Addicted To The Net

I did not have Net access for last week or so, for many reasons. Though the place where I was could have had one, it was not very convenient, in fact harmful in some ways. So I ended up being without my feed reader or my news sites or this blog. It was treacherous and frustrating. I realised my reading habits had changed when I missed the links in newspapers or when I could not comment on some of the news. When I had thoughts in my mind, I could not write them down and open them up for the world on this blog. Neither email nor instant messaging meant out of touch with my friends.

That is when I realised that I am completely addicted to the Internet. No wonder, most of the arrangements at my home revolve around ensuring an always on Net connection, including a backup. No wonder, I do not notice anything other than my laptop on my desk. I think this is alarming in a sense, that I am too dependent on a technology for as basic requirements as expressing myself. If this continues my social behavior is going to be completely dependent on the virtual world.

Blogging has changed my work and life in many aspects. I have mentioned earlier that the biggest advantage of blogging is self-expression. However, it should not hold you back from using other media.

The solution I think to this is to purposely disassociate with the virtual world. Though reading online is more productive, I should still be able to extract information from other sources like traditional newspapers and television sets. I am back on my laptop now, I am glad, but more wary of it too. I am going to consciously try not succumb myself to it.