Internet Addiction, Endorphins, Autism, and ME

I need to blog more, so I’m going to do so, whether the blogs are funny, informative, well-organized, or NOT (mostly NOT), I’m going to blog more.

So anyway, I’m fully aware that I’m addicted to the internet, and it has to stop. I am capable of browsing the web for pretty much the entire day (favorite stops include Reddit, NY Times, The Bootleg Stanford Sports Message Board, Yahoo Most Popular, and others. But most definitely, absolutely, totally not Pornhub) if I choose to. How does one get addicted to the internet? Well, I think it all comes down to endorphins.

As we all know, endorphins are the hormones that make us feel good. They’re released into our brain in a variety of ways–including exercise, social interactions, sex, drugs, and the internet. If you can get your endorphins by laying in bed and browsing the internet, why would you bother going out and exercising or going out with friends or whatever? You’ve got your own little Pleasure Generator right inside your laptop. So basically, my laptop has become my little drug dispenser, and this needs to stop.

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that if I start mindlessly browsing the web first thing in the morning, I want to browse all day. If I start my day off actively (and getting out of bed IMMEDIATELY upon waking and getting ready for the day and/or working out), I tend to not crave the internet. I theorize that there are different kinds of opiate receptors in the brain, and if you start feeding the internet-opiate receptors first, then they dominate and scream for more while the have-a-productive-day-opiate receptors get shut down. I think from too much internet use, my internet-opiate receptors have dominated the size of the other receptors, so if they get stimulated, there’s no stopping them. I wonder if there’s a drug-equivalent to this–do people addicted to cigarettes crave more cigarettes if they have one first thing in the morning?

They’ve found that autistic children naturally have a higher level of endorphins in their brains, which suggests that they’re already really happy, so they don’t have motivation to seek endorphin release through social interaction or play. that’s really unfortunate–seeing as how the internet-endorphins can stunt my productivity, i can only imagine what easily-obtained-endorphins can do to child development.

I don’t count blogging or even emailing as part of the internet problem, because I consider both of those to be active pastimes. It’s just the mindless browsing that needs to stop. And it will.

So good-bye internet addiction, hello exercise and being social and being productive!!!