h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Internet Relay chat....yes. Gotta love it in any form, JAVA, MIRC, whichever. Okay so MIRC rules over JAVA anyday, but when I can't download a program to chat, it works. yes...chat-a-holic I am.

oh and how to live with it...Just umm...Well..I had no life to begin with so I was always watching TV and such, and I find chatting a much better way to spend time, but a way to deal with it could be to force yourself to get out more.

I think another helpful thing is to try and keep an eye on how much RL stuff is slipping by while you're on line, chatting...

Like - is your house/room a complete sty because you haven't had time to tidy it/vacuum/whatever because you've been too busy chatting? Are there a week's worth of dishes in the sink? Have your partner/significant other/children/RL mates/schoolfriends hardly seen you because you spend all your evenings online? Is your work suffering? Are you rushing through homework to get online and chat? Have you turned down invitations to go out in RL so you can stay home and hang out with people online? Are you too tired to concentrate because you've been up late hanging out with your friends in a different time zone?

All those for me have been warning signs - and things that I'm now trying hard to make priorities over online time.

IRC is particularly hard because the quality of a chatroom is addictive - it's fast, there's a buzz, there's always people coming and going, you get "known", and recognition when you log in ... it's very easy to lose track of time and 'just a few minutes' becomes hours.

I ended up removing IRC from my 'puter..... it got too much. MUSHing was the same - I imposed a 6 month idle on all my characters. I'm trying hard to work out a way in which I can still keep in touch with my friends from online, while not damaging my real life and my friends here. It's about choosing where I invest my time and energy.

OK, I'm about to start rambling. time.