Taking steps against online addiction

Like the people in Alcoholics Anonymous, I sometimes feel like I should stand up and say, “My name is Steve, and I have an online addiction.”

Making an income through journalism, which the internet has made much easier over the years by literally putting the world at my fingertips, is just the beginning.

I find I spend hours and hours looking at headlines on newsfeeds, occasionally consulting my online subscription to the New York Times, and like our current president, making many visits to Twitter throughout the day.

I occasionally contribute to Twitter and once in a while get a “like” or the equivalent for my contributions. My favorite Tweeters these days are the “never-Trump” Republicans. It’s nice to know the conscience of a conservative did not end with the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.

I have also found a site called Quora that hosts what I would like to think are intellectual discussions, but I know better.

Rock music history is one of my favorite discussion topics on Quora. That’s not intellectual. Discussions about IQ and intelligence, when it comes down to it, also come short of intellectual discourse, but I read a lot of Quora entries on this subject, too.

I think most of the participants on this topic are looking for ways to boast about the superiority of their own intellects.

I am shamelessly curious about my own IQ, although I am afraid of what a professional measurement would show, even though I know it shouldn’t matter.

Sometimes, I’ll just look up a place I am momentarily curious about, like Dumas, Texas, or Chad.

So there it is. My life online. Most of my waking hours on any given day.

I can rationalize my addiction, as alcoholics and drug addicts do, by saying that it eases the pain, in my case the pain of never knowing enough. And it does keep me informed, although not enough in the right areas.

I can at least say I’m not addicted to dialogue on Facebook or sharing selfies on Instagram and Snapchat.

I hope I don’t contribute to the irrational, fear-driven echo chambers that have turned social media, which still has the potential to be a great informer, into the great divider.

Admittedly, most of my postings favor one side, even though I will take my own side to task when I think they are being extreme or just wrong.

In any case, the responses to my posts tell me I am far from influential, anyway.

Again, however, I spend too much time online and with my phone.

What to do about it?

Well, me, here’s what I should do:

• Take care of my dry, neglected yard.

• Pay more attention to my old dog.

• Take a live class in something interesting.

• Work my way up to calculus in math.

• Work on the bad fiction in my desk drawer and maybe attempt other forms of writing.

• Resolve not to pick up my phone before 2 p.m. if I don’t need it for work.

The ultimate solution, however, would be to find a way to turn back the clock to when I had more energy.

I remember well a time when smart phones and social media were unheard of, but back then, I spent too much time in front of the television.

Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a semi-retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at:

[email protected]