Ever since I got my laptop, the action started in my bed. It was hot. I was sweating. I dressed up in poses. I was shivering because of that nice ooo….
...Well, okay, and that's how you know I'm talking about doing things in bed. My internet addiction was so strong that I carried it everywhere. And it sucked.
Sucked for a while every evening and morning 1 I used to spend it on YouTube and a "quick Facebook check". 😒 That's why I started the experiment do not use the Internet between 11:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Here's how I battled my internet addiction.
First, the blog:
Rules: i try to live without internet (and generally without computer and phone) between 23 and 11 hours 2 + I blog every day. In the course of the month, I look at what happens and learn not to give in to the temptations of the Internet.
/ 01 /
It's the first day, and I've already broken my rules - out of habit, I sat down at the computer at around 10 o'clock in the morning and went on Facebook. Nice. 3
/ 02 - 05 /
The challenge is strangely simple. Although it is annoying that I have to wait until I can connect to the Internet in the morning, I am also happy - on the morning of the third day, I had enough free time to finish all the planned work and read a book. And the day is not even half over.
If I don't notice any huge flaws in the next few days, this challenge will probably be the easiest (and most rewarding) challenge of the year.
/ 05 - 11 /
You may consider me a fraud, but it seems I managed to overcome the challenge in a very easy way. I even got rid of the ability to connect to the Internet during prohibited hours.
But I won't give away what method I use just yet. I still want to make sure it really works. Hehe.
/ 12 /
I made a reservation for myself in the morning. And I turned on the Internet for fifteen minutes. 🙁
/ 13 /
Nothing - everything is fine again.
/ 14 - 15 /
*Yawns.* What? Is the yawn catching you too? 4
/ 16 /
My God! I broke the challenge! 5 In the morning, I logged on an hour earlier because I remembered that I had to study for an exam that I had been procrastinating on for a long time.
/ 17 - 20 /
Boring again. I even forgot about this blog out of boredom. I haven't updated it in a week. Sorry blogs and readers!
/ 21 - 30 /
I will cry like nothing new. Seriously, this challenge is just too easy for me. I crushed him. 6
Although there were a few days (moments) when I did break my no internet rule, even those breaks lasted significantly less than the total time of giving up. Even more so - even those violations occurred while away from home.
And I thought that the challenge would be more difficult.
/ 31 /
The challenge is over. Finally. Not because it was hard, but because it was easy. Too much
...My reaction after reading this blog 4 years later (in 2017):
You know, when I finished this challenge in 2013, I thought I got out of the habit of taking my computer and phone to bed. But no. I have never fully learned not to use smart devices in the evenings and mornings.
Mostly, probably, because I've never had one consistent sleep routines, my sleeping hours constantly changing...
...But maybe also because I find so many interesting things on the Internet. Maybe because I work on online projects and love workaholism too much. I find satisfaction at work, but I feel anxious when not working..? 7
But, let me continue with the discoveries of 2013. These are still right. I just don't know why, but I'm back to staying in bed at night.
If you have any ideas on how I can overcome the urge to engage in work activities instead of sleeping - share them in the comments, I'm interested! I will try to set myself a different experiment. I wonder what ideas you have! ☺️
What did I learn in a month without internet?
First: I need less internet than I thought.
I thought I would not survive without internet connection, friends, news, music and all the other benefits of the internet. However, those few extra hours without the computer only helped me to sleep better, eat in peace or simply relax.
When I went offline, I rediscovered myself as a human being.
And sitting in the information flow around the clock, it is sometimes easy to forget. You identify too much with the news, other people, emotions and experiences in the glowing rectangle. 8
Second: No one died that I was offline for half a day.
Neither I nor friends or acquaintances. And, to be honest, my friends got used to me disconnecting unexpectedly at eleven o'clock in the evening even faster than I did.
Update: of his second, month completely without internet, in the retelling of the challenge, I also answer more common fears. For example, will you miss something important? Won't anyone get mad? Is separation at all psychologically healthy? And so on. I write more in this article.
Third: After finding a way to make a challenge inevitable, avoiding it is... Err... Impossible. (Logical?)
I would probably call it the principle of inevitability - if you want to achieve a goal, simply do it this way to make it harder not to reach it.
Well, once upon a time I came up with the idea of giving up sugar in teas. I never really liked this sugar, but I used to add it - out of habit. After all, everyone is going, so why not me? What did I do to stop adding sugar to my teas? I don't buy sugar anymore. He didn't stay at home at all!
Similarly, to stay off the internet for half the day, I do I have blocked my internet connection, so that the computer and phone do not catch it.
I did this back on day five of the challenge by going into my internet modem settings and changing the blocking settings. You can do it too if you just want to play. 9
However, if you don't want to play, then I recommend the app: Cold Turkey.
This is probably the best application for this purpose, which will help you block the Internet between the hours you want, or even block the entire computer if you want. 10
Want more alternatives to internet blocking? There are more of these.
What will I do differently from now on?
I liked this challenge - I found time for my hobbies, I could sleep longer in the mornings, and at the same time I got rid of staying up all night - the latest time I fell asleep was 01:40. 11
Therefore, I will keep it simple - I will still follow the rules of the challenge. Well, if I really need to, I might allow myself to log in for ten minutes, but why should I stop doing something that has made my life better and more enjoyable?
How does this challenge sound to you? Will you try to log in?
I invite you too. It's easier than that give up the internet completely, but no less fun and healthy! 12
It is at least 1 + 1 hour. And more often and longer. Adds up in months!↩
The ones that surround my bedtime. Normally, before this challenge, I would go to bed at midnight and wake up around 9:00. If you want to repeat the challenge, set your own hours.↩
It will happen to you too. You will see the signs of your addiction in the first moments.↩
Yes, yawning is contagious. And most likely because yawning is a social cue - helps to unify the mood of the community, to invite each other to rest. If you yawned while reading the last sentence... Yes, you are a very social person! 🙂↩
I'm not sure and can't remember if it was sarcasm or serious when I blogged.↩
A message from the future: Ha ha ha...↩
I myself do not understand what feelings I feel here.↩
How much time a day do you spend looking at glowing rectangles? If you can't imagine - this one article about monitoring your screen time it will help you to evaluate yourself.↩
It will take a bit of knowledge to look up your modem's manual and then some computer science to the settings. I can't tell you in detail because there are simply too many different modem models.↩
Cold Turkey has two versions, Free (Limited) and Paid (Full). I bought a full one for just 12 euros. This is my best investment in the last year. Sincerely.↩
When I read The Prestige book by Christopher Priest.↩
Because finally you can to deliberately deceive.↩
Hey, it was really fun to read and I'm going to take on this challenge myself! 🙂 I think it would be very beneficial for me as well
I will wait for your message how it went! :))
*For Easter ;)
by the way, great iras, i like it a lot. I will also try to give up the internet at night :)
I don't even know how the editor and I got that word wrong. Although we put a capital letter on it. Thank you.
And good luck - it will be interesting to hear how it went! 🙂
I don't know about others, but I've noticed that sometimes when you randomly connect to FB or the Internet to read the news, etc., you actually don't even read or watch anything, you just skim, as if you turn on the TV and don't watch anything, just go through the channels . When I catch myself doing this, I quickly pick up the book to read. They say: how to get rid of a bad habit? to replace it with another is good. Now I can already say that I got used to watching the Internet every free minute, I only connect 1, max 2 times a day. When such an inconvenient habit is not distracting, it is normal to concentrate and work. And somehow you understand that nothing will happen if you don't see who has posted something new on fb, and I remember it used to seem that you had to go to see who is writing what, so as not to miss any interesting news. What an obsession 🙂
I used to walk to the bathroom with my phone. Well, like that typical Facebook resident. Now I sit in them with a book and stuff them - I read at least 10 a year just by pooping! 😀 That's right, you're right, Nerijau!
Daniel, I really like that you interact with the readers of your articles in the comments 🙂 FINE!
<3
I didn't pay for the internet and then the router broke down, so I just went to read books and do other things, visited my relatives. It was about two weeks.
Now I live without a mobile phone, it's been a month. I contact people by e-mail or skype if they need.
I feel happier, and now I definitely don't promise to have a phone, if someone needs it, they will call their mother or brother and call me. After all, I lived like this in the past, there was a period when I didn't have a computer, TV, or radio - I was doing something else. Technology takes you away from life, because over time you watch life through a TV screen or through a computer screen, and especially if you don't have a job, you don't have money and you don't have anything to lose anyway - you can do whatever you want, but I highly doubt that you will go out when your friends are all glued to computers and only goes when you need to drink.
One of them is already tired of cycling around the city, because he has ridden almost all the nooks and crannies.
I use the computer for writing, listening to music and learning English or Russian while watching a movie or gameplay, it doesn't matter here.
I could clearly write with a typewriter, but it's a lot of work and everything is lying under the bed because the publisher doesn't want to publish it - it's easier to post it on the Internet.
And later after those weeks without internet the habits still came back? Have you stayed and less are now sitting next to him?
And when I can, I'll have to try it without my phone too. After thinking about it, I still use it - to sign with SMS and sometimes browse Facebook during lectures... :))
By the way, Geocaching ( https://www.geocaching.com/play ) have you heard? It's also fun to walk around the city(s)!
I haven't heard, I'm such a different person, I don't like such things.
I don't try to restrict myself online, if necessary, I sit there - I try to somehow realize myself
Heey, I decided to live without FB for a month and I haven't broken my promise to myself for 2 weeks now 🙂 you feel like an alcoholic who hasn't had a beer or a drug addict on the first day. Everything is great now, I really have much more time for other things. Maybe try to continue like this.. ;D
Great, Diana! Good girl!
I noticed that I have this habit in the morning, while still lying in bed, awake and drinking coffee, scrolling through FB, and I could allocate those 10-30 minutes for exercise, which I don't have time for after that.
That's it! I encourage you to start monitoring and limit: https://debesyla.lt/laikas-internete/
Even before I found this article, I somehow developed a habit of not going online as soon as I opened my eyes, and a few weeks ago I started doing the same thing before bed. summing it all up, I turn off the Internet around 10-11 p.m. and don't turn it on until the next afternoon, unless I read some scriptures or watch YouTube at breakfast (I won't even try to get rid of this habit - it doesn't harm me). so I really noticed a huge benefit and I agree with you - we all need the Internet less than we think. :)))