Avoid Internet Takeover

From the book Simple Secrets for Becoming Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, by David Niven:

'People have a confusing relationship with the Internet. We very much like to log on and twirl around the Web, check our email, and instant message with friends. But when we shut our computer down, we often feel that we wasted too much time online. The reason is that Internet use for short periods is a mood stimulant, but for long periods it is actually a mood depressant.

Psychologists advise that you decide how much time you are going to spend using the Internet before you log on.

"On the surface, a computer game may seem completely harmless. Sending an instant message may seem harmless. But when it becomes a substitution for life, for human contact, then you have to look at it from a different perspective.

What's so attractive about going online is that the problems of real life go away for a moment. But, of course, it doesn't solve those problems. In fact, if the Internet is consuming great quantities of time then that is creating new problems for people."

Recurring long periods of personal Internet use were associated with 28 percent lower life satisfaction.'

Winners avoid Internet takeover.

In general, winners control their use of technology to optimize efficiency and manage their time; they don't let technology control them.