Unhealthy Obsessions: Me and My Computer

by Hava Lyon | More from this Blogger

04 Apr 2007 01:55 PM

I have come to the conclusion that I am really obsessed with my computer, and the Internet. As I already covered earlier, I have found that I always seem to have multiple programs going at the same time: iTunes, Bloglines, Gmail, and lots of documents everywhere--finished blogs I need to post, halfway finished ones I need to polish, and then ones that only have the idea typed across the top ("Need to talk about how to deal with an insane boss"--something I've had to deal with way too often lately.) On a particularly crazy day, I had twelve documents open (I counted) along with the rest of the paraphernalia I usually have going.

Then I killed Quicken and my computer guy had to take my laptop away to go work on it (yes, my computer guy makes house calls. I love it!) After he left, I wandered around the house aimlessly. I had already done the dishes, the laundry was caught up, and for once, my living room looked fairly decent. I tried to think of things to do to make time go by quickly while I waited for my laptop to return.

"I could return that e-mail I keep putting off!" Whoops, no computer.

"Well, I could write up blogs while I'm waiting." Oh yeah, no computer.

"I could clean out my files on my hard drive!" I smacked myself. That was what got me into this mess in the first place--doing some unnecessary spring cleaning of my hard drive. Not to mention that my hard drive is an integral part of my laptop, which was still not in my house. I checked the clock--only five minutes had passed. I was going to D-I-E.

Well, despite what I thought, I did live through the night (I didn't get my laptop back until 9:30 the next morning) and things back to normal. Then about ten minutes ago--bam! There goes my Internet connection. We have been having problems with our cable Internet lately (my husband's work is with the same company and every time I go down, I call to make sure they went down too. Every time, we've both been down, which means it isn't just my personal connection.) We've been using this cable company for years now, and we've never had many problems. The last month has been absolutely horrendous. It has been going out two or three times a week.

Every time it goes out (like right now) I never know quite what to do with myself. I could write blogs, except most of the time I need access to the Internet to look up e-mails or forum postings or web addresses. It's pretty rare I can write a blog without using the Internet at all. I sat and stared at my computer. I had to come up with something to do while waiting for the 'net to come back.

I had nothing.

It's then that I realized how horribly obsessed I am with my laptop, and with the Internet. How did people survive before they had e-mail? Before they had RSS feeders? Before they had iTunes? What did people DO?

Luckily, before I had to contemplate this crazy train of thought too hard, my Internet came back on. YEESSSS! My life can continue.

Anyone else this obsessed? What do you while you're not on the computer? Leave your comments below!

Learn more about Hava Lyon

Hello, my name is Hava or Havs (depending on my mood and yours!) I am a freelance writer who writes for several blogs, both paid ones such as this one, and personal blogs.

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Valorie Delp (49340) 04 Apr 2007 03:24 PM

Hava--not that you have to answer. . .but how old are you? The internet was just coming onto the scene when I was graduating from college and e-mail? No one had e-mail accounts. My first year of teaching we all went to an inservice to learn how to use scanners. PDF--non existent! Oh--and I still have undeveloped roles of film from those dark ages. I chuckle when I think about my own kids who will never know a world w/o DVD players, digital everything and internet connection. But I, like you, am highly attached to my computer! Maybe we can start a computers annonymous club. . .oh yeah and then we can get on the internet and set up a forum. . .and start an e-mail list. . . ;-)

Hava Lyon (1545) 04 Apr 2007 03:40 PM

LOL! I don't mind answering that at all. I'm 26--just turned that last month. I remember when I was in elementary school (probably fifth or sixth grade) I heard a report on the news about how the Internet was becoming more popular as time passed, and the experts even envisioned a day when people would be able to get onto the computer to check the balance on their checking account! LOLOL! I remember thinking at the time that that sounded pretty crazy, but then again, we didn't have a computer hooked up to the Internet at that point. We did have a little Commodore 64 that we played games on, but nothing connected to the Internet.

We moved, and when I was around 12 or 13 years old, we finally got Internet. Back then, you had to watch how long you were on because they gave you a set amount of minutes to use each month, and when those were gone, you paid a HUGE price per minute after that. Just like cell phones now, except it was for the Internet. Does anyone else remember that? It seems crazy now, but I'm hoping the same thing will happen with cell phones--that we'll all eventually have unlimited minutes on our cell plans, and the idea of only having a set amount to use each month will be ludicrous.

Re: computer anon club--that's hilarious! I hereby nominate you president, and I'll be secretary. That means I'll have to send lots of e-mails to people telling them when we're going to meet next, via Internet teleconferencing, of course. ;-) Anyone want to be vice-president? :-P

Thanks for the laughs, Valorie. :-D

Havs

Valorie Delp (49340) 07 Apr 2007 05:46 PM

Wow. . .that's really amazing if you think about it. . .I'm only 32. So a whopping 6 years makes a huge difference in our technological experiences growing up. My dh's father was an engineer so they actually always had state of the art stuff and he was the first to get internet, the first to get Windows, etc. Now I'm starting to set up my own kids' blogs to hone their writing skills! UGH!