Wednesday, June 2, 2010

it's over internet. OVER - gratitutde to the greatest thing ever

We are not all the same.  And yet, we all love the internet just the same.

Each person receives something different from this god-like system.  What we request, we receive.  It's like having a conversation with the most interesting man alive.  Imagine if web surfing were put into the form of a conversation with a batman's-butler type guy.  How cool would that be?  Show me... tell me... would you be interested in... show me what my friend is doing on the other side of the planet... excellent.

So some people are addicted to the social part.  pictures!  emails!  IMing!  mini-cultural zeitgeists everywhere!  shit, if it's mini enough, you can create it yourself.  self-promotion!

For other people, it's just a hungry brain.  Like reading every popular op-ed in the nyt.  then reading all the comments.  then going through each of the intelligent-but-snarky blogs on today's events.  knowing that every single one of these pages is meant to burn out at the end of the week (if not day).  built to burn...

Then there's the on demand tv.  Sure, channel surfing is for the diabetic.  But hulu surfing?  Feels purposeful.  You can discuss!  Review!  Expose yourself to new ideas and cultures!  I'm looking at you, Glee.  (Wait, is that Maverick's favorite show ever now?)

For me, it's the hungry and it's the distraction.  I love distractions.  I love the brief release - and I love to read, no matter what it's about.  And I evidently love to know what people think - so reading comments is basically my favorite past-time.  INTERNET COMMENTS.  This must be what a 21-st century mental illness looks like.

In any case, I waste immense amount of time on the internet because a) I like distractions, b) I read quickly, and c) it's ALWAYS FUCKING THERE.

But that said, we need space.  Boundaries!

You can't always be around.  But I am almost always on-line to do any "work".  What is the solution?  Enormous amounts of self-control?  I think not.

So what's left?  Some selective blocking internet program?  

I keep on targeting my ability to be distracted. Aren't there better ways to distract myself?  I'm thinking stretching as my distraction focus.  Or just pick a particular distraction, rather than fritter between an infinite number.

For someone who likes the idea of behavior change, fuck me I'm bad it right now.  How may psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?  One, but only if the lightbulb really wants to change.

-29

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