Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunday Share: See Ya Around!

Today I have to share a realization.
One I am not too pleased about.
(but also one which will soon be somewhat "rectified"
by circumstances & plans...and willpower!)

I have been spending

WAY

TOO MUCH TIME

ONLINE.

On the average day
(and most are pretty "average" for me,
meaning I do not go anywhere or have all that much that I have to do.
How I spend the 6-22 hours I am alone all day long while my guy is away at work
is almost completely at my discretion to decide.)

Lately,
 more often than not,
I find I have been deciding to be online.
Sometimes for as much as 4-8 hours
STRAIGHT.
Holy shi*, right?
Especially since I do not play any games online,
or read very much
(other than blogs, which I can easily get sucked into without paying attention to time!)
but not like newspaper articles or actual books...
And I am not WRITING much myself...
not like a novel or anything...
just my blog everyday,
(which can take from 15 minutes to an hour usually...depending on the content for the day,
and then more time uploading and posting in several places online).

So what AM I doing all that time?!?
(good question, one I am starting to wrestle with!)

I particpate in 2 daily photo challenges, which means after I take the photos,
I then begin the process of viewing, choosing, uploading, editing, & posting,
sometimes in multiple places online, which can take an hour or so.

I also belong to several "groups", mostly art, craft, photography, spirituality and self-discovery type ones.
I like to keep up with the offerings, ideas, content, forums and videos they provide.

And then there is Facebook, which, to it's (and my!) defense,
is my main way of keeping in daily/immediate touch with my kids, grandson, mom,
and most of my friends who I am thousands of miles away from.
There are statuses to keep up with, new photos of events and happenings I miss
to look at, and comments to be made!
I also have to update MY page, add photos, and keep up with my two business Facebook pages!
PLUS there are also pages of groups I belong to which I want to keep current with as well!

I also browse the "coming soon" section of our library webpage for a few hours every few weeks,
to be the first to reserve new and interesting books, movies & CD's...

And then there is You Tube and IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base),
where I always find interesting instructional & music videos and movie trailers to watch.
(and yes,also often silly kid or cuteanimal videos as well...!)

I also use the Internet A LOT to plan trips, research places, find out info, etc.
(I have a pretty hot 'n heavy love affair going with Google...yeah, I know, I am one of many...!)

And then there is that damn Pinterest...!!!!

And I Skype with my daughter and grandson every few weeks too, does that count as "being online"? 

And oh yeah, can't forget the 2 email accounts I have...
one regularly has up to 100+ messages in my inbox everyday...

OH YEAH-and I am active on swap-bot.com too, which I have to check daily for new swaps, comments,messages, ratings recieved and due, swaps due, addresses, etc.

YIKES!



and I'm pretty sure that I have left off more than a few of my "regular stops" online...
(not to mention all of the time I spend arguing and fighting and getting my butt kicked by the internet connection and my oft tempremental laptop-ie: lack of computer knowledge or patience!)

So anyway...I believe that it is time for a self-induced intervention.
(and not only because my ass hurts from sitting on it all day long
and my  head is swimming with basically useless "information" and my eyes burn
constantly from staring at a computer screen for so many hours every day!)

I am not good at weaning myself from things...and I hate to admit it but I may have
 the dreaded cyber fever, along with a bad case of internet addiction happening to me.

So since I will be leaving next Saturday for a 19 day trip to my hometown to be with my beloved kids, grandson & friends, now seems as good a time as any to "pull the plug" as it were...
back away from the keyboard...
get the heck off my (flat and fat!~) a**
and go outside and play, for cryin' out loud!

The hardest part will be feeling like I am missing something...
but then again, what am I missing by having my head in the intertubes all day long too?!

I know that I definitely won't be missing anything (other than my husband and dogs) while happily in the presence of my kids, grandson & friends for those 19 days!
So over the next week leading up to my trip departure, I'm going to limit myself
to a total of 2 hours a day online.
Whatever I feel the desperate "need" to do, I better be able to do it in that period of time.
(we shall see...!)

My blog may take a hit,
I probably won't have stacks of books to pick up form the library every week,
I won't be sharing or seeing as many photographs,
or learning yet another art or craft technique
(which I rarely find time to actually try anyway...
but maybe now I WILL!),
or know what my online "friends" (who I have never met and likely never will)
are up to every moment of their days...
or what kind of pretty nail polish or cute animal photo they have "pinned" today...!


So this isn't really "goodbye", but just more of a "see ya around" kind of parting.
I bet YOU won't even notice!
But I bet that I will,
and, nothing personal,
but in a very
good
way.


see ya...
Happy Me-Laurie Z!

2 comments:

  1. Love the quote at the end! Have a brilliant holiday with your family and enjoy your time off the online world :-)

    ReplyDelete