Internet Addiction Support Group

Well, I would say that is a GOOD reason to be on the internet. I am concerned however that this will become an addiction too!!! EEeekkkk.

i think even talking with friends on here can be an addiction. it's awful. boredom usually attracts me to the internet. it's sad.

For me it's when I'm bored, stressed, feeling fed up, drunk - in other words, almost anything that makes me want an easy escape.

For me, it started off when i got a myspace back in 6th grade. Before that, i NEVER got online..i was always occupied with something better to do. Well 2 years ago i started getting really bad panic attacks, and chronic anxiety . Now i have a mild case of agoraphobia and use the internet as almost a hobby because i don't want to be away from my home. It's unfortunate, but i spend all of my time on the internet. I have become not only addicted to myspace but chat rooms as well. I guess thats basically all the social interaction i get anymore, and thats why i feel the need to be on all the time. I used to be a very social person when i actually had a life, but i've been on the downhill for the past few years.

Read a great quote that suits me to a T:

An addiction is an *activity* or a *substance* a person uses to *avoid* dealing with *uncomfortable* thoughts or feelings that need to be faced.

I have since recovered from online sex addiction, yet I still spend way too much time surfing internet news stories, in internet social networks etc.

Daily Strength has been a help, yet at some point I will need to pull the plug on this site as well!

I have been addicted to the computer since 1978 I think. I could not afford one since I was just out of high school, but I would write programs on notebook paper and then go to computer stores to type it all in, test it, and save it to my personal 5 1/4 floppy disk. I bought the manual for $14 and read it through and through. Finally in 79 I bought my first Apple II computer. I am so thoroughly addicted. If I do anything I have to think of a way to involve the computer. I worked at a gas station after high school so I wrote a program to compute gallons of gas based on tank readings at day's end. I later became a telemarketing manager so I developed automatic dialing software. I pay bills on the computer. I watch TV on the computer. I play games, do my work, wish my kids happy birthday by making a custom desktop background. Before the internet I was on BBS's.

I don't know why. I used to think because it provided me a place for my brain to play without restriction; you can do a lot of smart stuff in/on a computer. I never saw it as an escape, but as an opportunity.

But I am 50 now, and in recent years I have started to think of the computer and a subset of the available experiences in life. A restriction rather than an expansion.

But I do have "computer-lust" I guess would be the best term for it. And I have fed it constantly for 30 years. I used to think if heaven had no computers I'd invent one. Now I think I could do without, but in the here-and-now, I am still glued to it.

For me, it's a bit like this:

http://www.weblogcartoons.com/cart...

(sorry, not sure how to do a link here, but if you copy and paste it into your URL bit, you'll see it).

I am also bad at stopping doing something and moving on to do something else. So once I get on the computer, it's very hard to get off it. And I relate more easily to people online than in real life. And I love to express myself in writing. All a combination that adds up to internet addiction!

(Oh, brilliant, the link worked as a link with no coding)

well 4 me i would say yahoo,DS, and youtube are wat atracts me. youtube i go to make videos. so thats it.

I havent left my home for almost 4 years due to agoraphobia and my computer is my lifeline.

I use for shopping and chatting to my online friends.