In today's digital age, endless distractions lurk just a click away, often leading us down the time-draining rabbit hole of the internet. But don't worry—discover how to reclaim your time and boost your productivity with these five effective strategies for curbing online time-wasters.
With our guide on how to stop wasting time online effectively, discover practical tips to enhance productivity and eliminate distractions.
Are You Addicted to the Internet?
You are probably reading this post because you are looking for tips to help stop wasting time online, for yourself or someone you care about.
You have come to the right place because this article will show you how to stop spending too much time on the Internet, regain control of your life, and overcome your fear of missing out.
Before we move on to the steps to help you succeed in the challenge, let’s first discuss the things you’re really missing out on because you spend too much time online.
It is easy to spend more time online than planned, which usually leads to time pressure, failure to do other activities, mental overload, and neglecting your personal needs such as attending social engagements, sleeping, and exercising.
Research has also found a correlation between stress and one's level of availability on social media sites, especially the burden of guilt for not immediately replying to messages.
However, is it worth it to miss out on other opportunities in life that aren't offered online just so you can reply to someone in a timely manner?
What You’re Missing By Spending Too Much Time Online
Let's look at some things that you may be missing in exchange for being glued to the Internet.
1. Enjoying the company of real friends—old and new
Spending too much time online robs us of the opportunity to improve the quality of our friendships.
What even makes a real friendship these days?
Does it depend on whether the person knows all about your most recent date or how often you talk to them? With all the available modes of communication and our Internet contacts, who are our real friends?
Only your real-life friends genuinely know your personality and are not scared to tell you how it is. Yes, your online friends may offer you a superficial opinion, but no one only knows you online and can tell you when to get your stuff together.
A real-life friend won't sugarcoat it when you are making a mistake. Real-life friends can also make you feel good even when you’re depressed about going through a difficult time because they know you, and they know what you need to lift your spirits.
An online friend may try to console you, but it doesn’t have the same impact.
2. Having a more meaningful romantic relationship
Spending too much time online and on social media can harm your romantic relationships for two reasons.
First, if your romantic relationship is online, you cannot read your partner's body language when you communicate, and the level of communication will remain superficial.
You are missing out on communicating deep, emotional feelings to each other, where miscommunication often occurs because you can't read your partner's tone or see their behavior. Whatever you imagine in your head is probably not precisely what this person is like.
Spending too much time online can also impact your romantic relationship if your partner is with you in real life. Let's say you take a day to hike or have a picnic in the park.
What kind of time are you spending together if one person is constantly scrolling through their phone? Being on the Internet can keep you from being present with your partner and enjoying their company.
3. Being around when your child during important milestones
It's not only kids who are spending too much time online. Parents are also guilty of overdoing screen time, which can have troubling consequences for their children.
Parents often ignore their kids in favor of their smartphones.
This is a mistake because face-to-face interactions are the most effective way for children to learn a language, learn about their emotions and how to regulate them, have conversations, and read facial expressions.
If this isn't happening, children are missing out on developmental milestones, and parents are too busy looking down at their screens when the child does something new.
If you're ready to spend quality time with your kids and add structure to your day, create a morning routine for your children. The video below provides a 6-step process you can use to make a great morning routine for your kids:
4. Experiencing a heady sense of accomplishment as you scratch off items from your bucket list
Do you even have a bucket list?
If you spend too much time online, you aren't getting out there and doing anything.
You're not traveling or doing that skydive you always wanted, you're not getting out and experiencing the world, and you're not working toward any significant long-term goals.
Chances are, you will forget about whatever you are doing online right now in a week. You aren't making any memories.
5. Spending time doing something that is of personal value to you or that benefits the rest of the world
For centuries, some of the greatest thinkers have agreed on one thing: True happiness is helping others.
Helping other people may be the secret to living a happy, healthier, more meaningful, and more productive life.
You may think that the entertainment you receive from the Internet provides personal value, but the truth is that none of that satisfaction will last past the short term.
Spending too much time online has adverse mental and physical effects.
It can lead to anxiety, sleeping disorders, depression, isolation, and feelings of guilt. It can also cause headaches, weight gain, carpal tunnel, and blurred or strained vision. It has both short-term and long-term effects on your health.
The short-term effects include not completing tasks, forgetting responsibilities, and gaining weight. The long-term effects are more physical, including backaches, neck pain, and vision problems.
To give you an idea of the extent to which being addicted to social media can affect people’s lives, watch this half-hour documentary.
5 Strategies to Stop Wasting Time on the Internet
It could be time to admit that you have a habit of procrastinating.
The best way to manage your time effectively is to minimize distractions, focus on only the critical tasks that you must complete, and find a reliable way to gauge your productivity.
If you are ready to severely reduce your time on the Internet, it may seem like a challenge. Here are some good digital habits that you can build to make this transition easier.
1. Monitor your Internet usage time.
We often convince ourselves that it is important to be online as much as we are because of our roles at work, home, or school. It’s time to admit that this is untrue.
Yes, you probably need to use the Internet for your homework or work purposes, but you probably often find yourself getting off track and spending more time online than necessary to complete your task.
To break this habit, learn how to manage your online time.
Monitor how long it takes you to do each task and record precisely what you did. Then, determine if the activity was essential. You’d be surprised at how much time you spend on necessary versus unnecessary online activities.
In doing this, you will be better able to focus on your real priorities and avoid wasting time doing idle things such as scrolling through someone else's vacation pictures.
For more severe cases, you may need to do a social media detox.
2. Block your access to favorite time-sink websites.
While it may feel ironic to use technology to stop you from using technology, this is where we are today.
To increase your productivity while you are online, use apps that block your go-to sites. This will lessen the temptation to jump over to these sites if the task at hand is challenging or undesirable.
Doing this will help you resist the temptation to use social media or check the latest entertainment news.
You can control these apps so they only block your chosen websites during certain parts of the day or for a certain amount of time, so you know exactly how much time you have to complete your work.
3. If your task requires computer use, do it immediately.
Whether it’s research for a school project or emails from work that need to be answered, finish these tasks as soon as possible.
Get all the information you need from the Internet in the beginning so you don't have to get back on. This way, you avoid the pitfall of procrastination and your productivity does not suffer.
If you know you will have to use a computer, you may be tired of doing your work by the time you actually log on.
This feeling will tempt you to take a break, which could turn into hours of mindlessly browsing the Internet. Do all of your computer work at the beginning of your project when your motivation is high?
4. When working, avoid using your phone.
Smartphones make accessing the Internet easy. To avoid wasting time online, put your phone away (in silent or airplane mode) when you are working or studying.
Make sure that you cannot see or hear any notifications that come up. Keep your phone in another room or zipped up in your bag so it is out of sight and you are not tempted to check it.
With your phone out of the way, your concentration will increase for the job. After you do this for a while, you will find it quite liberating because you will see the amount of work you can get done and realize that you didn't miss anything online while being productive.
In this 10-minute video, Psychologist Adam Alter explains why our gadgets make us unhappy and offers suggestions on how to live a richer, more meaningful life.
5. Seek professional help.
The problem with any addiction is that it can be challenging to determine when a hobby has taken hold of your life.
But if you can't seem to stick to your boundaries and spend more time online than you are with real people, it may be time to seek professional help.
Recently, Internet addiction has become a cause for concern in clinical psychiatry. Suppose the effects of excessive Internet use are severely impacting your personal life. In that case, professional intervention should be sought, especially if you feel like you cannot live without the Internet.
Final Thoughts on Stop Wasting Time Online
The Internet has undoubtedly improved our lives. However, spending too much time online is not worth the negative effects, both physically and mentally.
Don’t be misled into believing that you will miss out on something if you’re not online. Real life and everything that truly matters are outside of the screen.
If you suffer from FOMO, consider that you are much more likely to miss something significant that happens in real life by spending too much time online than by missing things online because you are out enjoying your life.
For more on the FOMO phenomenon, take a few minutes to watch the video below:
We hope that through the suggestions in this article, you will find the inspiration to stop spending too much time online—that you will take action and regain control of your life.
Once you find that you have extra time during your days, we challenge you to do something that adds value to your life. For instance, you can focus on building one of the 101 skills we cover on this page.
No matter how you decide to spend your time, try to limit your screen time as much as possible so you can live out in the real world.
It may be challenging at first, but once you realize how great life is when you're not on the Internet, you will be thankful that you decided to cut back.
And if you're looking for more ideas to help you spend less time online, be sure to check out these articles:
- 217 Fun Things to Do When You Are Bored
- 25 Fun Things to Do with Your Friends Online
- 71 Daily Mindfulness Challenge Exercises & Ideas
- 7 Ways to Stop Wasting Time and Get Things Done
- How to Not Get Distracted at Work or While Studying
Finally, if you need help with building habits, then check out this nine-step blueprint that walks you through the entire process of creating lifelong habits.)
