Monday, January 04, 2010

The Addiction Of The 21st Century

O heavens! I experienced sporadic internet connectivity over the weekend and it practically drove me mad! I’m not one to be constantly connected; for pete’s sake I don’t even have a camera on my cell phone much less apps that allow me to post to my blog or give updates via Facebook and Twitter. But to be unable to sit down with my little laptop and not be able to get onto the internet was positively frightening!

At first I thought I had done something wrong, as we just recently got a new ISP and I was responsible for setting everything up. Internet Explorer cannot display the web page was the message I would periodically get. I feared some of my computer connections got unconnected and I’d have to figure it out all over again. Come to find out, the cable company was at fault (most likely cable lines froze and disintegrated in the -30 degree temperatures?), and in their attempts to rectify the situation our service was spotty, at best.

In an absolute tizzy I suddenly didn’t know what to do. Never mind that I had a mountain of laundry to tend to, or that I had dusting and vacuuming and tub scrubbing that needed to be done. My vision was focused on one thing, the internet. Am I so addicted that I become immobile just knowing I can’t log on at a moment’s notice?

Painfully I forced myself to turn my focus onto non-computer activities. The laundry got started and remainders of holiday entertaining were packed away. As I worked around the house trying not to think about the internet I would find other little chores to be done, picking up this and cleaning up that. I felt like a regular June Cleaver housewife-type, and it felt…okay.

The internet is invaluable, but I have to remember how to live without it. I’m one of those older people who actually lived the better part of my life so far without the presence of a computer, much less the internet and for that I am grateful. While I like and use the internet, I know I do not need it.

Except I do need it. I need it more than I don’t need it. I can’t stop. I’m in love with it and I don’t want to leave it to eat or sleep.

I need help.

5 comments:

MaryAnn said...

You needed help long before the internet came along! Ha, ha!

Sacred Suds said...

OMG, I can so relate! Luckily we have a Caribou Coffee in walking distance, so I could walk over and get my fix (both of them - coffee and computer!) when we moved and didn't have internet. Glad you're back online - the internet saves my sanity as a stay-at-home-mom ;-P

Sara said...

Mary Ann, you above anyone knows I was a homekeeper extraordinaire before the internet.

Sara said...

Sudsy,

One thing I hate more than being without the internet is going outdoors on a weekend when temps don't reach zero. Brrr. But you raise an excellent point. Finding service with my trusty laptop in hand would have spared me from that nasty, soap-scummy bathtub! However, I think it was a message from the Goddess of Cleanliness that my service was out - "clean your dang house!" I heard her say.

MaryAnn said...

Homekeeper extraordinaire? Of course, I am completely unqualified to actually be the best judge of what a homekeeper extraordinaire really is (as anyone can attest to having seen my own home on any given weeknight - or weekend for that matter). But from my limited experience, and based solely on observation, I'd say that yes, you are a homekeeper extraordinare! Or at least you were one!

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