Who knew 7 days without the Internet would be so challenging. I tried to find one word that described each day during my...mmm...vacation. The first day was almost surreal. I actually felt relieved. My typical morning routine is to check Facebook, email, write my blog, browse Craigslist and if there is time oogle Pinterest. My hiatus brought about feeling of freedom. However, the first day anti-internet I almost checked something online twice by 6:44am. I could tell it was going to be a rough week. By day two it felt like a nuisance. It's the end of the month and I have bills to pay. What the heck was this blonde bozo thinking? Day three: waste. I'm wasting away in this land void of facebook. I'm a vapor. My presence is slipping away from the absence of updates. Four...this feeling is getting repetitive. Five. I need it! Not having the Internet is really delaying my ability to live life. I want to make chicken pot pie, but my favorite pie crust recipe is online. I need! I need! I need! (not to be confused with I want..Internet is a need. right?) Six. Nada. Seven. I'm coming back around the bend. I'm reading again. I'm reclaiming my passion. My passion to learn....through books.
The difficult parts:
- Going online is a habit and it's hard to break
- Inability to pay bills online
- I had to learn how to cook WITHOUT allrecipes
- Uninformed (or at least I felt like it)
- No one knew what was going on in my life
- Had to use primal ways to contact people (aka the phonebook)
The benefits:
- I spent more time with Juliet
- I had to be creative (meals, projects, free time, etc)
- I went outside
- I read more
- I spent an afternoon at a used bookstore
Overall, I found the experiment to be successful. It helped me to analyze how I spent my time. It also scarily made me aware of how stinkin' much I use the Internet. I could see myself doing this again in the future. I like to make sure my life is balanced and what better way to check the balance than to go without for 7 days. It's really not that long, but after three I was really wondering if I was going to make it.
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