30 Signs You Are Spending Too Much Time Online

1. You use hashtags in actual conversations

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You use hashtags daily... no, hourly... well, actually, minutely... And you don't just use them online, they have seeped into verbal communication.  Because without using a hashtag, seeing a hashtag, or even hearing a hashtag, how will you know whether what you're talking about, or what others are talking about, are actual things?  Everyone knows it's not a real topic if it doesn't have a hashtag, right?

2. You hear those 'pings' all the time

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Those famous Whatsapp pings.

  They're absolutely everywhere, all of the time!  But you hear them so often that you no longer know whether you are actually hearing them, or they are in your head.  So you repeatedly pick up your phone to check.  And, you guessed it, no notification...  No doubt, you're scrolling again!

3. You spend most waking hours online

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You're never ever disconnected.  If you're awake, you're online.  If you're not, you're fearful of missing posts, conversations, and lives, and this is because you just don't want to fall behind.  The online world moves at a lightning pace, and you're not going to miss any of it for the world!

4. You feel like you lose whole days without remembering how

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Oh, look!  It's dark again.  The sun has set on another day, and you're still in the same place as you were when you awoke this morning.  Time seems to be going by without you even realizing it because you've been trapped in a cyber prison, unable to break free from the pull of hilarious cat videos, bleak Reddit threads, and binging reruns of the same TV show over and over and over again.

5. You've nailed using only emojis to communicate

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Who needs words when you have emojis?  In fact, you're an expert at communicating with only emojis.  The thing is though, different emojis mean different things to people!  To give you an example, a crying emoji, to some, means that they're actually crying with laughter!  Confusing, right?  So how do you expect people to decode your messages accurately?

6. Bad wifi connections ruin your day

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You CANNOT go anywhere without knowing that they have Wifi.  If they don't, it's a complete no-no.  But if they do, and it's not up to scratch, there's always trouble.  In fact, even if you're on a romantic weekend away with your beau and the Wifi is poor, you're irritable and frankly, very unpleasant to be around.  And the whole weekend is a write-off!

7. You can't enjoy anything until you've posted about it

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Honestly, what's the point in doing ANYTHING if you can't post about it?  How will people know about all of the amazing things you're doing if they don't see it on your socials?  Everything you do is "for the Gram",

so your pics HAVE to be worthy of a spot on your grid! #lifelaughlove.

8. You've said things online that you'd never ever say in real life

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Oh my goodness, you're turning green and growing poisonous warts!  Just kidding... But, seriously though, you're in dangerous territory of becoming a troll.  You've posted some terrible things behind the safety of your keyboard, shielded by your screen.  And you'd never ever dream of saying these things aloud!

9. You struggle to express any emotion without a GIF, filter or emoji

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You might find that you're struggling to find the words to tell people how you actually feel.  Words evade you because you just don't use them much.  What better way to tell someone how you feel than with an animated GIF?  And you genuinely believe this is adequate.

10. You scroll first thing in the morning

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Oh no!  You've wasted a whole night sleeping!  You believe that SO much has occurred during the night so you are feeling completely out of the loop.  So before your morning coffee, your breakfast, and even your morning trip to the bathroom, you pick up your phone and start your day with a morning scroll.

11. You can't sleep without it

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You're scrolling is completely and utterly out of control.  So much so, that you can't even wind down for a restful night's sleep.  And you're not even realizing how late it's getting as you delve deeper and deeper into the realms of the online world.

12. You can't sleep anyway

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The internet doesn't sleep, so why should you?  And besides, even when you lock your phone away, the blue light that emanates from your screen seeps into your brain and blocks the production of that all-important and magical sleepy hormone, Melatonin.  And without this, you've no chance of sleep!

13. You go online as soon as you finish work

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What better way to decompress from a hard day's work in front of a computer screen, than in front of another screen?  You've only been online all day, and you feel like that's not nearly enough time.  And besides, you didn't get to check your socials as much as you could've.

14. You no longer do anything else

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Nothing is as fun as it used to be.  All the things you used to enjoy have lost their spark, and your passion for everything feels like it's fading into the shadows.  And time spent doing other things steals the time you could be spending digging into other people's business online and working on those thumb calluses anyway.

15. You have major FOMO

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Constantly checking up on other people's lives inevitably makes you pretty miserable, and you always have a really strong sense that you're missing out on literally everything.  But you can't do EVERYTHING - no one can!  So you attempt to live vicariously through your phone screen!  And it's not the same!

16. You're irritable when you can't check your socials

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Oh no - you're phone has finally been so worn out by you that it has given up and stopped working.  And your tablet charger has broken... AND your ancient boxy-style computer is just too slow... So you're irritated, you're angry, you're agitated!  What if someone has posted an update?  What if you're missing the latest viral vid?  What if you've failed to see what's trending?  Will the earth explode?  Will people forget who you are?

17. You get bored easily

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Now imagine sitting still in a sunny field, taking in your beautiful surroundings, feeling the sun on your face and the breeze in your hair.  Now imagine sitting there WITHOUT the ability to post about it!  It's probably a given that your focus is now completely broken and you don't want to imagine that anymore!  What's the point if you can't receive likes

?

18. You suffer skin breakouts

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Your skin suffers because you don't let the sun see it.  You don't go outside much, and when you do, you're always looking down anyway.  A lack of vitamin D can make you feel low on energy and have a negative impact on your skin.  And if you've been 'influenced' 

by the latest trending 'skincare routine', chances are it doesn't suit your skin anyway and you face tonnes of breakouts.

19. You don't read anymore

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Well, the truth is, you DO read

but books are proving to be too drawn out for you nowadays.  You can't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.  And, to be completely honest, you'll probably get bored after reading about 250 characters anyway...

20. You've never met most of your friends face to face

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You're so popular; your list of followers absolutely enormous and it grows and grows all the time.  You're getting hundreds of likes

and comments on your posts, and it feels great!  But, although you feel like you've found your 'people',

you've probably never met any of them, and would they really be there if you need support?  The jury's out on that one!

21. You're wondering whether any of your opinions are actually yours

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We live in an age of information OVERLOAD.  And although it's interesting to learn things and hear different views, when there are good points, there will always inevitably be bad points too.  See, you're online so much that your own opinions may feel like they're in and you're left wondering whether you actually have any thoughts and views of your own.

22. You can't stop buying stuff

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Being online for any amount of time allows algorithms to store data about your interests and online behaviors.  This makes it really easy for them to advertise directly to you on social media and on web pages.  And because it's so personalized, everything you see, you want!  And with just a few clicks, whatever you want is yours...

23. You can't digest information well

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Well, you can if it's in a list

and no more than 250 characters

!  Anything beyond this, you just forget about it and completely lose the ability to concentrate on it.  Inevitably, you might notice that this is affecting other aspects of your life, like say, your job!  And you've noticed your performance in anything other than your socials is dropping off.

24. You can't stop comparing

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Comparing your own self and different aspects of your life makes you feel bad about yourself.  You never feel like you're fit enough, organized enough, good-looking enough, or busy enough, and seeing others seeming to absolutely win at life makes you constantly feel like you're losing.  You can't distinguish real life from the unrealistic content people post online.

25. You have a bad self-image

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You feel like everyone else is living their best lives.  And you don't feel like you are.  So you're super hard on yourself, wondering why they're so successful and you're not.  And this is so inaccurate, to say the least, and deep down, you probably know it.  It's just really hard to see when you've been blinded by the filtered bits of people's lives so you just can't see what you have achieved and this gives you a bad self-image.

26. You're feeling unhealthy

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You sit down a lot so you don't move nearly enough as you need to.  You've been comparing yourself to others so much and destroying your own self-image that you feel like you're incapable of anything.  And this has the potential to have a devastating impact on your physical and mental health.

27. Everything you see annoys you

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Your bad-self image and constant comparing have made you feel stressed and unsatisfied with your life.  And this will inevitably make you focus on all of the little things that you wouldn't usually have let bother you.  If this isn't enough, there is so much negativity on the internet, because of that anonymity factors like harmful gossip and trolling, and this will make anyone feel bad.

28. You don't even know you're scrolling sometimes

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You pick up your device to check why it's pinged, and you lose 4 hours... how did that happen?  You were only reading and replying to a message, and you've lost most of your day!  Scrolling makes us so unproductive, and although some use it to try to decompress, it only feeds our stress and disorganization and makes it worse.

29. You don't even care about the things you read and watch

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So you've taken the bait and clicked on a link that's taken you to something interesting... but then you see another one, and another, and then another.  Before you know it, you're reading about how Q Tips are made and completing a quiz to find out which Simpson you are... And good on you if you are interested in these things but you catch our drift...

30. Social media is just not as fun as it was

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You've probably managed to squeeze everything out of social media you can and you've found that it's just not any fun anymore.  With all of the good the internet has to offer, comes a tidal wave of bad.  It has been found that too much time online can actually cause depression, anxiety, and worse, but in moderation, it can be enjoyed and used for good.