Friday, April 1, 2011

Connectedness

I love the Internet.  I grew up with it.  From the first time I logged on to Prodigy, I was hooked.  I remember the joy of going from a 9600 baud modem to the blazing fast 14.4.  Back then, there wasn't a lot to do on the Internet, but it was still exciting.

These days, I still love the Internet, but I hate it even more.

I love the free flow of information.  I love being able to find anything I want, whenever I want.  If I'm researching a book, I don't have to wait until tomorrow to find the info I need.  I can have it now.  I hate phones, so the Internet allows me to talk to friends effortlessly via email.  I love being able to research products and shop on-line and being able to find the name of that one movie, you know the one, that starred that guy who was in that show.

But I hate the ubiquity of it.  Lately I've taken a break from Twitter.  It began to overwhelm me.  I felt like the protagonist in FEED.  Just missing an hour of the feed, I mean Twitter, could result in pages upon pages of missed info.  It made me feel guilty.  I spent more time reading Twitter and less time doing the things that mattered.

Then there's blogging and my RSS feeds and Reddit and Email and skyping and and and.

Over the last couple of months, I've said to myself that what I want more than anything is to take a cruise for a couple of weeks.  Not because I necessarily love cruises, but because there's no cell signal.  No phones, email, internet.  Just me, my thoughts, and my drink.

This morning, I logged back onto Twitter and immediately felt overwhelmed.  So I shut it off.

As I ramble here on a Friday, I'm curious how you all handle being connected all the time.  Is it a bane or a boon?  How do you unplug when the information is everywhere?

5 comments:

  1. I'm very rarely on Twitter, it's just too much for me. I will occasionally get on and play with hashtags though. Like #zombieproverbs or #betterfirstlines

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  2. I remember the joy of going from a 9600 baud modem to the blazing fast 14.4.

    Careful, Shaun, your geekhood is showing.
    :-)

    Seriously, I don't Tweet. (Please don't tell the 75 followers I have on Twitter. I might change my mind someday.)

    The best week ever for me is the one I spend in the Black Hills of South Dakota camping with my girls. No computers. No TV. Cell service is sketchy at best in areas.

    There's no Facebook or blog. I don't feel the need to be clever or creative or funny for the sake of drawing attention to myself.

    I really believe the constant barrage of media was part of what led to my recent burnout.

    You're not alone in your feelings.

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  3. Matthew: LOL. I forgot all about #zombieproverbs.

    Kat: I know, right? The real geeky thing is that when computer games first started getting good (but you had to load them through DOS) I spent more time hacking the save files than actually playing the games.

    Twitter is a love/hate for me. I love so much of it, but it's like a stream that you kind of have to dip your hand in once in a while. More often than not though, it pulls me under.

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  4. Most the people I follow link and discuss similar matters (re: publishing) so I usually login and scroll down a couple pages. Then I tweet a thing or two or RT a thing or two and get off. It can be overwhelming if you let it be.

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  5. Okay, first off that you remember Prodigy and 9600 modems is hilarious LOL. I completely agree with you though about disconnecting from time to time. I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. There is so much cool stuff out there AND there is so much cool stuff out there. It's two sides of the same coin and both sides aren't necessarily good.

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