Understand

If you want to reduce your Internet use long-term, first figure out why you feel compelled to use it. Some of the benefits the Internet can provide include:

• Comfort.
• Social connection.
• News.
• Information.
• Entertainment.
• A break from thinking.
• Drama.
• Excitement.
• Education.
• Rest.
• Relief from feelings like loneliness, boredom, stress or pain.

Once you understand why you procrastinate on the Internet, you can devise strategies to reduce your Internet use, including by replacing those benefits with more helpful alternatives.

These tools can help you get a fuller picture of your Internet use:

• Record how much time you spend using the Internet in a day. Many phones now have a function that can do this for you. There are also apps for PCs that can track and report your usage. Look for trends that can give you an insight into your Internet use. You may notice that you pick up your phone and look at a website as a distraction when facing a difficult question or task. Or you may find a habit of picking up a device after sitting on your couch at the end of your day.
• Consider your experience when you use the Internet.
  • When do you do it?
  • Where do you do it?
  • Are there any common triggers for your Internet use?
  • What websites or apps do you use?
  • How do you feel before, during and after use?
  • Are there websites you spend a lot of time on that don’t make you feel great?
• Write down why you want to reduce Internet use.
  • What are the negative effects it has on you?
  • What are the positives that you hope to get from the change?
• If there are particular sites that you feel you spend too much time on. Ask yourself the above questions about those particular sites.

Reduction Strategies

For most of us, eliminating Internet use entirely is neither possible nor desirable. A more practical aim is to reduce use, for example:

• Don’t use it for the first hour of your day.
• Don’t use it in the mornings.
• Don’t use it in the evenings.
• Don’t use it until you have completed your work for the day.
• Stop using certain websites and apps altogether.

Taking breaks from addictive or time-wasting websites or apps, rather than trying to give up altogether, can help significantly for the following reasons:

• Starting a break is easier if you know it’s not permanent.
• Knowing the break will end can help boost willpower.
• It can show you that stopping is possible.
• It can demonstrate the benefits of stopping.
• It can show you that the website or app is not as vital as it may seem.

Helpful Techniques

These strategies can help reduce Internet use:

• Block distracting websites from your device. There are apps and extensions that can limit the time you can spend on specific websites or the Internet altogether. These can have multiple options, including limiting access during certain hours or only providing access for a certain period each day.
• If you need to work on your computer, go somewhere without WIFI.
• Identify any app that takes up too much of your time and delete it. You can always download it again later if you need it.
• Disable notifications.
• Close programs you aren’t currently using.
• Log out of any social media accounts on your device each time you stop using it and don’t allow fingerprint or Face ID access. The extra step of requiring your password can help you catch yourself before starting to procrastinate.

There are also techniques to help reduce distractions from your smartphone and reduce social media distractions.

Habits

For most of us, Internet use is a habit and can be overcome with the same tools that help break other unwanted habits.

Replace

When you reduce your Internet use, you will reduce the benefits you get from it. To increase your chance of success, plan to replace the benefits you get from the Internet with something more helpful. If you don’t, you may replace Internet use with another addictive and unhelpful habit. It becomes much easier not to waste time on the Internet when you replace it with something you enjoy. The best replacements are beneficial and less addictive, for example:

• spending time with friends or family,
• reading,
• taking a class in a subject that you are interested in,
• exercising,
• playing sport,
• picking up a hobby, or
• journaling.

If you normally use the Internet in the evening after work, schedule a replacement activity for that time. Involving other people in that activity can help motivate you to do it when you might otherwise give in to procrastination.

Many of us use the Internet to escape stress and rest our brains. Unfortunately, because it is so addictive, we end up using it far longer and more often than is helpful. If you can find a less addictive way to reduce stress or rest, you can significantly reduce your Internet use. Breaks, proper rest and meditation can all help with this.