I Finally Got My Internet Usage Under Control

Everyone has inertia and can become addicted to things, and I am no exception. As someone who grew up in the internet age, the online world has had a great influence on my life. Much of my work is done through the internet, but being online has also occupied and wasted too much of my energy and time.

I have long wanted to control the time I spend online. According to Apple’s operating system statistics, my average daily screen time on my phone had reached over four hours. This is a terrifying number; it shows I had already been pulled into the mire of the internet. Many people consult me about all kinds of questions online, and I myself get information through the internet.

For a while I kept a record of my internet use and found that more than 80% of the time was spent dealing with all kinds of online consultations of little consequence. So I decided to take various measures to reduce this pointless drain. Over a year or two I gradually cut back my internet use; a month ago I even shut down my Moments and limited the screen time on my phone and computer.

Through these steps, I finally brought my screen time down to about two hours a day (for a physician like me with quite a few patients, two hours of online service time is basically the bare minimum). This freed up more than two extra hours each day. This also confirms the great truth Mr. Lu Xun spoke: “Time is like water in a sponge; as long as one is willing to squeeze, there is always some.”

The time I have squeezed out I use for reading and for systematic writing—much of what I write now I no longer publish online, because there are simply too many people plagiarizing my articles on the internet. Some books I am writing, I hope, will not be plagiarized by the literary copycats before they are published.

Only now that I am convinced I have built up a new set of workflows and internet-use habits do I dare reopen the communication function on the self-media platforms I still have.

I now set my time for replying to online consultations between the end of my morning work and 6 p.m. Every day. Before 7:40 a.m. and after 6 p.m., I basically shut down and go read.

Here I also hope that patients and their families will in the future try to consult me and give feedback on their conditions between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. I have work to do in the morning and shut down to read in the evening; only this time slot is relatively free for me.

I cannot bear to have my time wasted. For me, the most shameful thing would be that many patients trust me and entrust themselves to me, yet I do my utmost and still cannot solve their problems. Whenever some patient groans in pain and begs for my help and I am unable to solve their problem, I feel that my time-wasting on the internet is utterly shameful.

I should spend my time improving my medical skills. That is why, over the past year or more, I have used every means at my disposal to control my internet usage.

When I was in school, going online felt like a lot of fun; after I started working, I used the internet so much that I was exhausted, and it no longer felt like much fun. I am really worn out dealing with all kinds of online consultations. But I found that after I closed the various public consultation channels, the volume of private consultations immediately rose sharply. So I have reopened the public consultation channels, but I hope everyone will keep their consultations within reasonable limits; for excessive consultations, please forgive me if I cannot respond. Thank you for your understanding!