Too much net time?

[Dawg52]

I did have a travel blog when I was backpacking alone in Central America. The main purpose was to inform my family that I was still alive. It's pretty fun to read through it still. Brings back good memories!

My remains would be found along side of a road somewhere. No way would I survive such an adventure.

 

[GoodSense]

My remains would be found along side of a road somewhere. No way would I survive such an adventure.

I felt pretty safe backpacking, as there were men with machine guns everywhere, and I assumed they were on my side.

My apologies for hijacking the thread! I think we all spend too much time online.

 

[JacqJolie]

Men with machine guns make you feel safe?!? (Note to self - don't travel with people who feel comfortable with machine guns or clowns.) First time I saw tanks and soldiers at the airport in Athens way back when I nearly freaked. Canadians are such pacifists.

I think Amethyst is right in her method. Everything in moderation, get the necessities and pet projects done and relax guilt-free. It's like TV used to be for many people. Let's say you go on to watch a specific program - afterwards, you have two choices - to shut it off or let it suck you in for the rest of the night watching junk that you really have no interest in. The net is the same way. It's just so darn available, like a built-in social network, particularly for me now as I haven't made the effort yet to make anything but casual friends with people my age - most I have something in common with are still working. Given time and effort, that will change.

 

[M Paquette]

Men with machine guns make you feel safe?!? (Note to self - don't travel with people who feel comfortable with machine guns or clowns.) First time I saw tanks and soldiers at the airport in Athens way back when I nearly freaked. Canadians are such pacifists.

Hehehe... I recall herding the wife and children through airport security in Istanbul. Lots of swarthy rugged looking gentlemen with AK-47s. My older daughter's eyes were as big as saucers.

I think Amethyst is right in her method. Everything in moderation, get the necessities and pet projects done and relax guilt-free. It's like TV used to be for many people. Let's say you go on to watch a specific program - afterwards, you have two choices - to shut it off or let it suck you in for the rest of the night watching junk that you really have no interest in. The net is the same way. It's just so darn available, like a built-in social network, particularly for me now as I haven't made the effort yet to make anything but casual friends with people my age - most I have something in common with are still working. Given time and effort, that will change.

As a social network, it's a bit odd, as there is really almost no interaction. Think of it as dropping by the community center daily, and putting up post-it notes in reply to other interesting notes on the community bulletin board. I'd have a hard time calling it real social interaction.

I'm tracking down volunteer jobs that will allow some form of social interaction and not feel like work, so as to maintain more social interaction with actual humans. (And that's another gripe. I found one group that needed lots of volunteers. Seems that they had a turnover problem. The volunteer organizer worked on the assumption that volunteers were too dumb to do anything complex, and would be best used for jobs the paid employees didn't want to do; cleaning toilets, waxing floors, taking out trash... Yup, volunteers as janitorial service. )

 

[CuppaJoe]

Is that (mugshot) your cat, M. Paquette? eek, what happened to the cute mouse.

Without actually volunteering, I stumbled upon some volunteers yesterday on their lunch break, chatted me up a storm, told me all about the site they were restoring by replanting it. Looked relatively easy for a job as the plants were placed at waist level, no stooping. It was almost too much social interaction for me.

 

[NW-Bound]

Is that (mugshot) your cat, M. Paquette? eek, what happened to the cute mouse.

Your own tiger looks content, and ... full!

What he had for dinner?

 

[CuppaJoe]

Your own tiger looks content, and ... full!

What he had for dinner?

Touche, they feed the lions and tigers, by throwing huge chucks of meat into their cages on Mondays, and that was a Saturday; his chain has been painted out. We did meet that one walking around the grounds at Marine World Africa U.S.A. in the ‘80s.

 

[M Paquette]

Is that (mugshot) your cat, M. Paquette? eek, what happened to the cute mouse.

That's a member of the household cat herd. The cute mouse? I asked the cat, and got:

I eated it.​

Life goes on...

 

[CuppaJoe]

It's a jungle out there, hello, kitty.

 

[JacqJolie]

I'm tracking down volunteer jobs that will allow some form of social interaction and not feel like work, so as to maintain more social interaction with actual humans. (And that's another gripe. I found one group that needed lots of volunteers. Seems that they had a turnover problem. The volunteer organizer worked on the assumption that volunteers were too dumb to do anything complex, and would be best used for jobs the paid employees didn't want to do; cleaning toilets, waxing floors, taking out trash... Yup, volunteers as janitorial service. )

Paquette, I'm going to start volunteering at my son's school for the lunch program. I really like cooking so I think it's a good idea. They were trying to nail me down for certain days, but I'd rather do drop-in - if I wanted to be tied down right now to a schedule, I'd be w*rking.

 

[NW-Bound]

Advanced apology to the OP, but I have to tell this story, after the recent post about tigers.


An unemployed man applied for a job at a zoo. The zoo director told him that there is only one job available due to recent budget cuts. The desperate man said that he would take anything. So, the zoo director explained that the beloved gorilla of the zoo just died, and they had no budget to buy another one, so our man would be offered the job of donning a gorilla suit to pose in the cage for visitor viewing.

The first day on the job, our man felt depressed in his suit, so he just sat there on a stump. Soon, some kids walked up to the cage, and pointed excitedly at him. So, our good-hearted man thought he should do something to entertain the kids. He started to jump up and down, thumping his chest. The kids were just thrilled, and soon, there was a crowd gathering outside the cage.

Our gorilla got really into it now. He grapped a rope and started swinging. He swung higher and higher, until he lost his grip and fell over the wall, over a moat, into the next animal exhibit.



As he regained his breath and was sure that he did not break any bone, he realized that he landed in a tiger cage.



Our poor man nearly died of a heart attack. Breathing heavily, he looked around and saw the tiger about 100 ft away, lying under a tree. The tiger must be full, because it looked at him indifferently. So, our man gathered his strength, crawled over to the partition wall, and tried to climb over. Of course he failed and became more and more panicky with each failed attempt. Not being able to control himself anymore, he started to call out for help.

Over his shoulder, he saw the tiger standing up, and starting to strut towards him. He closed his eyes, and started to say his prayer.










The tiger strutted to within his earshot, and whispered "Hey pipe down! You want to get both of us fired?"

 

[Alan]

I've been retired less than 2 weeks and my net time has dropped quite a lot.

This is because the last few months I've been winding down at work so increasing spare time to surf while at work. Now I'm retired I am much more active outside of the home and have found my net time hard to fit in.

 

[JacqJolie]

I've been retired less than 2 weeks and my net time has dropped quite a lot.

This is because the last few months I've been winding down at work so increasing spare time to surf while at work. Now I'm retired I am much more active outside of the home and have found my net time hard to fit in.

I think you moved to Dallas though Alan? I think part of the increase for anyone is just due to winter weather. I get outside every day to walk the dog once or twice a day, but it sure is nice to be staying off those ugly icy roads at this time of year.

 

[Alan]

I think you moved to Dallas though Alan? I think part of the increase for anyone is just due to winter weather. I get outside every day to walk the dog once or twice a day, but it sure is nice to be staying off those ugly icy roads at this time of year.

Yes, the outdoor activities are MUCH easier with decent weather. But the routine we have settled into is that mornings are indoors in the YMCA doing exercise classes and socializing with friends. Big change from the last few months at work where the 5 hours between 6 and 11 just seemed to take forever, hence all the net time that is now no more.

 

[CuppaJoe]

One thing about net addiction is that volunteer work is available, even there, eh, Alan?

I’m with you, NW-Bound, thread drift is normal here, is this the guy?:

 

[fritz]

Kind of hard to turn left, when you've always turned right in life.

When you get the urge to work on that list of unfinished projects - just remember to lie down until the feeling passes.......

 

[Alan]

One thing about net addiction is that volunteer work is available, even there, eh, Alan?

It most certainly is!! When DW ESR'ed 6 years ago she got into lots of volunteer work on the net, in particular transcribing census returns for a free Genealogy website.

 

[TargaDave]

You do realize that you are are asking for advice on a forum full of net-oholics?

So very true. Nothing like acheiving FIRE only to spend a silly amount of time lying around netsurfing and having some bizzare virtual social life with a handful of other habitual posters

Have another forum I visit frequently but it is tied to where I live. Members meet regularly for dinner/gatherings and we've made several new friends from it. Just makes more sense

 

[freebird5825]

So very true. Nothing like acheiving FIRE only to spend a silly amount of time lying around netsurfing and having some bizzare virtual social life with a handful of other habitual posters

Have another forum I visit frequently but it is tied to where I live. Members meet regularly for dinner/gatherings and we've made several new friends from it. Just makes more sense

I've had these thoughts too...about having "imaginary friends" online.
I like to think of the amount of time I spend on this forum as an educational experience of the highest degree, a chance to exchange ideas, learn about different parts of the country and other nations, have some fun and make people laugh, the whole enchilada.
If I had these "social" opportunities locally, I would participate in them in person.
You are very fortunate to have that.

 

[TromboneAl]

Surfing the web and a forum like this are so seductive. There's always the chance of some interesting or funny item just a mouse click away.

 

[Martha]

Surfing the web and a forum like this are so seductive. There's always the chance of some interesting or funny item just a mouse click away.

Intermittent reinforcement.

 

[Nords]

Intermittent reinforcement.

Skinner and Pavlov!

 

[cantlogin]

I thought that “nothing but net” was supposed to be a good thing.

 

[JacqJolie]

It turns out I was quite anemic back when I first posted and was surfing the net too much, which led to lack of motivation, depression (due to the anemia, not the net), blah blah. Everything's getting back on track now, and I totally agree with previous posters who advised that having a schedule or being interested in doing something is very effective in limiting the net time. I'm back to timeboxing in my net time to just a couple of hours in the early morning. Like someone said, I didn't retire to spend more time surfing - I could have done that at w*rk and got paid while doing it in the right j*b. I had one job like that, but it really sucked.

 

[oma]

I've said it before, but my biggest challenge and accomplishment when I retired was to quit worrying about "what I should be doing". I finally gave myself permission to let my true, lazy personality come out and I'm happy as he11. As long as you aren't letting someone else down, I don't see anything wrong with this approach.

Everyday I feel like I "need to do something" --can't seem to break the habit of being productive. Feels like when I was on vacation from work - wanted to use the free time wisely - and not waste a second of time.

I do put time on the net that can be worthless - unproductive time. I'm like a kid with candy - need to limit the total time to only 1-2 hrs a day -because I can lose track, easily and spend double/triple that.