Ask HN: How do you deal with Internet and information addiction?
I think we (humans) built a perfect Skinner Box with randomly distributed reinforcement: the Internet is mostly arid, but there you have it, the occasional oasis of useful information, and it keeps you going: "It's not all that bad, see" So much knowledge!". And it appears to be true, but then I look back at what I've learned and it's "not much", but I've looked at what I've lost and it's so much: stopped going to the gym, stopped playing my instruments, stopped going to the conservatory, and now I'm only formally enrolled in University but haven't studied in a while.
I've tried two years of therapy with 5 different therapists and, sincerely, I've no more money and time to waste in such unfruitful ways. I'm fairly certain that I'm depressed, but where the causation lies: it came first the depression or the Intenet addiction? All I can remember is that these kind of tribulation started onw or two years after I was "plugged".
I'm becoming my worst nightmare, an unsuccessful NEET with a shadow of his former self and intelligence, with no identity anymore. I wish I could just unplug it all: I love the times when we have a blackout or when I go visiting my father without internet connection: I read for more than 3 minutes, I relax and without watching youtube. Internet addiction and depression are feeding each other, both symptoms of my malaise and dissatisfaction with my life: the addictive activity promises to be the cure to the problem that itself has caused.