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Reddit Addiction (A story)

Started by July 04, 2013 06:53 PM
8 comments, last by EricFinlay 11 years, 2 months ago

I'm trying to fight Reddit addiction. The vast, overwhelming amounts of information feeding me is just extraordinarily outstanding. I love being fed with information here and there, but I realized it's becoming a big problem for me, along with my focus/concentration. My daily routine is now consisting of reading Reddit for 8 hours straight, and doing nothing productive now that summer vacation is out. It's frightening to think about it, but I was so high and happy, I don't even know if I can deal with it...

I live in a specific state of mind. I live in an overprotective family when I was younger. Mindboggling as it is, I skipped the world of 6 years before I started to realize what is changing, and what is happening.

This specific state of mind, gave me fears and immaturity. Constant flashbacks of fantasies (game fantasies, Japanese manga fantasies, RPG storytelling, etc.) provided me condolences and meditations. Unable to decipher what others are saying out loud when in a speech adds to the fact that I may have a low IQ than I thought I would be.

Joining Reddit, I quickly saw interesting tidbits here and there. Single lines of titles piqued my curiously, and suddenly I lost my motivation, my train of thoughts, my plans, my social life, my free time, and myself.

Some redditors fear that productivity may go down when visiting Reddit, and appreciate that productivity will go up when Reddit is down. I want this to happen, for me right now. I hoped that Reddit is "down", "down" as in "//TODO: I must delete my Reddit account and all my imaginary karmas", so that I can be able to escape from the clutches of this "nonsense praise of being accepted and liked by others", and overcome withdrawal. It's so that I'm able to write programs in peace.

I hate social sites for no reason other than that I have to keep tabs with it on all the time. I have to check it, even when I don't have the impulses to control the urge. It's not healthy for me when I'm going overboard. I know Reddit is not a social site, but I have to mention it. Reddit keeps reminding me of Facebook, and I don't know why.

I love Reddit, but I cannot love Reddit anymore if it's starting to take upon me more than I wanted.

Step 1) TURN OFF THE COMPUTERS.

Step 2) Do something in real life.

It is hard at first. Your body is probably used to just sitting idle, much like a corpse. It does not want to move. The light hurts. Thinking is hard. Etc.

If you need professional help then get it. In fact, getting real life professional help means you are spending an hour or so actually doing something in real life, so it is helpful in multiple ways.

Sometimes the first step is the hardest.

And on that note, it is almost time to go to the beach. :-)

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What frob said.

If computers are involved in what you want to achieve in real life, so you need computers but don't want reddit as a distraction, then create an account at OpenDNS. Setup your router to route through OpenDNS. Add reddit.com and any other site that distracts you, and give the password to a responsible and mature person who wants to see you succeed, and who won't give you the password back just because you asked. They need to create the account with their email address you don't have access to and a password that they know. They can give you the password, you sign in, decide what sites to block (your favorite manga and webcomic sites, RPG fanfic sites, whatever). Then, they can change the password to something you don't know, and not tell you it anymore. When you need to add new sites to the list, email them the list of new sites to add.

Oh, and IQ doesn't mean anything, so try to ignore those thoughts of self-doubt or self-pity (which can be hard). IQ is a flawed measurement anyway.


My daily routine is now consisting of reading Reddit for 8 hours straight, and doing nothing productive now that summer vacation is out.
Because of this sentence I assume you are a kid, correct? Well first things first, turn off the computer. Chances are you won't be able to do anything productive on it anyway. Second, you have to look at the big picture. There are people your age addicted to methamphetamines and cocaine, and you are "addicted" to Reddit. I decided one day to just delete my account, and have only been on Reddit for about 2 minutes a week average since. Before I would come home from working every single day and just feast myself on ADD-inducing habits like keeping 20 imgur tabs refreshed every second. I don't think Reddit qualifies as an "addiction," but I do think that it is a little bit habit forming and encourages people to consume lots of summary and no in-depth information, and also to jump around so many thoughts so quickly. A slightly off-color anecdote I always say is that Reddit is a grand waste of time, attention span, and sperm. It really is, although I wouldn't think you are "addicted," per se.

C dominates the world of linear procedural computing, which won't advance. The future lies in MASSIVE parallelism.

Usually when confronted with an obstacle (Reddit), I tend to be faced with a decision to whether to give up or not (denial), is this normal?

EDIT:

Just stumbled upon this article. Finally found something that is worth doing. Didn't know about this strategy before, until now. I'm going to try doing this until I finally get control of my life.

At one time I was seriously addicted to Reddit as well, and one day I decided that it was eating too much of my life and simply quit cold turkey. I haven't been back since.

That site is awesome. It provides so much information and has so many funny and interesting stories. But it sucks you in and consumes you like no other.


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I'm not addicted to Reddit, but I do seem to have a problem regarding forums. Instead of actually doing something with my life, I keep visiting the same old gaming forums repeatedly. Hrmmmmm....

I quit reddit once it really started to turn into the stupid liberal asshole of the internet.


I quit reddit once it really started to turn into the stupid liberal asshole of the internet.

That it is. And r/atheism and r/politics are pretty much frequented by school-aged boys who have just discovered the world and think they are so wise.

C dominates the world of linear procedural computing, which won't advance. The future lies in MASSIVE parallelism.

I did a $100 bet with my business partner for us both to stop surfing reddit. That worked pretty damn well.

Eric Finlay

http://www.foosler.com - Win Big. On the Go.

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