Edited again to add:
Edited to add: This link to Storytellers Unplugged courtesy of Angelle Trieste
I’ve mentioned before that I subscribe to only two magazines: New York Magazine and O. The husband gets a couple of others which he’s said he’s going to cancel (Time, Popular Mechanics) and did let his Wired and Paste subs lapse, but NYM and O are MINE.
There was an article in a recent O about a woman who’d detoxed from email for thirty days, and just the idea sent a huge jolt of something tingly shooting through me. The idea of detoxing from email, from blogs, from the whole world wide web . . . what freedom!
No wondering if my books were being discussed, if the blogosphere had burst into flames, if threads I’d been following had died away or taken on lives of their own, if I’d missed an article that I couldn’t live without, if someone had emailed me to ask me to attend a conference, or be part of an anthology they were putting together. Oh, the FREEDOM - not from the wondering about the invitations and the curiosity about the threads and the worrying about what I’d missed or who was looking for me - but the FREEDOM from all of that because of having given myself the persmission to step away for a time.
I decided then and there that I would make one day a week internetz free.
I had planned to make it Wednesday this week, but got behind on things Monday and Tuesday, so Thursday it was. Laptop and main pc both off at 8:25 Wednesday night, then an epidose of Wire in the Blood before bed, and no internet until Friday morning.
Unfortunately, when I woke up on Thursday, the husband had turned on my machine since his was fritzing. So I did take advantage of Thesarus.com a couple of times. I needed a synonym for slit (vent), a synonym for designed (tailored), one for crevice (fissure), and one for retract, which I never could settle on so went with collapsed and folded, and may change that in revisions because I’m not sure it worked.
While online, I also emailed my Blaze editor with a title idea, but I didn’t download anything that was waiting for me, or ever check to see if she’d emailed me back.
You know what? I LURVED it. I was able to concentrate on the story because I knew in advance that I wasn’t going to allow any distractions. Though I was eventually distracted by the rain, and the limb falling out of our tree, and the temps dropping from the 70’s to the 30’s AGAIN (and I wonder why I’m constantly sneezing, achoo!), and the dog having a stand-off with two bitchy squirrels, I ended up getting my head where it needed to be, polishing what I’d written so I could be sure I was on the right track.
But it’s not just about the story. I was also more focused on things in my real life, house things, talking to the husband, etc. The son came by for a couple of hours with Sam and I totally enjoyed the two of them without my mind catching on something that I needed to remember to get back to online. Because, face it. It happens. We get wrapped up in a conversation and we’ll be hit unexpectedly with the perfect response at the very worst time. Kinda like coming up with a plot solution while in rush hour traffic or in the shower!
I HIGHLY recommend a weekly internet free day! And before you say, “Oh, I could never do that because of blah blah blah,” don’t forget. I am a partner in an online business, and run the tech side of a couple of very busy group blogs. And yes, if I hadn’t had the husband here to check that things with the blogs were okay, and to be available to my business partner (who really is HIS business partner, heh), I would have checked in with those places and with her once or twice at least, but I could easily do that without falling prey to the time and energy suck email and the internetz can so easily become.
So give it a try! Clear everything you can off your plate, let everyone know you’ll be out for the day, and do it! I was so amazingly relaxed yesterday - and that’s probably a sign that I need to be internetz free all the time, LOL! But for now, a day a week it is!
(While finding the links for this post, I also ran across this article - well worth reading if like me, overwhelmed is your middle name: Wait! Stop! It’s All Too Much!)
(Man, I just want to clean out the corners of that kitteh’s eyes!)
There’s a book called the Four Hour Work Week that recommends checking email twice a day (so that you can always reply same day no matter the time zone if you need to). It’s just a smart habit not to have the constant distractions. I keep email closed during writing time and don’t use a chat client, either. I’ll open a browser if I have to reference something and then close it as soon as I’m done. Unplugging is good for productivity (and sanity).
by Charlene Teglia March 7th, 2008 at 10:45 amI don’t get on the internetz much at home at all, so my weekends tend to be mostly internetz free. I can’t do it during the week, tho, because of all the googling I do for research. ;)
by #2 March 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pmThe internet and the blogs that I frequent are my way of relaxing. My husband and I are retired and I need some time to myself, so I frequent the internet daily.
by Estella March 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pmI have gone a couple of days without the internet before, but I have so many emails that it just seems easier to check at least once a day. I do still go 1 day without at my dad’s, because his computer is so slow. I’m going to solve that when I start taking a laptop to his house.
by Liza March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pmI have been toying with this idea myself but just like chocolate, it’s hard to give up…even for a day.
And I don’t even get many emails…i’m just addicted:( Sad but true. Thanks for the kick in the bum:)
by shay March 7th, 2008 at 4:52 pmCharlene - I love the instant gratification of research. But you’re so right about the interruptions being hell on productivity.
#2 - It’s still your turn, btw.
Estella - If I were in your situation, I’m sure I’d do the same thing. Though I do watch the nightly news, I get most of it from the web. Or at least from the husband who’s found it on the web!
Liza - I was surprised when I checked mail this morning how fast it was to go through!
Shay - It is hard to give up. I got antsy yesterday a couple of times, but I’d promised myself to give it a try, and I did it, whoo-hoo!
by Alison March 7th, 2008 at 6:42 pmI’ve thought about doing this but haven’t been able to cold-turkey it (wow, yes, I am indeed addicted!); I’m trying to work on cutting back first :)
by Fedora March 7th, 2008 at 7:07 pm[…] by Alison & Eric, I decided to minimize the effect of the worst time sucker called “web […]
by Angelle Trieste » Blog Archive » The Worst Time Sucker March 8th, 2008 at 1:39 am[…] big thank you to Alison & Eric for helping me make the […]
by Angelle Trieste » Blog Archive » No Internet from 9 a.m. - Noon March 9th, 2008 at 10:17 pm>>So give it a try! Clear everything you can off your plate…
—–You convinced me. I’m ready. I’m shutting down the internet, right after I finish reading this article…
More…
You wrote:
>>>I also ran across this article - well worth reading if like me, overwhelmed is your middle name: Wait! Stop! It’s All Too Much!)
—And of course, that leads me right to that article, and six more web pages to read!! (hahahaha) Seriously, I’ve been working on this cutting back thing for about a week now. I’ve already unsubbed from three email lists, deleted a lot of “must read” bookmarks, and am getting a lot more work done. (First, solid draft on new book finished for Apr 15th deadline.) I don’t need to know what everyone is doing–I need to focus myself on my life. New step today–time limit on the internet, and two downloads of email a day. Night download responses go out in the morning. Only exception is if it’s an editor.
by Flo March 11th, 2008 at 9:32 amTrying hard…
Flo
Flo - It is SO hard because we LURVE instant gratification. But when I approach it as a reward, it helps!
by Alison March 11th, 2008 at 10:25 am