In college, it was a quirk. I was Little Miss Scatterbrain. My friends even bought me the book.
Now that I’m a grownup, it ain’t cute. I can’t concentrate. I get frazzled so easily. Tonight, I even declared, “I’M QUITTING TWITTER AND FACEBOOK!” But then what would I have to live for?
I’m looking into software that might help me keep my focus in one place rather than 682 (any suggestions?), but for now, I’m kind of a hot mess. So much so that I can’t even muster a coherent post. Here, read this vintage entry from 2007 where I write about EXACTLY THE SAME THING.
(tee hee, Xanga)
—
I did it.
This morning, I got to work, replied to some e-mails and then relocated my notes, my laptop and myself to the conference room.
I did not bring the ethernet cord.
This is a monumental step for me. For the past many, many months, I have been a slave to the Internet. Namely, Gmail, latimes.com, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, azcentral.com, Xanga, michellewoo.com (obviously), blogs of people I know, blogs of people I don’t know, Google (you know, the search engine), the 24 Hour Fitness online class schedule, MySpace and now the bottomless pit of a website they call Facebook (And no, Des, I don’t want to join your Ninja cult!). Yes, I do owe the Internet much praise and gratitude for providing me with life-altering gems such as this, but as a writer who has procrastination tendencies embedded in her neurosystem, it has also been the source of my downfall.
I believe my work has been suffering due to my a-a-addiction (OK, I SAID IT! Now, sit in a circle and clap for me) to the Internet. I mean it’s still awesome (obviously), but I just can’t get in the zone on cue like I used to. I’m constantly distracted (“Hmmmm, maaaaaybe instead of writing, I should refresh Angry Asian Man for any news I might have missed.”) And for someone who aspires to be The Most Famous Michelle Woo In The World, this isn’t OK.
So today I sat in stillness, surrounded only by the motivational Post-It notes I laid out for myself. I did a good amount of writing, even though I kind of took two lunch breaks (We’ll go through the 10-step recovery program for my food addiction next time). For now, I will try to limit my obsessive online behavior. I will check my personal e-mail only 3 to 7 times a day. I will visit Facebook only 2 to 4 times a day. I will not read blogs I know will probably be boring, anyway. I will be strong. I will take back my life.
Starting now. Or maybe tomorrow.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Elaine // Sep 4, 2009 at 1:36 am
Email only 3-7 times a day? Striiict. I perpetually have my Gmail open in a tab; I think I start foaming at the mouth a little if I don’t check it 3-7 times an hour.
2 Fishing Around // Sep 4, 2009 at 4:41 am
Brave girl! Stealing the motivational post-it idea.
3 Kitty // Sep 4, 2009 at 5:23 am
I feel you! I currently use my Google Dashboard to manage my life, but I am really sick of having applications fail and losing vital info. Let us know if you find anything great.
4 ashley // Sep 4, 2009 at 6:09 am
I give you permission to stop reading my blog.
You KNOW it’s going to be boring. Hee.
I AM SO WITH YOU.
I lose track of what I’m doing, navigate between five open windows and seven different tabs, wasting time and multi-tasking. (Though I just heard a story on NPR about how very, very bad multitasking is. TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW, NPR!) PLEASE let me know if you have the answers. Because I? Suck.
5 mandy // Sep 4, 2009 at 8:28 am
Ha, I am feeling the same way today.
6 jimaiemarie // Sep 4, 2009 at 9:12 am
hahaha!! oh shhhhhiiit. Can I just say that i’m glad i’m not the only seriously obsessive person on the blogsphere? gah, and it’s even worse since i’ve gotten my iPhone!!
I recently read a really great article in Real Simple about “unitasking” and have since been reading others (in multiple tabs on multiple windows OF COURSE)
dude, i need to crack down on this…soon.
Another one of my big problems? Procrastination.
Yeah, as you can imagine with all of the multitasking & procrastination i get A LOT done in my life -_-
7 nicoleantoinette // Sep 4, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Being able to just STEP AWAY FROM THE INTERNET is so much easier said than done- but it’s SO important. I’m working on single-tasking instead of multi-tasking. In regard to, well, everything.
Good luck to us!!
8 katelin // Sep 4, 2009 at 1:22 pm
you can do it, you can do it!!
because i know i can’t, haha. good luck!
9 thatShortChick // Sep 4, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I had this same feeling last night! I was all “that’s it….I’M GIVING UP TWITTER AND THE BLOG!”
….and then I came to senses.
a lot of this social media gobble-de-guck stresses me out! but it’s so much easier said than done.
10 thatShortChick // Sep 4, 2009 at 4:04 pm
that would obviously be “came to my senses.” gah.
11 Jen // Sep 20, 2009 at 9:48 am
You have no idea how much I get this!
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