… and I have a problem
I admit it: I am an information addict. It really is a problem, a problem which is made worse by the fact that I have not been doing a whole lot these past few months. The problem manifests itself in my inability to pull myself away from the computer even when I am not doing anything useful. I am always checking and rechecking to see if anyone has posted anything new to various forums or Facebook, seeing if I have any new email, or checking the news and weather.
I certainly can’t say that this addiction problem has interfered with my success in other endeavors. After all, I did manage to do quite well in college and get into a master’s program in addition to managing to write a blog post now and then (and even create a whole blog site) without getting too sidetracked by NetNewsWire. (Ironically, I started using NetNewsWire in the hopes that having everything aggregated in one place would prevent me from browsing around so much. I don’t think it’s done that.) And it isn’t like there aren’t other things I’d love to read, like, for example, books. But there’s something so addictive about the computer. It really is horrible.
In yoga there has been talk of quitting the newspaper, and while I can appreciate why someone would want to do that, it seems like something of a contradiction: how can one be a caring citizen if they are not well informed? I have at least started to turn off the radio (generally tuned to NPR) while I drive.
Here’s the new rule: forums no more than once a day for twenty minutes unless it’s work-related. (There, it’s out in public, so now I really have to stick to it.)
I think the big thing I need to get into my head is that it doesn’t matter if someone posts something new. My life is not going to change. Checking Apple‘s website once a day is plenty. Ok, I need to go see if any Adium Trac tickets are updated….
Comments
Leave a Reply
