Thoughts On Online Obsession
I asked for thoughts on spending time online, and got some great answers on my Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages.Erica said, she’s “totally addicted to the internet, not that there’s anything wrong with that.” She added,Just had a conversation… yesterday about applying 12 Steps to the internet. I am powerless!”
Paul twittered that his wife thinks he has a problem, and “It’s more about her thoughts of ‘when’ I should disconnect. ‘Honey, we had a live stream of your labor’…I don’t see a problem.” (he did broadcast the birth of their child via live streaming on the Internet)
Alan sent me a Twitter reply ”Yep, I work from home so I need the Internet to work but my home computer is close and hard to resist when a tweet or email dings.”
I love Nina’s e-mail via MySpace: “Honestly, I never thought I’d ‘waste’ my time online. Scratch that, it’s not a waste, it’s an addiction. 10 minutes becomes one hour, then it’s three hours, and before I know it, sometimes it’s bedtime! Ha! I YouTube old shows and watch them. It’s great. Anything from Smurfs, Baywatch (when the storyline was about Matt and Summer) and of course Felicity! I LOVE Felicity. Some generous fans have uploaded all four seasons. I finally finished it! LOVE it and want to watch it again. :)”
My friend Taylor sent me this fascinating assessment of the issue: it compares checking e-mail to playing the slots or training a dog. I think that’s true. In my case, I check e-mail somewhat obsessively. But I think it’s more a habit than an addiction. A bad habit. But I have to keep answering your good questions. I should turn over some space in the blog to my wife, to have her write about my online obsession.
Drop me an e-mail with your thoughts. If you can squeeze it in with all your other on-line commitments.