Farewell

Now that I have your attention lets come to the topic.lol

I guess, only if one is really very busy in the non-virtual world -- and by 'busy', I don't just mean doing the pseudo-important things like studying, I mean the whole act of fully living a life -- can they get over their IF addiction. I doubt we can ever fully say good bye to this forum. Heh. I can only think of one member who's been able to permanently (so far at least) leave IF. Hmm..

The title of this thread should be "India Forum Addiction" 😆 and since you have been diagnosed with this syndrome I like to suggest the following remedies:

- Delete browser history, temporary internet files, cookies, this will ensure that IF link and password are removed. 😉 I suggest you do this at least 10 times a day.

- Hide your computer(laptop) at night, some place where even you can't find it. 😆 (mainly because majority of the people spend more time on these forums at night). And if you do find it, hide it again, I suggest you repeat these steps till you can't find your laptop 😆

- Change your password to the IF , something that even you can't remember, unique sequence of numbers and letters. And if you come to remember the password, change it again, keep changing it till you can't remember 😆

- Force your self to run errands or do some house hold chores at the time you would likely to spend on IF . At least this way you will get some work done 😆

- Lastly, ask the admin to ban you from IF! If you have difficulties finding reason on "how to get ban", I am sure other DM member here can recommend some great ideas 😆

- And lastly if you are suffering from MPD (multiple personality disorder), then I recommend you repeat the above steps 😆

Pun completely intended. :)

Yes, it's possible to "leave" the forum, as in stop being emotionally attached to it or people in it. I think it happens when you stop following any show regularly. You might not watch anything regularly for months, so then the incentive to log on to IF also disappears. The most active people on here are people who are watching a show once a week or so.

You may come back once in a while, but it won't be part of your day - unless you have a big project in front of you that needs procrastination, or have the flu or whatever.

I think the permanent "leaving" and "goodbyes" and all that is kind of a bit over the top, frankly. It's just a forum. It's as addictive as other things like Facebook and so on, but it's not something that we need to swear off or fully commit to. Maybe I don't get the drama/sentimentality over it.

See the first step is to understand the addiction and why it perpetuates itself is part of the cure. I have always wondered why are people addicted to Internet/Forums/Blogs/FB, etc, are they using as a substitute for something that is missing in their life? For example, people are addicted to alcohol, drugs in a same way they are addicted to Internet and is it a way getting some type of satisfaction that is lacking or missing elsewhere? People have created online persona which help to boost their ego which again adds fuel to their addiction, which they may lack in real life...

Originally posted by: -Aarya-

See the first step is to understand the addiction and why it perpetuates itself is part of the cure. I have always wondered why are people addicted to Internet/Forums/Blogs/FB, etc, are they using as a substitute for something that is missing in their life? For example, people are addicted to alcohol, drugs in a same way they are addicted to Internet and is it a way getting some type of satisfaction that is lacking or missing elsewhere? People have created online persona which help to boost their ego which again adds fuel to their addiction, which they may lack in real life...

If this is true and I agree this is true

My earlier posts may have been pun intended but they are real remedies to the cure, at least taking the first step in the right direction :)

then this is not the solution

One does not have to leave. The question only arises if forum is affecting your real life like studies, job etc. I am sure many will say we dont want to leave anyway. However if it starts to affect your studies, real life and then you dont have the will to go away then this is a problem. They need to develop that. I was thinking how to help someone in this regard. lol.

I have thought about this a bit and here's why I think we waste time online.

Most of us do our work on our computers, whereas the previous generation didn't grow up doing everything on the computer. They had written assignments that they wrote by hand. They go to stores to go shopping. Not that we still don't do that, but I know I prefer online shopping in many situations. I read all my news online. I haven't touched a newspaper (unless I'm on the subway and I'm doing a crossword or sudoku).

So many of the times I'm on IF I'm actually sitting at the library or in class, with my laptop in front of me, surrounded by study buddies, and I have a clear task in front of me but instead of working on it, I go to news websites, then I go to fashion websites, then I go check IF (in that order). It'll just be a few minutes every few hours. Then I'll notice the clock, and stop and come back to my work. Especially as the deadline looms closer and closer. At that point my stress kicks in and I get my stuff done.

Sometimes I have deliberately not gone online when I get to the library. This is effective. I just tell myself not to even go online, and on those days I can be really productive. My problem is that I have grown accustomed to churning out papers in short periods of time, so now my brain thinks I can continuously do that. But the more research intensive the work is, the more the process or intermediate steps of the project matters, so I can't just count on getting things done in blocks of time. So that has started to temper my online time wastage, relative to say, 3-4 years ago when I was in undergrad.

Originally posted by: King-Anu

One does not have to leave. The question only arises if forum is affecting your real life like studies, job etc. I am sure many will say we dont want to leave anyway. However if it starts to affect your studies, real life and then you dont have the will to go away then this is a problem. They need to develop that. I was thinking how to help someone in this regard. lol.

The lack of interest in your job or studies cannot be entirely blamed on IF addiction. If your not paying attention to your job or your studies is because you don't have interest in them and if that time is spend on the Internet/FB/Forum is because they satisfy your needs for something more interesting. You and your self have stated earlier that you spend less time in IF then you did before, is that because you don't find it most interesting now? It all comes down to what satisfies your needs...