I'd be willing to bet that a significant majority of "internet addiction" (are people still talking about that ?) or "game addiction" is actually just a symptom of depression.

Couldn't you say the reverse? One might say that depression is a symptom of internet addiction.

I'd argue both are true. Trying to escape a personal problem only makes it worse. This creates a sort of negative feedback loop.

Couldn't you say the same about a lot of "drug addiction" as well?

Drug addiction has a strong chemical dependence compoment, but I wouldn't be surprised if depression was what led people to get addicted in the first place.

The Rat Park studies strongly suggest that this is true. Rats studied in conditions where they have every reason to be happy did not suffer from drug addiction, even when drugs were made available to them. Rats kept in cages isolated from each other (rats are very social creatures) became seriously addicted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

http://www.brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/rat-park/14...

http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/

It's very easy though to procrastinate when in 'command' of a web browser.

Removing the device removes the temptation.

Typically I can be in the middle of something else, sit down in front of the laptop to quickly check the news or something, and end up walking away from it a few hours later. It's very easy to get sucked in. I guess I'm weak minded.

One trick that works for me: having separate devices for separate activities. E.g., I have a tablet that I use for long-form content and pretty much nothing else. I consciously know that I could pretty easily log in to Facebook on the tablet's browser. But since I've never once done it on that device, my lizard brain doesn't know.

I recently bought a new phone that feels physically different than my old one (Nexus 5x vs first-gen Moto X) and I haven't yet used Facebook on it. I think I'm going to keep it that way; I so far haven't found myself automatically going to do it the way I would on the old phone.

"having separate devices for separate activities" This is the answer. My tablet has successfully replaced my PC when it comes to reading twitter feeds, techcrunch and other IT related content. On top of that, i find myself using it only in bed, for 30-50 minutes, right before i put myself to sleep. I am now planning on buying another PC just for work, place it in another room and get rid of the distractions for at least 8 hours per day. In the past i was using Dexpot for managing multiple desktops, but i found out that the temptation of switching and browsing through garbage content was still pretty high.(not just web content, but my own content as well) I'm working on it...

Thanks for sharing. I'm starting this today.

Good luck, and feel free to email/tweet me to discuss further. My big tip: don't ever yield to the temptation to check "just once". I've made that mistake and it's very hard to come back from.

The CBT approach would have it that, for some ope to fix the symptomatic behaviours of the depression would go some way to managing the depression itself. I'm currently testing that.

Yes and no. The typical distractions trigger dopamine releases without any effort. When your brain gets satisfied with its current level, you need more and more. Your brain gets desensitized, which causes the anxiety and depression. Soon, real life isn't enough, you need the extra stimulation.

http://www.abdada.com/the-low-reward-to-high-reward-guide/