by
Foggy » Sun Nov 24, 2019 3:20 pm
I probably am. I'm on it constantly in my free time, even if there's something else I'd rather be doing. Youtube especially.
I read an article years ago on information addiction... for some people it's social media, for some it's news sites, or comedy sites, youtube, whatever. The article talked about how our brains crave stimuli, and since the internet is basically a never-ending flow of that it's pretty easy to become addicted to one form of information or another. Those "top whatever list" articles are made specifically to take advantage of that. Not to mention algorithm-selected recommendations. It's all designed to keep you engaged and consuming. Anyway, I wish I could find that article again (I think it was on Cracked or something... I spent a lot of time on Cracked in its heyday), it was pretty interesting. Being addicted to information is one of those things you don't necessarily realize is happening unless you can take a step back and really look at how you're spending your time. Like any habit, it takes a lot of effort to break out of the loop.
Sorry for the rant. I think I needed that.