Are you sure you want to Shut Down?

I think I’m going to try a new personal rule.

Unless there’s a specific task I must complete: No computers after 8:00pm.

My vacation was so wonderful and part of the reason for this was the complete absence of internet, e-mail, and news. So I’m going to try and turn off my computer at 8:00pm. This will, hopefully, keep me reading, moving, cooking, and expanding my mind more than I would with a monitor or television.

It’s such a strange balance. I love the internet… but I find it draining as well.

I think I’d much prefer a simple life. These computer goals stay right in line with dreams to rid myself of excess possessions. I’d love to get rid of all those things I just never use. Organization, cleanliness, and escape from technology fit well together. Maybe not ‘escape from technology’ as much as a lack of dependency on it.

How would you rate yourself on organization, cleanliness, and computer/television usage?

14 thoughts on “Are you sure you want to Shut Down?

  • 8/22/2007 at 1:39 pm
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    On a scale of 1-5
    Organization: 3
    Cleanliness: 2.5
    Computer: 5
    TV: 1

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  • 8/22/2007 at 4:59 pm
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    First of all, you don’t watch any TV so I’m not quite sure where your comment on the TV is coming from. There are plenty of educational programs on television (Discovery Channel and History Channel almost always have something interesting on). Just because TV is littered with the “Pimp My Ride’s” and “Who’s My Baby’s Daddy” doesn’t mean that the rest of it is trash. Secondly, it sounds more like you need some self control rather than complete abstinence. Spend more time at informative websites rather than Facebook and Youtube and I bet you’d learn a whole bunch of things that would “expand your mind” just as much as reading a book about fictional ghosts (not to knock books).

    Organization: 4
    Cleanliness: 5
    Computer: 5
    TV: 4

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  • 8/22/2007 at 5:20 pm
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    I don’t get the rating system. Is 1 bad and 5 is good? And is it good to not watch too much TV, or does it mean you are good at watching TV?

    Organization: Destroyed in the move. Slowly reassembling a life.
    Cleanliness: UTTERLY destroyed in the move. Outlook not good.
    Computer: I sit in front of it for at LEAST 7 hours a day, likely more, but not at night, when I’m not working, and I guess that’s good.
    TV: Don’t have one yet. Sometimes watch downloaded episodes of Flight of the Conchords.

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  • 8/22/2007 at 5:55 pm
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    I guess my point here is that when I sit down and use the internet, or on the rare occasion that I watch a T.V. show, I often feel unsatisfied once the activity is over. The same is not true about cooking something tasty, playing guitar, or reading a book. If I can decrease my internet usage perhaps I’ll have more time for those other things that make me happier.

    The internet and television can throw a lot of stuff at you. Not necessarily good or bad stuff… just stuff. Sometimes I wonder if the simplicity of not being exposed to all that information would lead to a better life.

    As for my numbers?

    Organization: 2
    Cleanliness: 2
    Computer: 4
    TV: 1

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  • 8/22/2007 at 6:02 pm
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    Flight of the Conchords is hilarious. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  • 8/22/2007 at 8:27 pm
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    Organization: 3
    Cleanliness: 3
    Computer: 5
    TV: 4

    I spend far too much time on the computer and I watch lots of television and movies. I still read lots of books as well as work at writing one, play my guitar, make delicious food most days, go for walks, and learn stuff. My house is fairly clean most of the time, and I’m not the best organizer but the bills get paid and the dishes stay done. I also take care of four children and I’m learning to drive.

    Wow, I sound really busy. I should take a break. :)

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  • 8/23/2007 at 9:44 am
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    Mike D! I support you 100% on your new resolution! 110% even.

    yes, there are educational websites out there, as well as educational TV shows, but all in all I find TV and computers to be draining – like as in they drain away your life force. To the people who sit in front of a computer all day, can you affirm or deny the feeling?

    When I was at school I found myself in front of the computer most of the time that I wasn’t in class or at work – so maybe 4-6 hours a day. The internet is a tricky beast that SUCKS you in – you go to “just check your e-mail” at 9:45 and next thing you know it’s 10:45 and you’ve checked your email, read salon, watched you tube commented on facebook and looked at everyone’s photo albums and then started reading wikipedia. Hello! now it’s 11:15 and you aren’t even tired now that you’ve had your eyes peeled and staring at a glowing screen for the last hour and a half .

    Since I’ve started working at a library, where I don’t really have an excuse to sit in front of a computer (except for right now, but even now I have a growing pile of request slips for books I need to pull off the shelf within the next 15 minutes) I’ve found my computer time has decreased dramatically. I generally avoid going on the computer after work, and instead read books or do some crafts –

    I rarely to never watch TV or movies, since I hate that time vacuum that occurs when you sit down to watch “just one show” on TV and hey! now all of a sudden it’s 9:30 and I have to think about going to bed…but maybe I’ll check my email first.

    cleanliness and organization are not positively correlated to my lack of TV and internets though:

    Organization: 3
    Cleanliness: 2
    TV: 1
    Computer: 1.5

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  • 8/23/2007 at 10:18 am
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    I admit that there are days when the internet seems to suck up my spare time, but it’s not a daily occurrence. I gave up the internet for Lent one year and kept myself busy with early Spring Cleaning. After about a week, I didn’t miss it so much.

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  • 8/23/2007 at 11:46 am
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    As a person who sits in front of a computer all day for work, I believe I have a slightly different point to put forward. While I do spend my entire working day on a computer (I am, after all, a software engineer by trade), I don’t think it is the computer is the draining thing. It is just a tool. While I am working, like really working, not what I’m doing now (being annoyed at my program for not working and surfing the internets instead), it is is simply a tool by which I get work done. However, spending time doing this surfing thing can definitely drain away life energy. I find myself getting wrapped up in things that wouldn’t normally affect me. And every time I read a bulletin board (especially ones where supposed SQL “experts” talk about things that they obviously don’t understand), I feel as though my brain is leaking out of my ears.

    Woah, that got kind of long, didn’t it.

    Anyway, I feel as though I should rate myself based on my non-work activities. I chose to work with computers as my day job, but I really have very little to do with them otherwise.

    Organization: 4
    Cleanliness: 2
    TV: 5
    Computer: 1

    (I am, after all, obsessed with my TiVos. Yes, that’s right, multiple. I originally thought Mike (i.e. Miker, not MikeD) was nuts, but now I don’t know that I could live without all of them.)

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  • 8/23/2007 at 5:43 pm
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    I find that living in a studio severely affects all four of these categories for me. I have to be organized with such a small space (5), I’m mostly clean because there’s no room for mess, but I do let things pile up because I am by myself (4), TV is a good knitting complement, and I don’t have a dining room, so I eat on the couch (3). Even though I can see my computer from just about anywhere in my whole apartment, I stare at one all day and so really only use it to read email and news in the morning while eating breakfast, and some tasks at night. (1)

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  • 10/24/2007 at 3:54 pm
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    Ok, as I sit here (still at work) and watch the minutes tick by until my release for the day (i’m having a very frustrating and unproductive day), I yet again realize that Mike D and I have way too similar mind tracks. That being said, here’s my thoughts, I sit in front of a computer during the day at work, often more than I need to because on one hand I’m beginning to think I’m addicted to the thing, on the other I’m a serious procrastinator, and on the third hand (yes i have three), I think I might have some form of ADD (which I don’t believe in, so I obviously don’t have it, and just lack the self control I need. Ok, I do believe in it, but I think it’s caused by us (TV and Computers to be specific), and I think it’s over diagnosed). Ok, back to my point, I truly believe the computer does suck the life out of me, surfing the net, whatever. However, I’m still amazed that Mike D has time for everything that he doesn, and still has time to surf the net. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but by the time I get home, I don’t have time for the internet most nights cause I’m cleaning (unsuccessfully), making dinner, or hopefully the more productive thing, climbing. But that’s basically my life in a nut shell. I do watch movies on TV (Netflix) I do not have cable. I do not generally use the computer much at home. Occasional myspace, and email, but if I put a time on it, it would average out to less than 15 minutes a day at home. Oh, unless I count Quicken, which does keep my checkbook nice and organized, but does mean I have to use a computer, and also means I don’t have to think (no adding or subtracting). Which makes me think that maybe I should do it the old fashioned way to exercise my mind! I do like the reminders on Quicken though. Woah, complete sidetrack. Ok, so Organization: while lack of it really bothers me (moreso now than ever before), it’s at a 2 right now.
    Cleanliness: While my personal hygene is excellent (5), the apartment is not, I would rate that at a 2 also.
    TV: I would rate that around 3. Netflix is addictive
    Computer: at home 1 or 2, at work, 8 or 9 on a scale of 1-5.

    I also just got back from 10 days completely unplugged, no computer, no radio, no tv. I did bring my mp3 player and did not turn it on once. I have to say it was very restful and very rejuvinating, and I don’t think I missed anything at all. I even wrote (with a pen) and found out my hand cramps easily when writing with a pen. I really need to take a closer look at this, and how I can better control it at work. I also believe that sometimes the computer/internet causes some form of depression with me. The lack of concentration really causes issues in my mind. I feel very unproductive. I should work on this.

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  • 10/24/2007 at 5:17 pm
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    Organization – I’m pretty awesome at this
    Cleanliness – I kind of rule in this area
    Computer/Television – MY DOWNFALL. MY NEMESIS. I really, really have a difficult time not wasting EVERY HOUR of the freaking day on the computer. Especially if I’m in a down mood. Seriously, I wonder if I am an internetaholic. Do they have support groups for that?

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  • 10/25/2007 at 11:16 pm
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    Organization: 4. I know where all my stuff is.
    Cleanliness: I used to be a 5. When alicia and I were roomies, she was like a 2 and I was a 5. Now she is like a 5, and i am like a 2.
    TV: 5. I watch only a couple shows and they’re fun and I love ’em.
    Computer: 3. I could shut it off sooner. But its cool.

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