myolam.org

“Hooked on Internet?  Help is a just a click away.”  ~Author Unknown

If you didn’t get the newspaper tomorrow morning, would you completely freak out? When you forget to take your cell phone with you, do you keep reaching into your pocket for it again and again? How long can you go without checking your mail? How often do you check the news on TV or the Internet?

Information has become a bare necessity these days. It is imperative for us to stay connected. Information and connectivity make us feel in control. We feel that we will lag behind if we don’t connect. We want to be constantly wired. We want the world to be with us all the time. It makes us secure. It keeps us from facing ourselves. It has become almost impossible for us to spend a few minutes by ourselves, doing nothing.

Experts believe information addiction is a real and present concern. Information, according to them, secretes a hormone called dopamine, which gives us a high. But information can be as addictive as narcotics. Information addiction can disrupt our lives. It impinges on our relationships and our social lives. It makes us lose sleep. The negativity of news vitiates our lives.

Information addiction does not happen overnight. We are aware of it while we are getting caught into the mire. It is important that we stop before it gets really serious.

You can start today. Start cutting down on your Internet time. Get the news only from one source and only once a day (Altogether staying away from news is not a bad idea either). Every weekend, visit a person you would have otherwise emailed.

In order to connect with yourself, it is important you get disconnected.