Addictions are the hallmark of being depressed. When I got depressed I became more obsessed than normal with social media, chats (think being constantly refres

Addictions are the hallmark of being depressed. When I got depressed I became more obsessed than normal with social media, chats (think being constantly refreshing your messages), compulsive browsing, mild drinking, mild eating garbage food. It's a normal phenomenon: your life is shit and you look for ways to make it less worse. Fasting from your addiction does work remarkably well: I cut off social media and chatting for a year and then gradually allowed chatting more and more in my life once I wasn't as depressed. Replacing with healthier alternative is also a great strategy. At that point though, is becoming a better musician any better than learning something from YouTube or becoming very skilled at a multiplayer FPS? You can surely get addicted to exercise and practicing music, but we don't consider it as bad as gaming or watching content online. That said, I too don't think internet addiction is as bad as other addiction. Sure, you're wasting time, like in all other addictions, but at least you're not damaging your body (Eg. By eating too much, drinking too much, doing harmful drugs, getting cancer smoking, etc).