Well, that was weird. Two days without any non-work-related internet. I think two days without internet at all would be easier. In fact, will presumably be coping with a whole week without it, when we dash off to France next Saturday (or the Saturday after next, if you are my husband or sister).
Unfortunately, when you are sat at the computer all day working and answering emails and even having to check one of your google mail accounts because that’s where all mail about the domain transfer thingummy jig is going, it’s so, so, so, hard not to open the notification emails telling you about new comments on your blog, or new twitter followers or new facebook friends. So difficult.
Even more difficult though, than swearing off social networking of all kinds, is the realisation of just how much non-work-related use of the internet you make. At 2.05pm on Monday, I called Chris on the internal phone (we live in a four-storey house – I’m not going to walk all the way downstairs!) to ask whether Spotify counts as work-related or not. I would be listening to it while working after all. He came down against. So I had to look through the stuff I’ve managed to transfer from the old computer and find something. But I wanted to listen to Abba. I have Abba on the old computer. I probably have Abba on a CD somewhere. But not in my Windows Media Player playlist.
Emails I subscribe to about pregnancy and pre-school children came flooding into my inbox. But I couldn’t open them. I wanted to check the weather, but I couldn’t. I wanted to google (or actually Bing, which I’m using much more than Google these days – try it out, it’s great) somebody I saw in some TV show or film and now can’t remember what or who it was, and couldn’t. I was thinking about our holiday and was going to re-read the information on the house we’re staying in and the area around it. After winning half of a £50 lottery prize with my sister at the pub quiz on Monday night (woo! No need to get lots of questions right!), I wanted to find out how much the last couple of series of ER that I haven’t got yet are costing at the moment, or browse to see if there’s something else I could get with the windfall. But, no. Couldn’t do that either.
Yesterday evening I was ill (dizzy, heavy, flu-like symptoms) and slept lots, apart from watching Dollhouse (thank goodness we don’t get our TV through the internet). It’s most likely that it was too much heat – even though I didn’t leave the house all day, our office is in the (very very hot) office and my chair is directly under a sunlight, which I often forget (today I wore a hat all day). But part of me wonders if it wasn’t maybe a little bit of withdrawal symptoms and little bit of an inability to do anything other than sit tapping away at the netbook, writing blogs, commenting on blogs, tweeting…
It’s nice to be back.
Welcome back, we've missed you!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd can I ask a question, I cant get one of those retweet buttons like you have to work... not sure why, I copy the code and nada, nothing. Help! Pretty please xx
ha ha! Our connection was down for two days, I was practically begging hubby to sort it, he doesn't understand, he can o on facebook at work whenever he wants!! I'm stuck at home all day with two nap times & an evening to fill! I read my library book in less than a day!!
ReplyDeleteYou are very diligent, good for you. I check my gmail at the office, read news and weather, and even shop online while at work. I don't blog. But I do facebook. As long as I get plenty of real work done I think it is OK (and have the same policy for the people who work for me).
ReplyDeleteOh you must be miserable in this heat. Welcome back. I couldn't do two days without the Internet. Of course I could, but I wouldn't like it and it would take a huge adjustment.
ReplyDeleteBut did you get lots of work done?!
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better x
OMG: Thank you. Where are you putting the code? I put it after the line
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(Replace square brackets with less than and greater than signs - won't let me post with the actual code in.)
Don't know if that might be making a difference?
Allgrownup: Chris spends as much time online as me (doing different things), so he does understand. He was even doing as much as he could to make it possible for me to get on the net as soon as 2pm came - unfortunately, work and life interfered.
Geekymummy: Well, I'm not normally like that! That said, I think it is different when you're self-employed. You can set your own rules, of course, but you are also more aware of how the money comes in - if you don't get the work done, you don't get paid. I definitely became more efficient when I had to juggle work with looking after a baby, and will have to do so again in October after falling back into my lax ways. Hope I can still find time to blog!
Susanah: The heat is a real struggle, yes. It's funny (or very annoying) that the last two summers have been almost non-existent, but the two summers when I've pregnant have been super-hot. Ah well. At least it means I can wear flip flops when my feet start swelling, instead of Chris's shoes!
Sandy: No more or less than usual, actually. I took my breaks away from the computer, though, rather than reading blogs/news while eating lunch/breakfast/snacks, so that was probably a bit healthier! Still feeling a bit wobbly, but I think I'm just having to get used to it, as I can't see that it's anything other than heat-related.
Welcome back. It is amazing what we actually use the internet and computer for isn't it? What on earth did we do before?
ReplyDeleteDancinfairy: It is astounding, actually. I was trying to think back and I just don't know. For things like weather we would listen to the radio or check Teletext/Ceefax. For finding information, we would have to rely on encyclopedias and the like, and the library. And, of course, for buying things we'd have to go to actual shops! And rely on publications such as Which? to tell us what was good or not. And listen to the radio (I know, people still do that!).
ReplyDeleteLike I said - you crazy lady!!! Welcome back...am very proud of you. I think one day without the computer just about finished me off... How on earth did any of us survive without it? x
ReplyDeletewelcome back, i think i would go nuts without my laptop and talking to my lovely friends! xx
ReplyDeleteI could not do 2 days of no non work related internet! I once swore off Facebook for a week and that was torture! Glad you're back and hope you're feeling better x
ReplyDeleteHaving now just spent a week away from the internets entirely, I can safely say that it is much, much easier like that than swearing off one aspect of the internent while still having to use another. The main thing we missed was the ability to look information up easily - weather and some French words (forgot to take the dictionary with us, which wasn't so much of an issue, as I'm pretty fluent, but there were occassional words that baffled me).
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