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What's the word for a person who spends much time on the net and especially the verb meaning "to spend much time on the net"?

Everybody knows this meaning of the verb "to hang":

Computers To cause (a computer system) to halt so that input devices, such as the keyboard or the mouse, do not function.

Can "hang" be used to describe a person who spends much time on the net? Meaning "when he is on the net he is lost for the real life". I know this meaning of "hang", but can we apply it to the net?

Slang a. To spend one's free time in a certain place. Often used with around or out: liked to hang out at the pool hall.

If this verb (hang) cannot be used for this purpose, would you suggest other words?

He is...He often...(spends much time on the net).

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    Stack Exchange regular. ;-)
    – J.R.
    Oct 18, 2016 at 15:26
  • Do you mean a specific website or place on the Internet, or just the Internet in general? For specific websites, you can use verbs just like you would with physical places: "He hangs out on Stack Exchange all day." "She hangs out on the Internet all day" doesn't sound quite right to me, though -- perhaps just because the Internet is so large, so the statement seems very vague.
    – cbh
    Oct 18, 2016 at 17:17
  • In general, if it makes difference.
    – V.V.
    Oct 18, 2016 at 18:23

1 Answer 1

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You're very close. The colloquial expression is actually "to hang out":

hang out: to spend a lot of time in a place or with someone

Related to your question, I could say:

He spends way too much time hanging out on the Internet.

He hangs out on the internet way too much.

Although this is not in the dictionary definition, these sentences also imply that he is not achieving anything useful during this time, that he is wasting time.

He wastes way too much time hanging out on the Internet

There are numerous other ways to say this: slack off, fritter away (time), screw around, as well as other, less "polite" expressions.

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