On a scale of 1 to 100, how addicted are you to the internet? (1 is least addicted, 100 is basically drug addiction) How would you cope without the internet?

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

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

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

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

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.

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'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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

About 40%, but it’s been more in the past. I was about 16 before we got the internet so I know what it’s like to live without it and I actually spent a lot of that time being bored, rather than reading books and otherwise expanding my mind as people would like to have you believe. I use the internet to support my other hobbies now. There’s things I would never have even known about without the internet and it’s great for learning about things. I like making my own beer and working on my car, etc. I wouldn’t ever have started making beer had I not read about it and working on cars is a lot harder without YouTube.

My addiction is basically whenever I have nothing else to do, like working on vehicles or moving furniture, or sleeping, I browse the internet.

So basically about 42%

Probably about 80% addicted. In saying that though, if there is no internet for whatever reason I'm fine. Everything is self hosted on my local network, eg Jellyfin, Mealie, Navidrome. Plus a bunch of games and an Xbox. I don't find it hard to keep myself occupied without internet with other things too like cooking, gardening, exercise and organising.

We just came out of a 1 week long isolation due to cyclone Chido. I started weaning after five days, and I felt like a new man. I'd say 20% now. Probably 70% or so before

Trying to be honest with myself here. I’d say probably 80. I’d struggle hard if it went away, but breaks while rare aren’t too much of a struggle.

I'm getting less addicted to the internet the more time goes on, and I remember when using the web involved a copy of lynx browser running on a BBS hosted by my local jerky company.

As long as I still have the content of my NAS, and a way to get the treats my cats like (but I can't find locally), I'd probably be OK. I'd have to leave me house more though... I don't love the idea of that.

I'm already at the point where I wish I didn't have to have a smart phone.

Since I’m remote, I’m forced to have it.

But honestly, I’d love to be without it for a while. I like the convenience of shopping from my bed on sites like Amazon but I prefer being able to go in and get the item same day and see it in person. Amazon’s return policy is top notch so you shouldn’t have to worry about this, in theory, but it doesn’t beat going in and seeing and holding the item and taking it home same day.

Only other thing I use it for is gaming and I would prefer offline CDs like the old days. I was telling my brother the other day about how I miss when we would go into Staples and see all those CD games on the shelves and we would fantasize about how they played. Now everything is just there and the novelty is worn off. I used to play every game I bought and now I just buy games and may play them a year or two later when I’m bored.

90-95%
I do a lil typing' (I am unironically developing carpal tunnel 😅)

50

80

More server addicted. IDK if I don't have internet but I want my own services to run.

I think I'll be okay if they sell podcasts at music stores, or if radio makes a big comeback I guess.