Addiction

[Birdmeister666]

I'm addicted to mt iPad. It's with me 24/7 I can't put it down. I'm 74 years old and love my emails, apps, and Facebook to an EXTREME

What can I do to get over it

[Baddog]

Same here , bird man . Take it to a friend out town and leave it there for a fortnight. Then you got the internet on your phone to deal with, go buy a cheap basic Nokia ??

[Birdmeister666 in reply to Baddog]

I have a dumb phone that costs me $8 a month but lm addicted to my iPad/iPod. My pad is my attached to me at home and my iPod is always in my pocket when lm outside. I could never part with those two mobiles but need to learn how to cope with them so they don't control my life.

I'm told that the use all this technology creates new pathways in the brain.

[ubsparkles]

Hi Birdmeister666.

Mental Heal Community agrees that ADDICTIONS often are the result of the unhealed, ever self-destructive PTSD.

It's common for PTSD sufferers to look for Love outside of us (like I Pads)...while all the while Peace is inside of us waiting to be re-discovered.

For me, my first step was to heal my Child Abuse PTSD.

I had to acknowledge my trauma & hurts of past before I could heal my PTSD. Romantic relationships & alcohol addictions were easier to heal after that.

Another step I took, is attend 12 step AA program.

It was healing in many areas at the same time to find my Inner Peace!

Blessings!

[Lindyloo53 Volunteer]

Me too and I'm 63

[red85]

I just want to congratulate you for recognizing and admitting that! Not everybody can so that's huge!

There are apps you can use to lock yourself out of certain sites/apps. They're marketed as "focus" apps--I used one of these and found it helpful.

Also, making small rules for yourself you can stick to like No iPad after 9pm or No iPad in bed might help. Start small though, maybe with 2-5 minute breaks, then work your way up. And reward yourself heavily for even the slightest improvement. You could treat it like a game or like working-out: "Let's see how long I can go today." And when you complete any amount of time, "Wow! Great job! That was really difficult! Let's have a luxurious bath to celebrate!" Really use the positive self-talk.

Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a baby just learning how to walk--gentle and encouraging. Would you scold a baby if they fell down? No, you just pile on the encouragement, "That's okay! Let's rest a little then try again, you can do it!"

I've uses this method to coax myself out of bed on deep depression days and out of the house when I was agoraphobic and it really works for me. You gotta be a friend and a cheerleader to yourself though, no beating up on yourself. Treat it like a challenge and make it visual, create a chart or track your progress on your calendar for reinforcement. Make it interesting and fun!