How to Defeat a MySpace Addiction

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Do you find yourself checking MySpace several dozen times a day? Do you neglect the other important things in life? How many bulletins did you post in the last hour? Have you gone hours without blinking or were fifteen minutes late for work because you couldn't stop refreshing your page? Is MySpace open in another window right now? If so, then you may have a problem. Here's how to wean yourself off of MySpace so that you can resume living offline... (* Some of the suggestions listed in this article are also applicable to defeating "Facebook Addiction.")

Steps

1. Admit you have a problem. This may be hard, but accepting that MySpace has taken over your life is an important step into overcoming your addiction. If you simply can't resist the urge to check your home page, then it's clear that MySpace is controlling you and not the other way around.
2. Stop communicating with people through MySpace and correspond with only those you know, as fellow addicts only contribute to your problem. If you don't want to cut them off completely, consider just taking the friendships that you value off of MySpace. Get their phone numbers, email addresses, AIM screen names, ICQ numbers, or any other information that may be a way of contacting them outside of MySpace. (See Tips.)
3. Print out your page. You've probably personalized it and tweaked it to reflect your personality. In a way, it's a work of art that you created. You don't want it to be lost forever, so save a copy in print. Having a hard copy will make it easier to let go of your profile online.
4. Start deleting all of the images, comment boxes, background settings, songs, videos, and anything else you put on the page that didn't come with it. Make it into a plain MySpace profile, like it was when you started it. End all blog subscriptions that you have signed up for. Turn off all email notifications.
5. Post several bulletins announcing that you will be no longer available on MySpace. Delete your main pictures, blog, comments, friends, etc. If your profile is set to private, set it back to normal. Reset the information about yourself.
6. Change the headline to "No Longer Available" or some other indicator that you no longer use MySpace. Stop using MySpace. Get an e-mail filter and set it to block MySpace, Facebook, or any other similar sites.
7. Find other creative activities to do. Try to find activities that both amuse you in the short-term and benefit you in the long-term. MySpace only provides a short-term pleasure (usually). Keep in contact with your friends through phone, e-mail, or messenger! Not talking to them may make you want to return to MySpace. After waiting a good month and re-establishing your life, go back and delete your MySpace. It shouldn't, at this point, rip your heart out to do so. Never go back to MySpace, as it will possibly trigger a relapse into the addiction again.

Tips

• People who hardly know you may not want to give you personal information and may feel uncomfortable interacting with you outside of MySpace.
• If MySpace is your homepage, change it to another informational homepage such as Google, wikiHow, Yahoo, etc.
• If your real-life friends and family members use MySpace, inform them that you're trying to stay away from it, and ask that they don't sign on when you're around.
• It may be really hard to keep in touch with some people, especially if they are MySpace addicts. If you want to talk to them outside of MySpace, but they don't sign onto AIM or you feel awkward calling them, you may want to try weaning them off MySpace as well. Remember, real friends don't let friends be MySpace addicts.
• If you're like most people, MySpace will lose its appeal after a few weeks of steady or perhaps heavy use. Eventually the grandness will fade away and you will get sick of playing the waiting game for your friends to respond to your over-simplistic comments or messages. Sometimes nothing beats simply picking up the phone and calling your friends to see how they're doing. Eventually, not only will you have no interest in signing on to MySpace, but you will have no need to.
• Change your password by closing your eyes and randomly typing. This may require you to copy and paste to confirm your new password. Just be diligent in not peeking or writing this down.
• Think about all the time you wasted on MySpace and how it could have been spent wisely elsewhere.
• One alternative method is to use a less addictive social networking site, such as Xanga or LiveJournal, and posting there, but not actively seeking out friends.
• Even if you try to go cold turkey and delete your MySpace account, you might feel the urge simply to sign up again. Be ready for it and resist.
• Try signing on to MySpace just once a day for a week, then two times a week, then one time a week. When you feel as though you don't need MySpace anymore, delete your account.

Warnings

• it's a website....it's not like they're doing cocaine. now that's serious
  • MySpace addictions are serious matters and should not be taken lightly. If you or someone you know is addicted to MySpace (symptoms listed above in introduction), please help them or get them the help they need immediately.
• MySpace is now a site frequented by predators of a variety of types. It is strongly suggested that anyone associated with the site, either actively or not, to do everything possible to protect themselves from the constant trolling of those who would seek to take advantage of the site's weaknesses and faults (keep in mind, there are predators everywhere, the ones on MySpace are just brought to everyone's attention by the media because it's such a high profile site).
• If you still think you don't have a problem... yet you find yourself reposting this page or this link in a MySpace bulletin, blog, or in your profile itself... THINK AGAIN! You are most definitely a MySpace addict.

Things You'll Need

• Self control
• The will to quit
• Another way to communicate with friends
• Cell phone

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