INTERNET: SHOPPING

Have you used the Internet for shopping, gaming or dating, or do you know someone who has? Do you know anyone who has developed an addiction (or time-consuming habit) of one of these activities? Explain how it affected their lives and how they put a stop to it, if they did. Include user-friendly links to any specific sites you mention.

 Personally, I prefer Internet shopping in some ways compared to shopping out in public; there are just some many more conveniences when it comes to shopping online. Although shopping online hasn't escalated to the point of an addiction, there were definitely some times where I felt like it had gotten out of control.
When I first got a job, I was so excited that I would finally be able to budget for myself and buy all of the things that I wanted. One of the things that I was especially fond of, and particularly excited to buy were clothes.
I had gotten a tip from a friend a while ago that it's easier to save money if you have a bank account, because it's so much easier to regulate your spendings –– due to the fact that when you physically do not carry money, you're less likely to just spend freely without knowing how much you'll have leftover. Wanting to be wise with my spending, I rarely carried cash with me, to discourage buying stuff.
But while browsing online on a blog, I noticed that someone started advertising for one of my favorite clothing stores: Urban Outfitters. Out of curiosity for the sale, I started to browse online developing a less favorable habit of wanting basically everything that I liked. Because I knew that all of my money was in the bank, the temptation was palpable.
Thankfully this habit didn't last too long, because the repercussion of my wreckless spending led me to cry every single time I actually needed to buy something. After nearly two months of not being able to buy necessities, I got the slap across the head that restored some sense of responsibility that I really needed.