Hello Steven,

You ask a great question. This is perhaps one of the most popular concerns that people have - how much time they waste or feel that they waste looking at information online. As you are careful to point out, it is not about pornography or gambling sites online but just useful information or information that you do not really need to look at but since it is there, you do. A familiar concern that I have seen over and over again because of the volume of infinite content online. I generally tell clients to practice keeping a daily log of how long they spend online. Keep a sheet of paper next to the computer and write down each time you go online, what time of day it is, what applications you utilized, and when you logged off. This will help you track your daily use. Next, look for patterns. Do you login during particular times of the day, how long do you spend on each application - or information site, do you go to particular sites. Having this record establishes a baseline of how much time you spend and on what during a typical week.

Next, you need to restructure when you go online. Set a goal - if you spend 30 hours of week looking at websites, but would like to only spend 15, you need to carefully monitor your use. It is similar to controlling food addictions - keeping a log itself helps you recognize the time you spend on the Internet (when perhaps you could be doing other things).

Once, you can restructure when you use the computer this should help you reduce the number of hours you spend browsing random sites. Have time goals and Internet goals. If you go to check email, only check email. If you go to read the latest posts on Facebook, then only go to read the posts on Facebook. Setting and keeping goals will help raise awareness of time and keep your Internet browsing in control. The main focus here as you can tell is to monitor your use. If you can stick to new times of days when you use the Internet, only check email when you know you have a meeting and can't just sit and surf, or if you rekindle old activities that you have given up before you started going online, these will help you moderate and control your own use. Maintaining the log will help you monitor your hours and keep you on tasks that you want to do online and avoid those time wasters. For more information on setting Internet goals, read Caught in the Net - the chapter on The Terminal Time Warp. It goes step-by-step on how to manage online time.

Dr. Kimberly Young