Internet addiction == escapism?

Is internet addiction just escaping your emotions? That is my personal experience.

Do you guys have any interesting articles on this?

Internet addiction helps me heal past the emotional pain caused by people IRL and run away from THEIR feelings.

Hello, I'm an ex internet addict and in my experience. It certainly is escapism to an extent. The internet is also DESIGNED by engineers to be addictive. They do this by adding notification systems, recommendation systems, enabling endless scroll and many other insidious techniques.

If you know for a fact that your internet addiction is caused by escapism, then the best thing you can do is to find some other activity that gives you that same feeling of escape (preferably a healthier one) and resort to doing that instead of going on the internet.

It's an uncomfortable process but with time you'll get used to it.

Internet addiction can be related to escapism. Say for example if you're going on social media because you prefer your social media self vs your actual self. Or if you are stressed out so you escape the stress by watching a YouTube video.

I think one strategy could be to face what you are trying to escape. Everytime you go to the internet for relief ask yourself what you're seeking relief from. Sometimes we're unaware of what were escaping, because before we know what it is we're already distracted with something else.

-- Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:55 am --

Internet addiction can be related to escapism. Say for example if you're going on social media because you prefer your social media self vs your actual self. Or if you are stressed out so you escape the stress by watching a YouTube video.

I think one strategy could be to face what you are trying to escape. Everytime you go to the internet for relief ask yourself what you're seeking relief from. Sometimes we're unaware of what were escaping, because before we know what it is we're already distracted with something else.

I can understand if you like more the internet self.but what happens when you don't .just internet is more interesting than real life.
What happens when seeing a movie for example is more interesting than talking to a real person in your life and you don't know why.

Oneira wrote:I can understand if you like more the internet self.but what happens when you don't .just internet is more interesting than real life.
What happens when seeing a movie for example is more interesting than talking to a real person in your life and you don't know why.

It makes sense that you would be addicted to movies, when it's more entertaining to you than talking to a real person. The problem is that this is the issue with basically all addictions. Someone might become addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc. because while using the drug or while watching the movie life appears to be more interesting, entertaining, bearable to the one using it. The problem is when that substance or activity is causing more harm than good in the long-term. For you it might be more interesting to watch movies all day, but the problem is that you might become financially stressed if you stop working, you might have less people to rely on in times of stress as you might have less strong tie relationships, you might become more anxious around real people which will lead to more isolating which overtime can lead to a higher likelihood of depression and anxiety issues, you might also feel as though you aren't contributing much to society if you watch movies all day, you might become physically unwell due to the lack of moving around, etc.

So you have to ask yourself, is it worth taking part in an activity or drug that temporarily is more fun? Or does it make sense to reduce or abstain from the activity if it means your long-term self will be happier? If the latter is true, than it makes sense to attempt to replace the activity or drug with something else. This is obviously easier said than done, but the first step is recognizing that there is a better alternative to the addiction. If your okay with the addiction though, than there's nothing to fix. It's up to you to decide with all things considered is the addiction causing you more harm than good.

Ok i agree.so let's say you decide to push yourself to talk to people instead of watching movies.
But theoretically let's say everytime you talk to people you feel bad .and it is painful to be around them and it never changes even with experience and time.what do you do then? Feels like a catch 22.
Of course you could find something with keep trying.and it could change.
But what if the bad feeling doesn't go no matter what

Oneira wrote:Ok i agree.so let's say you decide to push yourself to talk to people instead of watching movies.
But theoretically let's say everytime you talk to people you feel bad .and it is painful to be around them and it never changes even with experience and time.what do you do then? Feels like a catch 22.
Of course you could find something with keep trying.and it could change.
But what if the bad feeling doesn't go no matter what

Might be a good idea to do a pros and cons list for yourself to watch movies or to do other things with your time. Think of only long term pros and cons. If you find it's more beneficial to watch movies overtime for yourself and others around you than that is something that you can continue doing. You have to keep in mind that when you do watch movies all the time there could be some potential harm to others around you that you aren't aware of. Watching movies constantly again could lead to not working, which could lead to being on social assistance, which could lead to higher taxes or reduction of social assistance amounts for others who need it. I'm not against social assistance either, but this is a potential harm you could cause others if you sit at home and watch movies all the time. If you go to work though and go home and spend your life watching movies and you're okay with that and find it's more beneficial to your health and potential to be beneficial to those around you than watching movies during your spare time might be the most prudent way to spend your time.

davie081 wrote:

Oneira wrote:Ok i agree.so let's say you decide to push yourself to talk to people instead of watching movies.
But theoretically let's say everytime you talk to people you feel bad .and it is painful to be around them and it never changes even with experience and time.what do you do then? Feels like a catch 22.
Of course you could find something with keep trying.and it could change.
But what if the bad feeling doesn't go no matter what

Might be a good idea to do a pros and cons list for yourself to watch movies or to do other things with your time. Think of only long term pros and cons. If you find it's more beneficial to watch movies overtime for yourself and others around you than that is something that you can continue doing. You have to keep in mind that when you do watch movies all the time there could be some potential harm to others around you that you aren't aware of. Watching movies constantly again could lead to not working, which could lead to being on social assistance, which could lead to higher taxes or reduction of social assistance amounts for others who need it. I'm not against social assistance either, but this is a potential harm you could cause others if you sit at home and watch movies all the time. If you go to work though and go home and spend your life watching movies and you're okay with that and find it's more beneficial to your health and potential to be beneficial to those around you than watching movies during your spare time might be the most prudent way to spend your time.

I personally found that it is more useful to think of possible positive reinforcements of more productive behavior. This is only a personal account though.