I'm afraid my therapist will think lowly of me if I mention my addiction to the internet. I know that therapists aren't supposed to judge, but judging is human nature. So while she may not display signs of her judging me, she will judge IMO... and I'll feel embarrassed!

That said, had anyone gone to therapy for an internet addiction? lol. If so, how did it go? If not, do you want help?

I'm online 12+ hours a day. Not on this site in particular, but the internet in general. I do work in tech as a software engineer, so I have to use it for 8 hrs a day during the week... and me using it all the time just reinforces the addiction.

I don't know what to say to my therapist. And what kind of method would they use for internet addiction? CBT?

I bought some puzzle stuff on Amazon to do to distract me. Not traditional "puzzles" puzzles, but things similar to Rubix cubes. Sudoku as well.

I know she wants me to make friends in real life, but I'm satisfied with where I'm at because I have the internet. I'm afraid if I leave the internet, where will I be? I know that sounds sooooo pathetic, but it's true. I feel like some of you could relate, too. That's why I ask.

[stopdog]

If it doesn't bother you, then why would you care what therapist thinks. Also why does it matter what a therapist wants you to do unless you want to do it too? I don't subscribe to the pygmalian version of therapy

[atisketatasket]

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

OP - I'm sure your therapist has heard stuff like this before. People are addicted to the internet, video games, TV, Facebook, whatever. I bet at some point in her life your therapist has done too much of one thing too. It's a well-known coping strategy.

[DodgersMom]

if its something you wanna work on fixing and need some guidance on how, go for it. they wont judge you, or at least they should not be judging you.

[guilloche]

Just realize that if they judge you, that's more of a statement about them being a crappy therapist than that there's anything wrong with you.

I suspect internet addiction is MUCH higher than people realize. I'm sort of in the same boat - it's just SO easy, especially when your life isn't that great, to spend the whole day surfing online, reading, chatting with people, etc. Heck, my mom visited me this weekend... and when the conversation got a little slow, would pull out her phone to get on Facebook (!). I was surprised... she drove ~12 hours to get here to visit me, but once she's here, she wants to play with her phone instead of have a conversation.

Anyway... if you want to work on it, bring it up. You don't have to start with "OMG! I'm addicted to the internet"... you could start softer and see how she reacts, like, "You know, I was thinking... I noticed that I spend a lot of time online. Like more than 12 hours a day, and I was wondering if that was normal?"

Good luck!

[Argonautomobile]

Originally Posted by guilloche

Just realize that if they judge you, that's more of a statement about them being a crappy therapist than that there's anything wrong with you.

I suspect internet addiction is MUCH higher than people realize. I'm sort of in the same boat - it's just SO easy, especially when your life isn't that great, to spend the whole day surfing online, reading, chatting with people, etc. Heck, my mom visited me this weekend... and when the conversation got a little slow, would pull out her phone to get on Facebook (!). I was surprised... she drove ~12 hours to get here to visit me, but once she's here, she wants to play with her phone instead of have a conversation.

Anyway... if you want to work on it, bring it up. You don't have to start with "OMG! I'm addicted to the internet"... you could start softer and see how she reacts, like, "You know, I was thinking... I noticed that I spend a lot of time online. Like more than 12 hours a day, and I was wondering if that was normal?"

Good luck!