I’m thinking of doing it as I’ve become addicted to my Ipad. I carry it with me to the FR when I watch TV and look at it during commercials. It’s the first thing I look at in the morning. I look at it throughout the day, except on workdays. I just feel as if it’s consuming too much of my of my life and would like to cut back on it, maybe half. Before I received it a couple years ago, I rarely sat on the computer because I was sick of sitting in front of one all day. I’ve quit reading books it seems. That’s what I used to do to fill free time.
I totally get of our kids are addicted to their phones.
Anyway, just wondering how everyone feels about this and if they cut back.
My D just did it for Lent. She said it was hard at first but then she got used to it. She didn’t stop emails and texts, just surfing and other social media. She got back on a few days ago and she was surprised that her stress went through the roof. The social media didn’t bother her too much. She did say that the constant news, pop culture and self help content that she used to absorb all the time caused her to feel over loaded.
@conmama I am totally with you. I hate how I have become addicted to this site, Facebook etc. I need to start reading books again.
Like any other overindulgence - tv, food, beverage, shopping, etc. - you have to develop new habits and have some discipline. Are you a good “cold turkey” person? Can you set up parameters for yourself and follow them?
What would work for you?
Scheduling in 30 minutes of iPad time 3 or 4 times a day?
Scheduling iPad time in the morning and then literally putting it away in a drawer or cupboard till lunchtime?
Scheduling iPad time for a short time after dinner and then putting it in the nightstand drawer for the evening?
Evaluate your time in general. Are you on the iPad because there is nothing more important to attend to? Should you be taking a half hour walk in the evening instead? Working on a home project? The more “free time” you have, the more often you’re going to pick it up.
Discipline. 
We do most summers. The cabin we go to in Vermont gets no cell phone service and is not hooked up to the grid. We do go into town to check emails from time to time, but it’s lovely - a real break from technology.
WNYChas a podcast “Note to Self” that covers some of these issues. You might find this one interesting: http://www.wnyc.org/story/infomagical-results/
I feel the same way and am thinking about it too.
My book reading has gone way down . . . it’s almost like I don’t have the attention span for it anymore. It’s a little scary actually, especially since I have always been a reader.
I guess I didn’t fully answer the posed question.
Like Mathmom, we have a summer cottage that is in a remote area with no internet access - well we could have it but it would cost a bundle. We choose to do without. After a couple of those days, we could care less about internet! But I’ll admit, once we cross the border (the cottage is in Canada) everyone in the car turns their phone data back on and is immersed in catching up for the next 30 minutes!
I took a break from CC for several months last year. Crazy busy getting my house ready to sell, took it off my favorites list so I wouldn’t be tempted. Came back after getting the house on the market, though.
Selfishly I am glad @intparent!
Many years ago I felt that I was spending too much time reading. I always had a book with me and would read any chance I got, using reading, I think, as an escape. So I decided I would only read books after dark and during the day I would only read newspapers, magazines, etc. I still hold to that. Now, of course, there’s the internet but since I’m not on social media I don’t find it particularly addictive–more like a magazine or a newspaper, pretty much self-limiting. I am thinking about following Salvador Perez, though, if I can figure out how.
Has anyone ever heard of hyperlexia?
I came across that term researching visual-based LD’s and it really rang a bell for me thinking back to when I was a kid. I couldn’t stand to not be reading, and I could (and still can) read things that are upside down (like across a table).
I don’t think I’m full blown hyperlexic but somewhere on that continuum which makes the internet even more tempting. Can always get my fix.
^Never heard of it, but yeah. Did a lot of cereal box reading when I was a kid eating breakfast. I’ll have to look it up. I am definitely anxious if I don’t have a book to be reading, but I also agree that internet sometimes acts as a sop to that, and not in a good way.
Edit: and now off to Google hyperlexia. 
Edit again: maybe not. I don’t have that much trouble with verbal language, and am okay on social adeptness.
just a regular old word-addict!
^^that’s kind of what I was thinking garland. Though I did see a speech therapist as a kid (why I don’t know?). I do tend to tune out when people are talking to me but I thought that was just from being a mom. 
Wow… hyperlexia describes me to a large extent, and D2 to a T! I see from Googling that one MRI study shows it is essentially the opposite of dyslexia (very strong processing in that part of the brain, I guess). I also see a description that describes it as related to a profound non-verbal learning disability, which D2 has been diagnosed with (hers was the most profound the testers at the Children’s Hospital where we had the testing done had ever seen). It might explain the high CR & Lit scores.
@SouthFloridaMom9 …exactly…shorter attention span. I’ve tried reading several books the last year and only finished one.
We also have a lake cottage and refuse to pay for Internet. I rarely watch TV there and I don’t go through any type of withdrawals or anything.
It just seems that I’m constantly reaching for it. It doesn’t stop me from doing things I need to though.
Since I know I’m not going to give it up, I need to limit myself as Abasket says. Maybe play on it 3 times a day…mornings, afternoon and evening. Limit each time and quit reaching for it.
And find a good book! It sounds as if I’m not the only one with this issue.
@conmama I too have this same concern. There is a very interesting book about how online time actually changes neural pathways in the brain. One of the effects is a shorter attention span. The book is called “The Shallows” by Nicolas Carr. I apologize for not giving a thorough book review- I can’t seem to make myself finish it!
@hoosiermom …haha! Seriously, I do believe this. ^^^. My youngest went to a Young Life camp a few years back, and they take your phone. He said he loved being disconnected like that. Of course his friends were there. However, it always bugs me when I see groups of friends together …his…and they are on their phones.
My daughter and I just spent four days together, on a trip to Susquehanna University in PA (a wonderful school that she is now sure she wants to attend). We both took our phones, but made a conscious effort to leave them in the car when we ate meals together. It was nice!
I think about this frequently as I’m on my laptop way too much of the time. I also have an ipad and, like conmama, often play on it while watching TV. Definitely a type of addiction. I’m a big information gatherer so, for example, if a question comes up or i’m planning a trip (or planning anything), google is my friend and I get lost in the huge amount of data and resources out there. I haven’t convinced myself yet that I should pull back but I think that, at some point in the future, I will.
Fortunately, I’m in two book clubs to do read 2 books a month although they’re often read in the 48 hours leading up to the meeting because, well, I’ve been so busy on my laptop!
I took two months off when I was living in rural Costa Rica. This was about 4 years ago.
I don’t think I could do it now. I think I’d be a nervous wreck not having access to my email and all that.