At the baliff’s demand, you stand, trying to look both innocent and contrite. You hear the words from the judge all too clearly — “I sentence you to a life sentence in solitary confinement, sentence to be served in ten minute segments”. And with that, your fate is sealed. The rest of your time on earth will be spent in front of a screen. You won’t go outside anymore. You won’t interact with anyone. You will become fat, weak, and unhealthy. You will lose the skills you once had until you are good for nothing. You will lose contact with everyone important to you and spend your time getting abused by angry trolls. Your head will become filled with horrors you did not know existed. You will never again be as good as the person you once were. There is no escape.
“Yes there is! I can stop anytime I want!”. Yeah, they all say that. Addicts, that is.
I like the phrase “shut up and multiply” from Eliezer Yudkowski. Meaning, we all have rationalizations, excuses, etc., for the things we do, but if you Do The Math you will see how things will likely actually turn out. Do the math, actually multiply hours wasted per day x 365 days. In another essay I described the effects. I didn’t listen to myself then and have squandered a lot more time doing utterly pointless and harmful things, a lot of it online. In fact, it’s all harmful, because of the time wasted and opportunity lost. I could have had a Ph.D. by now, just in the time I spent playing games. You too.
Don’t say “it’s only a few minutes.” You know that’s not true. Your next video binge will last hours. And for what? You know how you’ll feel when you collapse into bed at 3:30 A.M. : Ashamed, guilty, and regretful. You can feel better than that. You can do better than that. You’re already used to thinking in short segments, how about using them effectively? Spend 10 minutes looking up something you’ve been meaning to do. And not “later”. Right now. Now, Mr. Cratchett, before you dot another “i”. Then do it again. 10 minutes at a time, you can either commit suicide on the installment plan or you can save yourself.