I’ve been using various forums and whatnot for a good few years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this topic come up, which is interesting in itself. Regular posters on here – being honest, do you think the amount you use the internet is healthy? I would say for me, no.

I spend way too much time endlessly dicking around on forums, blogs, news sites, shopping sites, er…. specialist sites *ahem* – sometimes I will sit down with the intention of quickly checking something and then end up spending literally hours pissing about, achieving very little.

I had a period where I was really quite ill with ME (or something) and subsequent depression – and piddling about on the internet was one of the only things I could be bothered to do. Now I would really like to get out of the habit. Trouble is I do actually need to do work on a computer sometimes as well.

Anyone else willing to own up to it? Got any tips for not being such a loser?

delete system 32 🙂

i was going to leave it at that but, yeah. anyway, i suppose yes, while im at uni my computer is constantly on and im doing the same, dicking around achieving nothing, only because its there. i do sometimes get fed up and go out, but not as much as when im not at uni.

i think im pretty good at not using it to procrastinate with. revision is currently getting done, albeit slowly.

The fact that I have seen many similar thread gives you my answer to your question.

Yes, I spend way too much time.

I think to myself I’ll just check something quickly knowing full well I’ll be online for hours and as you say completely wasting time.

*holds hand up*

Only took me 12 minutes to find this, so…yes!

i had to check who started the thread because that’s me all over.the mrs watches garbage on the tv and i sit there on the laptop so the erm ‘specialist’ sites have to take a backseat but i have about 5 or 6 forums that i just keep clicking away at getting nowhere and learning nothing but after a day on the building sites i’m not up for doing a right lot anyway

Yeah I’ll cop to that, although I don’t see tinternet at home as an issue for me particularly – it’s just like tv in being helpfully mindless. I like getting involved with posting on forums but v rarely get committed to big arguments or anything like that, which helps in keeping some separation.
[Nothing against all you arguers, you make the internet go round 🙂 ]

Using it at work can be problematic, I’ll admit. I definitely have internet procrastination issues at times.
Problem is my boss is completely fine with it. He’s a big bloke, likes mountain biking…

yerp.. I’m pretty sure that I could use at least part of the time I spend online more constructively..

Far too much time on here. It’s cos there’s so little to do at work that I come on here, and then start to get embroiled in it all.

I would say t’interweb feeds my brain endlessly, i don’t watch much TV most of it bores me to death.

I spend as much time finding stuff out as on forums.

I probably spend lots of time on it but hey ho!

Oh yes i love specialist sites too 😳

Hell yes. But I don’t mind really. I’d rather be on the internet than watching TV. Better porn if nothing else.

Normally no, if I get all my work done then I might as well be doing something with my time.

Today, yes. Enforced rest has provided me with a better understanding of what it feels like to be wasting time online.

Yes.

back in a minute, I need to get a beer

Don’t worry about it – it broadens the mind.

I don’t spend too much time on tinternet, it’s just that there aren’t enough hours in the day. 🙁

My boss was happy with the amount of time I spent on the net when the work was cleared

Sadly, internal fraud monitor these things remotely, and took a different view 😳

I still have a job, I just don’t play on the net anymore…..

Yeah, way too much time. I browse about 6-7 forums for far too long every day! Thing is I don’t really have much else to do at the minute as I don’t have much on work-wise and my friends don’t do things/go out every night. This should be remedied by hopefully having a complete lifestyle change in a few months’ time 🙂

The honest answer is no, because I simply don’t have time between work, family and leisure (read “cycling”) commitments. I have to say though that I’m amazed at how much time some people – one in particular – spend on here. Some names always seem to crop up all the time and you wonder what they must do for a living or how many things they have besides singletrack. That’s not a criticism – each to their own – just an observation.
Although spending time on Internet forums seems to attract distain and criticism, I think that it’s not such a bad thing if it’s balanced with other activities. I quite like it on here and consider it a bit of a treat – not a lot different to face to face discussions. There are always interesting views and I learn a lot from some of the discussions on here. I’d happily share a pint with the vast majority of people on here – but I prefer riding my bike and spending time with my family, so I haven’t got much time to spend on here, much as I’d like to. I think if I spent most of time on the Internet I’d consider it a bit of a waste of life, in the same way that I would if I spent all my time working, or reading, or sleeping – anything to excess, because there are so many other wonderful things to do in life.
Don’t mean to sound pious with all that, just a personal view. Other people can spend as much time as they like on the Internet as far as I’m concerned – it’s their life.

yes and no ? probably accessing information
that keeps you on the net.

Yes, it’s called internet addiction.

Yes, partially guilty me … because I am testing my newish built PC …

It’s better than TV

Hand up here. Trouble is I have to spend a fair amount of time on the net as part of my job (giyf), and it’s always all too tempting to click on other stuff. We have our internet monitored, though I suspect they pay more attention to the main network, which isn’t what I normally use.

i spend way too much time on the net (until my monthly credit runs out),when i should be riding/playing guitar/getting a life e.t.c

Yep, too much time at work. Discovering music is my downfall, aside from stw.
But, there are people with far worse problems- part of my job used to be to check the internet logs- there are people out there who get to work, fire up the pc and surf for 8 hours or more! Nothing else! And some of them (particularly in Holland) surf pron, ALL DAY! Stunning.

Heh, I actually missed the replies and forgot about this thread cos I was out doing stuff in the real world. 🙂

I mean don’t get me wrong, I do a lot of really useful stuff on the net, it’s great for learning about all sorts of things – and on here you can great info and help on a really wide variety of topics. And learning stuff and interacting with people has got to be better than mindlessly watching soaps on the telly.

But sometimes I just get into a frame of mind where I am endlessly cycling around checking facebook/twitter/email/forums/news without any real purpose – wanting to stop but not being arsed to get up and do something more productive.

The fact that I have seen many similar thread gives you my answer to your question.

Really? It’s weird, I really don’t think I’ve ever seen discussion of this topic before – I wonder if people don’t really like to think about it too much?

But sometimes I just get into a frame of mind where I am endlessly cycling around checking facebook/twitter/email/forums/news without any real purpose – wanting to stop but not being arsed to get up and do something more productive.

it’ss at times like this I find cannabis helps 😉
Tbh I only really come on here. Never been on twitter, monthly for FB if that etc You is one Internet slag dude.

To answer the original question – Probably

My excuse is that I have moved countries a but so use it to keep in touch with everything. I am hyper-connected though and use things like flipboard and RSS readers to streamline the experience

Tbh I only really come on here. Never been on twitter, monthly for FB if that etc You is one Internet slag dude.[/quote]

I never really go on twitter actually, but yeah I’m an internet whore. At least I’m not a Man U fan though, I still have some dignity.

I’m a serial internet user. I occasionally amaze myself by how much I can achieve if I make a point of turning the computer off for a while. Got to be slightly more productive than spending the same amount of time watching TV though I reckon.

you have the dignity I will have the glory 8)