  If you have a laptop, give it to a friend. If you use a PC, give your keyboard to a friend and have your roommate, mother or someone, ask for your mouse at 18:00 every day. Do that for a month or so, until the internet is out of your system.

[Leatra]

These ideas seem a little... forced. You should be able to stay away from your PC even if it exists in your house.

[nenjin]

Budget yourself for daily internet use. As in, 2 hours a day, no more. Something like that.

To use a tangentially related and kind of gross example: I spend a lot of time in front of the mirror dealing with acne. The point where I can end up doing more harm than good. A nurse at the dermatologist recommended that I just give myself 5 to 10 minutes. Any longer than that, just step away. I suppose the same thing could apply to time spent on the internet. If you get home and know you have about x hours to do stuff, only allot a fraction of that time to forums. Stick to it. Treat it like your alarm clock when you have to get out of bed.

[IronyOwl]

I tend to try to differentiate between things I want to do and things I'm doing because they're there. Sort of like the difference between eating when hungry and eating when food. It's not perfect and it's not always enough, but there's definitely times when I've realized that I'm not doing something because I particularly want to, I'm doing it because it's a thing I can do.

The primary test for this, of course, being motivation. If you've got several different things you could go for, odds are you're not especially interested in any of them. If there's this one thing you're really interested in, it's probably something you actually want to do, which makes it at least a decent use of time assuming you can spare it.

It may be worth mentioning that time management is most certainly not my strong suit, however.

[Chaosegg]

The cure for me was to actually have no internet. It sucked then I rediscovered exercise and reading.

Now I have it again. And I'm back.

Same here basically.
I could write a novel on this subject, but I'll try to be brief.

Put a fire under your arse; most of us humans live best that way.

P.S.
How old are you Mullet? Just out of curiosity, for my own scientific philosophical studies.

[Mullet Master]

Let's put it this way. I was a traditional college student, and am now half a decade past that.

old