Not that you could tell from the frequency I blog, but I have a serious problem with removing the tentacles the internet wraps around my head. Like many of my peers, I am suffocatingly enveloped by my lovers who go by the name of Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Flickr, etc.
Occasionally I will reflect on the what this hyper-connectivity is doing to me. I have wondered what the constant, self-induced onslaught of information has done to my memory (precisely in the lack thereof). I will wonder why I don’t enjoy music as much as I used to, with my obsessive repeat listens brought on by amazing music replaced by the constant quest for the newest releases via RAR blogs.
When I have these moments of awareness – that the digital life I lead has serious emotional repercussions – I’ll make a concerted effort to remove the shackles. I’ll weed through my RSS feeds, I’ll delete ‘friends’ from various networking sites, I’ll stop following certain people. The solution is fleeting and the downgrading never lasts.
Now that the LSATs are one month away, I have to make all the static stop. I need to focus and have mental clarity. So, what does one do? Delete all my fringe accounts? Stop wondering about what is going on in Facebooklandia? Prohibit myself from those inane Google searches to prove that K-Fed is indeed fat or to find out what movie Rob Zombie was a music director for?
I’m totally serious people, I need an internet intervention.
3 Comments
i find the leechblock firefox extension very helpful. it blocks certain websites you designate during hours you designate, or after a certain period of time.
I would submit Serene, that the shackles you speak of cannot be unchained by removing links or friends or even utilities in firefox.
I recommend simply exercising a level of control and acceptance at the same time. Accept that you will want to know more about more and for more mundane reasons. Accept that this is NOT a bad thing necessarily but that your life is a sum of MORE than its technological parts. Enjoy going out to eat. Enjoy spending time with the hubby. Do low tech things to keep you seeing the sun on occasion (or at least the sky in your case). Control over your own perception is the key to having the balance. being technophiles is not an addiction, its an evolution of thought.
It’s probably pointless to try to avoid Facebook and Twitter until Missfishie has had her baby. I know that I am checking about 100 times a day myself!