Here's the background. I'm back from 10 days in New York, the first solo trip I've taken since I ER'd and the only time I've ever been away from this board for so long. I didn't login for two or three days at a time, or at most just for a few minutes. At the end of the trip it's no fun to click the "New Posts" button and have six pages pop up.
When I sat down on the home PC again I realized that I'd gone 10 days without reading FundAlarm or Raddr's board, and I didn't even notice it until I was sitting in front of my bookmarks folder. So clearly I'm able to set aside certain discussion boards without ripping a big gaping hole in my social psyche.
I'd love to be able to just drop in here a couple times a week, but I still feel compelled to spend at least an hour a day reading nearly every thread-- let alone starting a few of my own. Until last week I'd estimate that I've been on this board for at least 2-3 hours daily over the last three years.
However some of you are capable of treating the board much differently. I can understand when Laurence doesn't post for a month because he's at work the whole time. I can understand when medical issues or extended trips or their spouses take people away from the board for a while, too. But those are externally-imposed constraints. There are some of you, like Jarhead, who only seem to show up once or twice a month-- or at least you don't post very often. How are you doing it? Are you only looking for specific topics or only reading posts by certain users, or only stopping by when you have a question? If I was going to spend less time on the board, how would I shift my perspective?
I'm asking out of idle academic curiosity, not with any life changes in mind. I simply don't have a clue myself, much less a plan.
When I sat down on the home PC again I realized that I'd gone 10 days without reading FundAlarm or Raddr's board, and I didn't even notice it until I was sitting in front of my bookmarks folder. So clearly I'm able to set aside certain discussion boards without ripping a big gaping hole in my social psyche.
I'd love to be able to just drop in here a couple times a week, but I still feel compelled to spend at least an hour a day reading nearly every thread-- let alone starting a few of my own. Until last week I'd estimate that I've been on this board for at least 2-3 hours daily over the last three years.
However some of you are capable of treating the board much differently. I can understand when Laurence doesn't post for a month because he's at work the whole time. I can understand when medical issues or extended trips or their spouses take people away from the board for a while, too. But those are externally-imposed constraints. There are some of you, like Jarhead, who only seem to show up once or twice a month-- or at least you don't post very often. How are you doing it? Are you only looking for specific topics or only reading posts by certain users, or only stopping by when you have a question? If I was going to spend less time on the board, how would I shift my perspective?
I'm asking out of idle academic curiosity, not with any life changes in mind. I simply don't have a clue myself, much less a plan.