Has anyone successfully restricted their mumsnet use or is cold turkey the only way to go?

[Dragonbutter]

I'm spending too much time on here and am considering a bit of a flounce.
Is it possible to achieve a healthy balance of mumsnetting and RL or to I have to just go?
Anyone know anyone who went cold turkey and managed not to come back.
Or can 'taking a break' help?

Take a break. I often have a couple of weeks away. Or move the computer. Now our computer is upstairs in the spare room, I only turn it on when dd is asleep and dh is at work.

Yep. I now have a max of 1 hour a week on here - I achieved it by having another baby though - which you may consider a tad extreme

ok, so not having another baby to break the habit.
will a couple of weeks break do it or won't i come back refreshed and posting on every thread possible and be worse than ever.

I find that when I come back after a couple of weeks, the really banal, trivial arguments and particularly the posturing on AIBU for example is easier to see for what it is. I often log back on, have a flick through active convos, realise there's not much of interest and invest more time in rl. Once the balance shifts and I spend more time on here and get too sucked in, I switch off and stay away again.

Right.
Decision made.
I'm going to stay away for the rest of this month and see how I feel after that.
Thanks.

why has slubber gone!!?????

and ditto aloha but I have said that numerous times

best way to avoid MN is to come on it when you are at work, ignore at all other times

when I am off at home, I don't bother much

my children do not leave me alone for 2 mins so I don't get the chance

so get a part time job and mithering kids, sorted.

part time job - check (no computer access there)
mithering kids - check

can't seem to make myself log off.
will i really not come back this evening to check this thread?

do your children let you use the computer?

mine pester and do my head right in until I log off

Actually I think I manage a healthy balance. I go through phases, i'll post a reasonable but not excessive amount for a couple of weeks or so, then i'll find that i've got to get on and do things in RL and you'll not hear from me for a couple of weeks, then i'm back again.

ok, this is it.
goodbye.
still think you're all brilliant, but i need to focus on RL.

thanks for keeping me company since december.

ok, so i don't have the willpower to not come back and check this thread hoping for pleas of 'don't go DB', but alas no.
i'm definitely going now.

4 days!
pathetic isn't it.
but DH is out, the kids are finally asleep, and facebook chat isn't working.

talk to me please

Hi I tried cutting down but in Jan new years resolution was to stop so I cancelled and went cold turkey. I wasn't that hard although I did replace it with phone usage and facebook! I came back a couple of days ago and already thinking I may have to leave again as it is so addictive.

I restrict mumsnet use to one topic except when I am bored or have something I want to ask and feel I should put more back into the site. However it is easy to get sucked back in and then I go cold turkey for a time.

Some of the people on mumsnet are people I would probably cross the road to avoid in real life. I suspect they spend so much time here because I'm not the only one to feel like that .

I need to take a break to get work done before this baby is born, was considering finding an excuse to flounce, but in the absence of this, please flame me if you see me here

perhaps we should start a flouncers support group and flame each other away again when we post! I'm not going to flounce as I suspect very few people know me or care... but I am going to slink off into the background and get some studying done before I'm back at work.

Mumsnet is a useful source of information and support at times but as tatt said - some of the characters and arguements here are ones I would actively avoid in real life so maybe this isn't the best place for me to be right now.

flames Upwind as I posted on a thread with you earlier today

I think it would be helpful to all if MN HQ/tech would switch of the time distorting feature.

Because I only ever come on MN for half an hour and then when i get up it is dark and i have to collectthe children from somewhere...

That is very inconvenient.
If they would just switch it off so I really only ever do half and hour that would be dead easy. And also if people could not post when I am not here - then I wouldn't worry about missing anything.

Ta..

I've failed already! less than an hour!! I'm going out! it's the only way to stop me checking threads!!!

please do flame me every time I post

MN is a time sink