Ask Lemmy

I'd say a solid 50.
I'm fine if I have some other kind of stimulation. If I find a good book to get lost in, an engaging project, or anything else to occupy myself I don't think of the Internet at all and kind of forget it exists.
But as soon as I'm bored and have no other mental stimulation my phone is out and I'm browsing something.

When I go camping I don't miss it. But if I'm in town it'd drive me nuts.

This post is a good reminder that I should save a copy of Wikipedia

If the internet shuts down, I'll be basically out of a job probably, so I don't know about addiction, I'm probably have a very bad time

I’d say 99% considering I work using the internet and spend most of my time on a connected device

It's more of a habit than an addiction.

If I have pretty much literally anything else going on, I don't tend to think about or miss the internet.

But if I don't have anything else going on, I'll probably reach for my phone or end up on a computer pretty quickly without even realizing it

80 before latest USA election, 40 after. Deliberately distancing myself.

I'd been trying to do this since covid, victory!

I'd cope just fine now, I lived before widespread internet or wireless services too.

Most of what I miss about the internet is already long dead.

I would say I'm 75% addicted. Like without it, if it shuts off for prolonged periods, what am I down to? I'm down to just books and whatever I acquired to make available offline like downloaded games and I've got quite a media collection going to delve into.

What I'll miss the most of it is being in contact with those I've established a connection with such as online friends. The longer I go without speaking to them, the more things will feel hollow.

I'd say I'm probably around 20-30%. If the internet were to disappear tomorrow, the only thing it'd affect is my work which I'm not really concerned about. The only thing I'd probably miss is watching random stuff on YouTube.

I watch a lot of YouTube. But I have other hobbies, games to play, books to read, and shit that needs done.

I'll be fine.

I would normally be about a 60-70, but since I'm a data hoarder, The actual impact of a loss of internet on me would probably be closer to 20. I've got enough movies/tv/music/games/books to last decades.

I don't have withdrawal symptoms without the Internet, but I certainly get bored without it since I use it a lot. So maybe 70-80% addicted. I've never known a world without it and here I am spending most of my free time watching videos when I'm not listening to music locally stored on my devices or on CD. That, and doing a lot of online looking when I'm not playing games, some of which are Internet/data (because mobile) required. Internet is a huge part of my mortal life right now, but at least I'm self aware enough to know I'm addicted to Hell and back.

I guess I'm not too addicted, though 99.9% of all my direct communication relies on it, so that'd be the biggest blow I'd feel. I almost never play online, so I'd be fine on that, though I'd have to rely on whatever's already installed on my computer. Maybe I have to bite the bullet and make a home media server to put all my GOG stuff there... Half of my salary just for an 8tb drive, tho 😭

It's so bad, really. I use two phones at once, one for gaming and the other for whatever else, and I never am without a phone in my hand ever. I'm really just trying to block out the bad things that are happening to me but it's insane too.

I depends on how depressed I am.

Feeling good? No internet is fine, I'll draw, worldbuild (although it's a bit "lonely" without chatgpt), play offline games, make Mario Maker levels, romhack, work on games, compose a song, etc.

Unmotivated as hell? I'm about ready to die if I can't scroll annoying and depressing content.

Now no power is another story. Life is nothing without electricity.

Kindof a hard question to answer. I work remotely in software. If I couldn't use the Internet, I'd have to change fields and start working in person. But is working remotely and writing code for my day job an expression of "addiction"? How about looking up documentation while I'm writing code on my own time? Definitely something I use the Internet for, but I wouldn't think it's an "addiction" thing. What about updating the software on my computer? Is finding recipes online "addiction"?

Social media is "addictive". For sure.

So, I guess if you're counting everything I use the internet for as "addiction" and asking how well I'd fare (with 100 being extremely poorly), I'd probably have to put it pretty high. Maybe 85 or more?

If you only disallowed uses of the Internet that qualify as "addictive" such as doomscrolling or four-hour-long YouTube in-depth deep dives on invisible walls in Super Mario 64, then I don't think I'd be really all that bad off. I might put myself at 20.

100%. my generation is among the first to be raised online, I'm not shocked. even as a kid a lot of my memories are just of being on YouTube or playing steam games.

20, I would love the world without internet back.

The older I get the more it's obvious we were better off without.

Must be quite high for me too since every time our internet doesn't work I realise how little things you can do on your phone and PC that don't rely on the internet. Even for programming you constantly need to look up things.

90. I stay in contact with friends, even IRL ones, through the internet.

About 85-90% I can handle a few days away from the internet if I have some podcasts saved, as well as some random wikipedia articles.

Currently I have about 100 podcast episodes and plenty of different wiki articles saved on my phone.

I also have several videos saved.

People don't go to public places to hang out anymore, so we're dependent on the internet for that these days. Does it mean addiction? Not at all. It's similar to drug addiction, if you're in good health and good company, time flies when you're sober. When you're sitting by yourself in a small room, you're dependent on time accelerating media devices. For me, meth accelerates time in a similar fashion, and I can spend hours sitting in a room looking out the window, no urge to look at memes in chat rooms. Meth is easier to stop for me because of harsher side effects.

Before Internet: chop wood, carry water.

After Internet: chop wood, carry water.

Probably 90%. Whenever my internet or power goes out, I have literally nothing to do at home. Maybe I should get a board game.

I can go days without. But I spend maybe 2-4 hours a day. Sadly I work remote, so I get bored. But during holidays and staycations, I hardly pick up my phone, let alone a laptop. 30. 30 is my addiction number.

You can easily measure your addiction by how many tabs you have open right now.

Internet is more and more like cable TV, so actually losing interest in it. But sure, still fun for a while.

withdrawl symptoms

Is that when you randomly start sounding like you're from rural Alabama?

I have things I could do but honestly being 100% cut off, it would be honestly difficult to go back to early 2010s for me (younger child me had not much interaction with the internet).
I would say something between 65-75%.
Maybe I would go to the library more often ;)

1000000000000% I have neurolink to keep myself connected to the mainframe of the internet ziteghist

I would literally starve to death.

Maybe like 90%. I don't deal well with borebom and I have literally to do at home offline, and since I'm living alone in a foreign country playing board games or whatever isn't an option. So... Yeah, good thing I wasn't born 50 years ago.

Let's say 50%. If I can keep using my computer to code and do electronics projects. Maybe without internet I'd get to read some of the novels I'd always wanted to read. And I'd need to subscribe to some magazines to keep up. And find a way to listen to music, audiobooks and podcasts. I'm certainly not going back to watching regular TV if I'm bored.

I’m definitely 100% addicted. I would probably go through some sort of mental crisis if I were shut out. But I also hate it. I want to unplug, but I’m unable.