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A few changes
May. 22nd, 2010 10:49 pmFirst off, I want to say that this has been brewing up for a while.
Those of you who've been reading for a long time probably know that I'm working on the whole depression issue. What I haven't really talked about is how much being online constantly has contributed to that.
It's a rut that I've fallen into, especially with the late-stage pregnancy making it so going outside and digging fenceposts in the garden isn't really feasible. I've gotten better with the weather getting nicer-- taking Kaylee outside, going on drives once Chris is off work, etc.
But my routine for years has been spending a lot of time online. Too much, really. I've got a Twitter account now, I've had a MySpace one for a while, joined up with Facebook, too. I figured it'd be a good way to contact more people, get more publicity out there for my books, etc. And instead, it's become a time suck. I go play with Kaylee and then later I feel guilty because I haven't updated my LJ in weeks. Or-- and this is a big one-- I sit down at the computer intending to write and my brain freezes up and then I feel guilty and annoyed, but instead of getting up and going somewhere, I sit and surf around online because hey, if I sit at the computer for long enough, the ideas'll come, right??
Wrong.
I've cut down on the number of sites I visit with depressing news stories. But it is a hard habit for me to break, and while giving money to charities mentioned in some of those stories has been good, at the moment money's tight and I still see the stories and then I feel guilty and horrible because I can't help.
And I've got to help myself first. Right now, that consists of cutting down on this.
My online time used to be made up largely of writing-related activities. Now, not so much. I've been wasting hours and hours waiting for that to change. It's past time to actually do something productive.
I'm keeping this LJ, because this is where I've been the longest and have the most people I actually talk to. I'm just going to try to do smaller, weekly updates to get into the habit of it-- maybe doing a word count, or answering the Writer's Block. And I'll keep my website.
But I'm going to do away with the MySpace and Facebook accounts (the Twitter one I'm not sure I even have to mess with, since I haven't checked it in over a month and have probably forgotten the password. . .)
With a narrower focus, hopefully I won't feel as stressed by all the things I 'have' to check. And I'm going to limit my online time to a few key sites-- check on those once a day, check my email in the morning and in the evening, and otherwise go get other stuff done. No more parking here for hours at a time refreshing my email or my LJ friendslist. I might've been telling myself for a long time that I didn't really have anything better to do, but I was wrong.
Those of you who've been reading for a long time probably know that I'm working on the whole depression issue. What I haven't really talked about is how much being online constantly has contributed to that.
It's a rut that I've fallen into, especially with the late-stage pregnancy making it so going outside and digging fenceposts in the garden isn't really feasible. I've gotten better with the weather getting nicer-- taking Kaylee outside, going on drives once Chris is off work, etc.
But my routine for years has been spending a lot of time online. Too much, really. I've got a Twitter account now, I've had a MySpace one for a while, joined up with Facebook, too. I figured it'd be a good way to contact more people, get more publicity out there for my books, etc. And instead, it's become a time suck. I go play with Kaylee and then later I feel guilty because I haven't updated my LJ in weeks. Or-- and this is a big one-- I sit down at the computer intending to write and my brain freezes up and then I feel guilty and annoyed, but instead of getting up and going somewhere, I sit and surf around online because hey, if I sit at the computer for long enough, the ideas'll come, right??
Wrong.
I've cut down on the number of sites I visit with depressing news stories. But it is a hard habit for me to break, and while giving money to charities mentioned in some of those stories has been good, at the moment money's tight and I still see the stories and then I feel guilty and horrible because I can't help.
And I've got to help myself first. Right now, that consists of cutting down on this.
My online time used to be made up largely of writing-related activities. Now, not so much. I've been wasting hours and hours waiting for that to change. It's past time to actually do something productive.
I'm keeping this LJ, because this is where I've been the longest and have the most people I actually talk to. I'm just going to try to do smaller, weekly updates to get into the habit of it-- maybe doing a word count, or answering the Writer's Block. And I'll keep my website.
But I'm going to do away with the MySpace and Facebook accounts (the Twitter one I'm not sure I even have to mess with, since I haven't checked it in over a month and have probably forgotten the password. . .)
With a narrower focus, hopefully I won't feel as stressed by all the things I 'have' to check. And I'm going to limit my online time to a few key sites-- check on those once a day, check my email in the morning and in the evening, and otherwise go get other stuff done. No more parking here for hours at a time refreshing my email or my LJ friendslist. I might've been telling myself for a long time that I didn't really have anything better to do, but I was wrong.
