I recently watched a Netflix documentary entitled “The Most Hated Man On The Internet”.
After a sigh of relief learning this was not “Dr. Posner” for spamming all of your inboxes with these boring daily blogs, the story was actually about a very arrogant and abusive young guy that founded a “revenge porn” website in which he posted, without permission, nude and other compromising photos and videos, mostly of women. Eventually, the FBI arrested him and a cohort for illegally hacking people’s e-mail accounts to obtain these very embarrassing photos/videos.
The internet has changed our world in many ways…some for the good and some for the very bad. There are many incredibly wonderful things the internet has brought us, including:
- The ability to learn about so many different things with a simple “Google search”
- Correspond with your friends and families via videos, social media and video conferencing
- Book flights and vacations
There are many, many more bullet points that can be added to this list.
Conversely, many “bad” things have been brought on by the internet, including:
- Social media “bullying”
- Predatory behaviors
- Hate-filled websites
- Disinformation
There are many, many more bullet points that can be added to this list as well.
Let’s focus on weight control now and our use of the internet. Some of the “helpful” uses of the internet for weight control:
- Finding recipes that make protein and vegetables less “boring”
- Working out to exercise videos
- Logging your food intake
Once again, many more bullet points can be added to this list.
Here are some “hurtful” uses of the internet as this applies to weight control:
- Spending time surfing the internet for cat videos, seeing what your friends are eating for lunch on their Twitter and Facebook posts, and otherwise diverting time away from meal planning, exercise, etc
- Ordering derailing foods like delivery pizza and snacks from Amazon
- Watching sports instead of engaging in activities
There are many, many more bullet points that can be added to this list.
We should all take the time to evaluate OUR own use of the internet and “delete” those activities that derail our weight control efforts and spend more time on those internet-related activities that help our efforts to become healthier and happier via successful weight control.
