Why You Should Stop Wasting Time On The Internet

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wasting time on the internet

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It’s no surprise that people are spending more and more time on the internet. It’s become an inextricable part of our daily lives. There are countless number of things to do and they continue to grow. There are websites and applications created with the intent of being addictive. Think about the constant scrolling of social media feeds such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube. By the end of the session, we don’t even remember where the time went. These specific use cases of the internet should be stopped because people end up wasting time on the internet from them.

It’s important to note that not every activity performed on the internet is considered wasteful. For example, using D.I.Y (do it yourself) videos on YouTube to learn how to fix your car is considered productive. You are learning valuable skills by doing this which can help save money, a way to make more money, and be used to help others.

The types of activities considered drains of time on the internet are those that suck your energy (ex. drain dopamine), don’t provide reciprocated value, halt your growth, or whose opportunity cost are substantially beneficial (in most cases, they will be). Think about activities like scrolling through TikTok for pleasure or mindlessly watching videos on YouTube. These are considered wasted time on the internet.

Let’s Look At The Statistics

According to the Statista Research Department, the average number of minutes per day a person spent on social media in 2020 was 145 minutes or 2 hours and 25 minutes (2021).

Some may argue that it’s only two hours and that’s not much. I’d be tempted to agree if it was two hours, once a week, but let’s do some math to visualize the true impact of this usage over a lifetime.

Let’s assume the average human will live till 90 years old, due to innovations in medicine, technology, and overall lifestyle. Let’s also speculate an average person doesn’t start using technology till they’re 10 years old. Therefore, a person will use social media for 80 years of their life.

  1. Minutes of social media usage per year. 145 min x 365 days = 52,925 minutes or 882.1 hrs
  2. Convert to lifetime usage. 882.1 hrs x 80 years = 70,568 hrs
  3. Convert hrs to years. 70,568 hrs / 8760 hrs = approx. 8 years

That is just absurd. That means a person will spend close to ten percent of their life staring at a screen wasting it away on social media. Imagine being on your death bed and knowing this fact. It’ll fill any sane human with deep regret.

That’s Just Social Media Usage. Let’s Take a Look At Streaming Service Usage.

Trevor Wheelwright, an internet expert from Reviews.org claims people spent an average of 612 hrs per year watching Netflix in 2020 (2021). That amounts to 5.6 years of streaming shows and movies over a person’s life.

We can now see that the number of years spent on these frivolous activities on the internet truly begin to accumulate.

These activities sum up to more time than a person spends working in their entire life which is approx 10 years after doing some math, with the assumption that a person will work 40 hours per week for 45 years of their life.

Internet Usage Can Lead To Depression

One of the many reasons to stop wasting time on the internet are mental health issues can manifest as a result of excessive use of the internet. There are a couple theories for this.

When thinking specifically about social media usage, one reason for this is because those who are amongst the most popular on social media are being viewed by many who wish they had their lifestyle. These social media celebrities are living lives in which they don’t have to work, they drive the most luxurious cars, live in big homes, buy any clothes they want and so on. The knowledge of this fact leads some viewers to feel insecure about their life. These people compare their life to the celebrity and it leads to a toxic mindset.

Anybody who spends a great deal of time watching others live their lives in some unique or exciting way, will begin to feel low about their own life.

Second, when a person spends this time on the internet, it’s highly likely they’re putting off something they should be doing. This can be anything from doing homework, studying for a test, to working on building a new skill. When someone knows they should be doing something, but instead procrastinates, in this case using the internet, it leads to inner conflict. This conflict will come in many forms. The most common is a lack of self confidence from the inability to control one’s self. Another will be any range of mental health issues such as anxiousness, sadness, depression, or lethargy.

Let’s not forget all of the bullying, gossip, and other social toxicities that lurk on social media. This doesn’t help anyone lead a fulfilling and happy life.

A study conducted on adolescents found an association between internet usage and mental health. They found that excessive usage of the internet can lead to feelings of anxiety, reduced happiness, stress, depression, and the contemplation of suicide (Yoo et al., 2014).

Why Do We Choose To Spend Living a Large Chunk Of Our Life On The Internet?

People understand that spending time doing specific things on the internet are an absolute waste of time. I didn’t even have to do the math to help anyone understand and visualize this idea.

The answer is simple. It’s because it’s the easy thing to do. It makes us feel warm, cozy and puts us in a different realm.

The specific subset of internet activities that we’d consider harmful such as social media browsing are executed when one feels exhausted and tired. This is usually after a long day at school or work. It can also be a reaction to stress. Since it’s the easiest form of escape, people choose to indulge in it.

It also makes sense that the average was 2 hrs and 25 min. per day. This sounds like the leisure time people get after working, cooking, or some chores.

I believe each one of us needs to learn how to change our reactions to these specific triggers and cues which create a desire for us to pick up our phone and mindlessly browse away or turn on the computer and binge watch some show. It’s unquestionably challenging, but we can use the knowledge that we are spending a third of our life not doing something that’s conducive to our well being as a motivator. This will fire up our frontal lobe and lead to thoughts that’ll allow us to think about doing another activity.

Activities We Can Replace With Mindless Internet Usage

It’s clear now, that it’s important that we should supplant wasting time on the internet with activities that can add value to our life. The statistical fact that on average a human will spend about 10% or over ten years of their life wasting time on the internet should be knowledge used as an incentive to partake in useful activities.

Let’s think about how great we can become if we worked on other things. You could become a champion marathon runner, learn how to fly a plane, master one or more languages, become a top tier meditator, start a business and slowly grow it, go to school and start a new career, and a list of never ending things you can do as long as you choose to pursue it. The thought that we can become anyone we want is amazing and all it takes to start one’s journey to greatness is by transferring energy from one behavior to another.

Alternative Activities

  1. Spend Time With Family. I believe being great is simply being there for our loved ones. I tend to think about death a lot (positively) and one thought my mind gravitates towards is how important it is to interact with your family like its your last moment with them. They will not always be alive and we only have a limited time to talk to them, listen to them, hold them, or show them love and compassion.
  2. Learn a Skill On YouTube. There are many sites dedicated to online learning, but I’ve found the best videos on learning how to do anything on YouTube. This is a case in which using the internet is positive and brings great value. Examples of things you can learn are how to make a website, how to sell things on various e-commerce platforms, how to sew, and even social skills such as how to communicate with people. Learning is never ending on YouTube. Another alternative is Udemy.
  3. Practice Meditation. Meditation has a large list of benefits. Studies have found increases of gray matter in the brain which lead to improved memory, recollection, decreased stress, increased levels of happiness and overall improved cognition. It will also help build resiliency. This practice would help anyone who chooses to perform it and the steps on how to meditate are simple.
  4. Exercise. This activity can help one loose fat, increase cardiovascular health, good for the mind, and decreases the probability of obtaining many diseases. It’s a no brainer. Exercise includes activities such as running, jump-roping, swimming, cycling, lifting weights, or body weight workouts.
  5. Walk. If you want to burn calories while coming up with creative ideas or exciting thoughts then walking is a great activity to perform. A study observed that walking had boosted creative thoughts compared to sitting. A nice thing is we can walk indoors or outdoors.
  6. Read. The benefits of reading are amazing. Some of them include preventing cognitive decline, lowering depression, improving mood, lowering blood pressure, makes one more knowledgeable, and improves connections between synapses in the brain (Stanborough, 2019). It’s also something that is passive and can be done laying down. This is great especially if you are tired after a long day at work or school.
  7. Learn Mixed Martial Arts. MMA does fall into the category of exercise, but it’s deeper than that. By learning MMA, you can build a skill that can help you defend yourself without the use of a weapon. You can build life long friendships with all those that you train with. Everyone wants to see you succeed and grow. Most of all, it’s lots of fun! Try to look for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, or Muay Thai gyms near you.
  8. Buy an Old Beater Car and Fix It. Buy an old cheap Toyota or Honda. Make it your mission to make this car work and look as if new. This will not only teach you some amazing mechanic skills, but you will learn and build characteristics such as tenacity, patience, perseverance, and equanimity. It may take a year or two, but in the end you will have grown as a person. Just remember to enjoy the process and use the resources around you.
  9. Write. Get your thoughts out onto paper. Just let it flow out. This exercise will help you mentally feel like pressure is relieved. You will be able to make sense of all the things you are thinking about. Watch it evolve over time.
  10. Duolingo. I was skeptical about this app until I used it. It’s really well done and if you want to learn a language then start here. You can pick up a language twice as fast if you use Duolingo and have someone to practice what you’ve learned with.

I’m empathetic to the fact that the reason many people end up wasting time on the internet by using social media or watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, and such is due to the reality that they’re exhausted, tired, or burnt out from the day they’ve had. If this is the case, you need to look at the list and realistically ask yourself what are you capable of doing with the energy you currently have. The human body is capable of doing things which will shock us, so Additionally, it’s vital we test out various activities. Some may realize they had underestimated their capabilities.

If someone worked a long shift, then it’s unreasonable to expect them to exercise by going cycling. In this case, it’s wiser to read because it won’t physically demand much physical energy and it’s a relaxing activity to do. If they aren’t completely drained then a short walk in the house could be done.

There’s another case, in which a person wastes time on the internet out of boredom, lack of other activities to engage in, or they are addicted. In this case, this person would be able to exercise, go to the gym, or walk. One can get involved in pretty much any other productive and useful thing.

Final Thoughts

It’s very easy to end up wasting time on the internet. These certain activities make us feel comfortable. While we indulge in these pleasures, we lose track of how much time we spent on them. If we aren’t careful then we can end up spending more than ten years of time on such activities. These activities aren’t worth spending that much time on because they don’t add value to our lives, but instead take value, such as our time and resources (attention). There are many scientific backed research that provide evidence of the harmful effects of social media and excessive internet usage. We should work towards replacing these activities with more productive ones.

If possible then don’t waste too much time on the internet. This can be done applying self control. If you tell yourself that you’ll instead do something more productive and push wasting time on the internet till a later time, then you’ll find that your usage will greatly decrease.

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