I find myself frequently checking my mails(I have 2-3 accounts including office mail) , or facebook, or mamapedia, or the other cooking blogs or any other news that I follow. It's not like I have hundreds of friends I need to reply back asap, but I still can't stop myself and checking if I got any mail or If any comments were posted on facebook. I can spend couple hours sometimes just browsing the internet without any productive outcome. It's a huge waste of time and I am late for getting lunch/dinner ready, house is still a mess. It always starts with - let me just check this for 2 mins and then before I know it's an hour and I haven't lifted my bum from the couch. I am guilty of sometimes doing this when my little toddler is playing around at home. I try to do everything else first and then log in , it works for few days and then I am back to square one. I even do it while at work - shame on me.. Anybody else do this? I feel like I am missing something if I don't log in every now and then. I am so very addicted to the internet. sigh! Sometimes browsing makes me feel relaxed and happy. I think they have a name for this - Internet addiction disorder! Anybody else feel like you need to be online all the time? How do you stop yourself?
I found one way that helped M. when I was at home.
I put my laptop on my desk. No more sitting on the couch with it. That way, it is in a separate room from everything else, so I could only spend a few minutes at a time on it.
It's okay to check things, say hello, etc...but sometimes you have to put it back into a place that is a little less accessable.
I agree to put your laptop somewhere else. If I have mine on our kitchen table, I don't check it as often. It's hard not to get sucked in. I find I just have to make myself get up and leave. Do something else - once you get going in something else you'll be distracted and hopefully not think about it as much. I also have to give myself facebook "allowance" - for awhile I was checking it like 10 times a day or more. I let myself check it once in the morning and once at night. It's been working so far, I hope to go down to just once a day soon. So gradual seems to work better for M.! It is such a time-sucker, it gets us all!
Last Friday, my computer bit the dust. My guy is a computer engineer, my son is a second year computer engineering student, my other kids are serious technogeeks with wires for veins. So we have computers laying around all over the house.
Needless to say, it wasn't long before I had another computer up and running just for M..
At that point I had not been on Mamapedia for TWO WHOLE DAYS!
And I liked it. So I decided to go a WEEK without signing on. I'm embarrased to say how HARD that was, but I DID make it through the week.
I'd LIKE to report I got a whole MESS of stuff done, I wouldn't have gotten done reading posts and responding to questions, but I didn't really. So I'm back. But I think I'll be taking deliberate Mamapedia vacations from time to time from now on.
If only to give ya'll a break. I mean, ya must get pretty sick of M.!
I have FB too, but it doesn't interest M. that much.
:)
It IS an addiction - I read that the way email works is the best way to get someone addicted to something. You check it to see if you got anything good and sometimes you do and sometimes you do not. This makes you want to check more and more often. It's a positive response you are getting when you get something....kind of like training a dog! I don't know what to tell you bc I check the computer in the morning when I'm having my coffee, when my daughter is napping and again in the evening. Do I need to get on that often? No! I wish I did it less but it sounds like you are even worse than I am. :) You want to stop checking email etc. so often so give yourself a goal. If you get your "to do" list done each day then you are allowed to check it that evening or when little ones are asleep. Or give yourself a goal of getting on the computer one every other day. Or only get on facebook once a week. That is my facebook goal right now. Good luck!
