Thursday, August 6, 2009

No Internet? What? Will I Survive?

“What? Are you serious? Oh no!” Dread filled my mind as I wondered how I would function without access to the Internet for the next week. No news, no blogs, nothing. I knew I was supposed to be on vacation and, in fact, I gave my husband a hard time for wanting to bring his work computer along (he didn't), but I didn’t consider surfing the net as work. After throwing my little tantrum, I resigned myself to the fact and decided to find other things to do during my free time.

Oddly enough, after a couple of days with no access, I found myself less stressed and more energized. I became care-free. It’s been awhile since I felt that way. I then realized I spend too much time on the Internet. I need to moderate my time. But how can I moderate my time, especially when my urge to visit the web hit me as soon as I came home?

I’m still thinking through this. I do have a few changes coming up in my life (more on that later), so I need to rethink my whole day. One way is to schedule specific time periods for my recreational surfing and follow it. Another way to moderate it is to cut back on what I read. I read a lot. I read news sites, blogs, online magazines, emails, and social networks. I need to review and weed out the material not edifying my soul (for example: entertainment magazines).
These are just a couple of ideas I’ve come up with so far.

What about you? Do you find yourself spending too much time on something? What do you do to moderate it?

2 comments:

Kay Day said...

I'm totally addicted to the net, too. What to do? For me it seems to be all or nothing. Can't seem to find that middle ground.

smithsk said...

Joanna, I've recently been in your situation. During a move, it took a while before we got internet connected to our new place. It was like a retreat and quite peaceful.

When I did have internet and needed to get much work done, I imposed a 4 hour internet fast, with the exception of using it to look up info needed for my writing.

This was the middle ground that worked well for me. Though I completely understand Kay's addiction. Would choose internet over TV.

Susan