| By Laura Graham Booth | August 13, 2009 |
I have a love-hate relationship with my computer.
On the one hand, as my husband and I have been employed in the IT industry for the whole of our married lives, computers have enabled me to engage in some of my favorite activities, such as eating regularly, sleeping indoors, and going naked only by choice.
And I have truly embraced such advances as the word processor. If we were still back in the day of manual typewriters, I would have run out of correction tape on the first page of my first manuscript and abandoned my dream of becoming an author by about the fourth “teh” in place of “the.”
And then there’s email, my beloved email. What did we do before email? We wrote paper letters, at which I was pretty much the world’s worst correspondant. With email, we can send pictures of our kids to friends and family halfway (or all the way!) around the globe. Email enabled my extended family to participate in my kitchen remodel without having to fly across the country and participate in the dust, chaos, confusion, and all-around trauma themselves. (Wish I could have done the same!!)
And then there’s wikipedia and google for finding out… well, finding out just about anything, really. (Like those historical events or scientific advances I should have paid better attention to in school.) Did I mention how much I LOVE being able to print out door-to-door directions from online mapping sites? And let’s not forget online shopping, which became my mainstay after I realized that a leisurely trip to the mall wasn’t possible between the day you give birth to your first child and the day the last one leaves for college.
But on the other hand… how much time have I wasted since computers became part of my daily life?? How much time have I spent deleting emails that want to sell me Rolex watches or help me enlarge anatomical parts that I don’t even possess?
In college, I discovered Tetris and thought, Wow, that’s a time-waster (in which I cheerfully indulged). But that was nothing compared to some of the sites on the internet today. (Hello, facebook, I am looking at you.) What did I do before I could spend hours tracking down favorite songs and building my ultimate playlist on iTunes? Before both my father and son got so addicted to Google Earth that I started googling 12-step programs for them? Before I could spend hours looking at knitting patterns on Ravelry? (Back when I was blissfully unaware of some of the amusing — and downright bizarre — things that could be done with yarn?)
And then there’s YouTube, which when it comes to wasting time on the internet is really in a class by itself. Let’s see, I could find my favorite 80’s rock video…
Or early 90’s music as performed on the Muppet Show…
Or I could discover exactly what those “Boom Whacker” things are that my son saw in his elementary school music class and talked about endlessly…
So it’s really no surprise that sometimes, at the end of the day, I found I’ve spent hours at my computer without actually accomplishing the things I sat down to accomplish. (Which is also why I turn off the internet and go sit in my local coffee shop when I need to get some serious writing done, but that’s a subject for another post.)
Do you have the same trouble that I do? How do you get around it? What are your favorite sites for procrastination, er, entertainment? (Favorite YouTube vids welcome!)
August 13th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Great post, Laura! I remember that video and still love the mumppets (in an earlier post I mentioned The Muppet Christmas Carol as a favorite movie), but the last one? Way cool.
Blogs take a lot of time (present company excepted), and the email and stuff on various loops, but I don’t have the luxury of leaving home to write. So I turn off the internet, boot up the word processing, and steel myself. It also doesn’t hurt that I do the vast majority of my writing in the wee hours (it’s after 4 now.)
Some days, though, I plan to do one small thing online, and the next thing I know, hours have evaporated. Not good.
Now I’m off to bed. PT at 8 a.m, doc at 1. I ought to be a real *itch on wheels by the time we get home.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Message boards, Laura. Those are my weakness. I admit to watching certain TV shows and visiting the fansites (and posting). I tell myself that these people will buy my book someday, but it’s really just a way to avoid actually writing my book.
PS: I’m jealous you got your videos to show up in your post. Mine wouldn’t
August 13th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Great post, Laura!
Computer games are my downfall, along with email, message boards, and blogs.
I’m not good enough to do half the things that Laura does with computers. I’m technology challenged and I thank God I am. I can’t believe all that those of us who aren’t TC do and the time they spend doing it–much of which is helping TC people like me.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Gwynlyn, I just WISH I could keep those hours again. I was completely nocturnal when I was in college, and I do think it was my most productive time! But the older I get, the more sleep I need, and since I gave birth to my alarm clock, sleeping in is seldom an option. ::sigh::
Barb, message boards are sooooo addictive. With blogs and email, I can eventually get caught up, and when there’s nothing new, I can walk away. But on message boards, someone is always posting something new, so there’s no escape!
Robin, I try to avoid games for the same reasons I avoid message boards. (Hubby and son want a Wii, but I am resisting.) Sometimes I wish I was more “techologically challenged” (and spent less time at the computer) but since I do like eating, I’ve come to terms with it!
August 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Ah, procrastination and the Internet… Yes, it can be a problem. However, I’m old enough to remember what it was like to write without the Internet, what it was like to write on a typewriter, what it was like to write on a typewriter that didn’t have correction tape built into it! So…as much as I can use the Internet for procrastination, I remember needing to research subjects and having to spend hours at the library only to find ONE book on the subject (small library), spending money on research books that I scoured bookstores for, wasting gas and more time than I’ve ever wasted finding what I want on an on-line bookstore. You get the idea. I think we think the Internet wastes time, and it truly does, but I think we think that partly because the Internet has caused the world to move so fast. We’re accustomed to doing SO MUCH in one day, doing things that, before the Internet, might have necessitated driving 90 miles (like the aforementioned buying books – depending where you live – I lived in a town for 5 years that didn’t have a bookstore). Now, I can post a question to a research list and have six sources within hours. I can brainstorm with writing friends, as opposed to waiting a month to hear back on ONE chapter through snail mail (and that was a good timeframe, LOL).
We waste time because we now have the time to waste.
That’s my philosophy, and I’m sticking to it!
August 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
My recent favorite time suck is a blog called “Awkward Family Photos” (http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/)
where people send in bizarre family shots and the highly sarcastic blog owners frame it with the perfect words. Makes my childhood seem, well, normal.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’m a hopeless foodie. Love everything about incredible edibles…cooking, storage and canning, gardening, even food history. For a friend’s birthday this year I sent her a web-inspired virtual birthday feast from Renaissance Italy complete with a buttery Bolognese pie and plum/cherry/herb-roasted chicken. This summer I spent way too much time surfing for camping recipes. Meet my new best friend, The Dutch Oven Dude. http://www.dutchovendude.com/
August 13th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Other than my looooong list of blogs that I visit daily (can we say addicted?) there\’s youtube.
Here\’s my favorite clip ever: John Denver, The Lord\’s Prayer
August 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
OMG, Laura!!! I *loved* that A ha video! It was my favorite one, too–the concept was so imaginative. I’m not a computer-game player at all, but the week I discovered YouTube, I was up until 3am every night just watching old music videos. When I really want to procrastinate, I do that. For hours. Then there’s Facebook and email… I just joined Goodreads this week and that, too, is a time suck, but I like it. So, no, you’re not alone.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Great post, Laura, and thanks for sharing the YouTube videos so we can all waste time together!
Facebook is definitely a time sucker…especially downloading pictures for my large family who want to see everything. Thanks to L.A. I am reading a serialized book and enjoying it! I try not to play any internet games because I am easily addicted…recently to the one called word challenge on facebook. I’m ahead of my relatives right now so I can ease off for a while. 
August 13th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Cindy, a town without a bookstore?? Say it ain’t so!!
L.A., those pictures are a hoot! Too funny!
Shelley, those sites make me hungry! (I’m wondering if I could make some of those Dutch Oven recipes in the oven…)
azteclady, blogs can be soooo addictive (but thank you for visiting ours!). Thanks for sharing the John Denver clip. I still miss him.
Marilyn, I love finding old videos on YouTube. Remember spending hours watching MTV, waiting for your favorite video to come on? (I remember my whole family running to watch Thriller.)
Theresa, I’ve been trying really hard to avoid the games on facebook, since FB is already sucking up too much of my time!
August 13th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hi Laura!
Oh, I spend too much time on blogs, etc. But that’s the great thing about the internet==you can find people who love what you love!
When I’m really trying to procrastinate or avoid work, I browse real estate. Seriously! Just check out the houses that are available in my favorite neighborhoods. Weird, huh?
August 13th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Oh, dear. It’s like you’re telling on me.
I have been an internet junkie for a long, long time. Message boards for whatever phase of my life (wedding planning when I was doing that, runners’ boards, baby boards, the list goes on), blogs, blogs, blogs, and both more recent: Facebook and Twitter.
I agree, sometimes I just have to step away. No internet access=productivity!
August 13th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Deb, I used to surf real estate sites, too. But now that we finished the kitchen, we’re not moving for a good long time. (So I can use that time surfing for something else…)
Leshia, I remember the baby boards! But at least as writers, we can claim that the baby name sites are work-related.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Awesome post, Laura.
Me? I don’t call that time procrastination. It’s all either networking, platform building, or keeping up on current trends in culture. All essential for a novelist.
Okay, I admit it. It’s procrastination…
August 14th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Ha–that’s what’s funny, Laura–I know I’m not moving. It would take a crow bar to get my dh out of this house! That’s why it’s a serious time waster!
August 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Maureen, I always say, “Denial is my favorite river!”
Deb, yeah, that’s us. I don’t have any idea how people with small children move. There’s that whole have-to-keep-the-house-ready-to-show-at-a-moment’s-notice that would do us in!
August 14th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Yahoo loops & e-mails chew up most of my time at the computer–aside from writing. And then there’s vacation planning. What did I do before I had so much information and helpful reviews available on-line to help me choose restaurants, hotels, and activities?
I just got back from Myrtle Beach last night, and I’m leaving for Wisconsin a week from tomorrow. I have just about enough time to do my laundry and pack again . . . oh, and research this next trip.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Laurie, I hope you had a great time at the beach!!
I love planning trips online, too. But I just saw an article online that travel agents are seeing a resurgence right now. I wonder if that’s a backlash to all the airline problems?
Have a good time in Wisconsin!