Mistake #1:

I am Stuck Here

Unlike meeting people in a real world setting, meeting people on the Internet is a very limiting experience. On the Internet, the only thing you experience about people is what they write. You cannot touch them. You cannot see them. You cannot tell if they are laughing or crying. You cannot know if they are telling the truth or lying.

When you are online, you may feel that your needs for connection and friendship are being met by the people you meet there. However, because the Internet is limited to text, your needs are only partially and temporarily met. There are many needs that the Internet can never meet such as the need for physical closeness.

Since their needs are only partially and temporarily met online, people feel compelled to get back online more often and stay online for longer periods of time. The thrill and exhilaration of interacting with people online is temporary, too, and quickly fades when people are off their computers. The "high" they had online is now replaced by a period of "coming down" offline.

Rather than helping people to overcome their feelings of isolation and loneliness, the Internet increases them by keeping people even more isolated from the real world. People get hooked on the Internet just as they would with drugs or alcohol. People also use the Internet as they would drugs or alcohol as a means of escaping the pressures of the real world.

The #1 Mistake of the Internet is when people believe that the Internet is just like the real world and can meet all of their interpersonal and emotional needs.

Just the opposite happens because the Internet keeps them out of the real world, and the real world is the only place where all of their needs can be fully and consistently met.