5 Ways to Curb Internet Addiction

Ah, the internet! I love the internet! There's always some exciting site to see, waiting for me to discover it (thank you, StumbleUpon!) But an internet addiction is a scary vice that can grip you, and sometimes you have to seriously curb back your online usage so the clamps let go.

For instance, take the time span of half an hour. Half an hour doesn't seem like much - it's only 30 minutes. But half an hour a day for one week is equal to 210 minutes, or 3 1/2 hours. Most of us idly spend 30 minutes at the computer a day, but we don't realize how quickly it can add up. What could you do in 3 1/2 hours instead of sitting online? You could start a new exercise routine, learn how to successfully cook a new meal, or spend some time catching up with old friends on the phone.

In this article, 5 ways of curbing an internet addiction, you will find five simple steps that I've found to be effective in immensely slashing my time online.

1. Go through your RSS subscriptions and cut down on the blogs you read. We all love blogs! How many of those blogs do you really love to read, though? Is it necessary to really subscribe to 1,000 different blogs? Cut out all of the useless junk, and only stick to the blogs you adore. Let everything else fall through the cracks.

2. Set time limits. By setting yourself a crystal clear time limit for online usage - for example, 30 minutes to two hours - you'll only go to the websites that you absolutely must go to, and get some real work done online. If you tell yourself you only have 15 minutes to check and answer all e-mails before you shut off the computer, you'll zip through those e-mails as fast as lightning.

3. Be clear why you're online. We all know this familiar story - you get online to *only* check your e-mail... but somehow that leads to looking at gossip websites, which leads to having to share the gossip with other people. Eventually two hours pass, and you only got three e-mails checked. (But hey! At least you got all of the latest celebrity gossip under your belt!) If you are totally clear on why you are online, succumbing to the lures of time wasters won't trap you.

4. Track your internet usage for a few days. Log how much time you're spending online each day. Don't just do a half-assed job about it either, even if you go online for exactly 43 seconds, write it down. After two to three days, look back at your log. How much time were you really wasting? What could you shuffle around so that your internet time is less?

5. Replace internet time with something else. Take a half an hour of time thrown at the internet, and channel it into something else. Why not exercise? Learn how to cook? Play the piano? Read a book? There are a million things you can do that don't require the internet. You might pick up on some valuable skills in the process.

But hey - above all, enjoy the time you do spend on the internet each and every day!