How can you tell if something is bad for you?
The easiest way is to stop doing it and see what happens. Via negativa.
One old saying I remember hearing is the definition of alcoholism:
An alcoholic is a person whose life gets better when he stops drinking.
Take away the drinking, and things improve? Diagnosis: complete.
I am having this experience with the internet generally. During the election time I became a different man, someone whose attitudes and behaviors I do not like. I was a cranky, close-minded bastard. Even if my beliefs were (and are) correct, my actions and words surely were not.
Nota bene: it is the election-year experience (especially lurking Twitter) and the questioning of my beliefs that led me to start writing here. What do I believe to be good for me, for the community? Why? The Moronathon on Twitter alarmed me and I was becoming one of them. I do not want to be one of them. One can hold a belief sincerely without being childish. It only requires some intellectual honesty, some humility, and a willingness to change if reality shows you are mistaken.
Daily, I set the Freedom.to blocking software to run from when I wake up until 1:00 a.m. it keeps me away from all tempting sites. Sometimes the blocking is a hinderance to a task I need to perform (e.g., I can’t view YouTube videos) but that is a small loss.
My mind is at peace. My principles for living are better known to me. I live a better life. I am happier.
Just like the alcoholic who has a better life when he stops drinking, I now have a better life without the worst elements of the internet. People who aren’t alcoholics can have a glass of wine. Other people can read stuff on Twitter. I have demonstrated convincingly to myself that I should choose not to be one of those people.
There is probably value to be found there, but, it appears, I have not missed much of value by abandoning Twitter, Reddit, etc.