Thursday, January 05, 2006

Addicted to Online

As of right now my time is just about up. I am only supposed to be online each day for no more than one hour. Certainly I will not explode if I exceed my limit? No, dear friends. It is worse than that. I made a pact with my best bud. Each of us agreed that:
  1. We have a problem; and,
  2. In order to avoid an all out addiction and inevitable recovery program, we will limit our daily exposure to one hour on this worldwide net of ours.
With the vast amount people and places to frequently check in with (how is so and so doing? Let's check his/her "Myspace" account...oh, and comment of course...) and potential deals awaiting us (Craigslist: *free* items) there are endless opportunities to stay online. I must admit that it can be a bit voyeristic, particularly with Myspace. The aforementioned site takes everything bad about highschool and puts it to work quite brilliantly. Each of the pitfalls of enduring those years is brought back:
  • Popularity - How many friends do you have?
  • Well-liked - Are you in his/her top 8? How many comments do you get each day?
  • Brushes with Fame - Oh, yeah...John Lennon just accepted my friend request (And he commented on my site!)
  • Beauty - Please notice this picture of me. I'm almost naked. Here I am smiling with my friends. They love me, quite obviously, no?
  • Cliques - Look at all the Groups I belong too. And they have cool names that make fun of everything.
And the list goes on. Is the solution to denounce the site and not participate? In that case would I be missing something (the eventual diploma I suppose) and denying the natural evolution of technology? What is the middle ground in this way of relating?

Please forgive me for such a short entry into our new year, however, my time is up. I would like to hear from you. Similar conflicts?


For now, here is a piroshki/pot pie with bell cutouts and the actual bell piroshki itself:


5 comments:

Aguavino said...

If you don't use your full hour one day, do the unused minutes carry over to the next day? Kind of like a rollover cell phone plan (another form of technology that I think many people are addicted to)

Eleni Binge said...

Hmm...good question. I am tending toward...no rollover minutes or comp time. Perhaps one can keep loose note of their underutilized time and if a special project comes up they can use them then? Whaddaya think? A similar question came up for me. Does my hour count at other people's homes? That is, if they show you something online, or you look something up there.
Questions we must address.
I think it was definitely Ms. Peacock, but with the french fry.

Unknown said...

If you want a real time waster on-line, check out facebook. You have to have a .edu e-mail address, but it allows you to see what classes other kids are taking, share pictures, join groups. You'll find that there are a lot of people with a lot of time on their hands. Some people have hundreds of friends, and join a million groups. I'm a member of the "Facebook Is Bullshit But I Still Like It" group. How stupid is that?

As for addictions, the Internet definitely qualifies. I think limiting time on-line is a good thing, as long as we make time for comments on each other blogs.

Sloping Band House said...

Clue is the game of games. I don't waste too much time on the net. I guess myspace can be a waste of time, but it can be a great network tool as well.

Sloping Band House said...
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