First written somewhere around 05/2023
It won't be accurate to say that I went completely offline, because in our day it is hard and often times unwise to be fully cut off the internet. Nevertheless, I had a period of my life where I started decreasing my internet usage and eventually had it reach a minimum point. During this minimum point most of my activities online involved using search engines and messaging applications. No social media, no youtube, no news. At the time of me writing this, the period of progressive isolation from the internet had been going on for over a year.
I had three reasons for doing this. The first and largest reason was that I was busy with certain stuff going on in my life. The second reason was that I became sick of the information overload. The third reason, which may be a consequence of the second, was that my mental health was rapidly declining. Without going into too much detail, I can happily say that I'm in a better state of mind right now, which likely may be a good outcome of my internet abandonment.
My second reason for going offline will be the main focus of my discussion here. If you wanted to describe me as a person, you could use words such as "information addict". At one point in time I spent an entire summer sitting on Reddit. I was inhabiting some active subreddits that happen to attract a lot of weird, controversial and often times purely degenerate content. Content that makes you say "Yo what the fuck!?" and then proceed with scrolling through new posts with the hidden hope of finding something even more weird. I also frequented news sources, mostly on Reddit and similar websites. I like to say to myself that I'm "finding out what is going on in the world" when I scroll through fresh news feeds. In reality though, a very big motive was the expectation to see some messed up shit that will either make me sad or angry. There is also this constant fear of missing out "Something big is gonna happen and I won't know...", which makes you come back to consume more information.
I found out that these traits are common not only to me, but to many other users of the internet. Unfortunately, this kind of lifestyle doesn't lead to anything good. The endless search for content will eventually end on something that you wish you never saw. The viewpoints that you possessed will be radicalized. Any kind of mental health issues will only be amplified.
The content feed never stops. You just keep on scrolling. It's up to the individual to turn off their phone or "spend another five minutes".
I am writing this because I know that I am not alone. The words I wrote could have been written down by anyone else, perhaps even you. The first task in solving a problem is realising that it is, in fact, a problem. I kept reassuring myself that I'm not addicted to the internet. That was a lie.
Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to addiction. I employed the tactic of gradually limiting my online presence until it didn't feel like it was causing me problems any longer.
I shall close my writings by saying that I think that the internet is a net positive. There are so many things that I've learnt, so many friends that I've met and so many stories that I've heard online. The positive impact that the internet has on our civilization is immense, however the negative aspects are quite real too.
Have something to say? You can find my contacts on the contact page.