Computer Overload

Last week I spent very little time on the computer. Oh, I still did the odd posting on Facebook and wrote a few emails. But for most of the week I chose to participate in activities away from my laptop. I played piano, painted, did household chores, carried out volunteer duties, read a book, experimented with recipes, walked, practiced yoga. In fact, when ideas struck me for which I needed the computer, I just stared at it for a minute and went to do something else.

Why?

Because lately I have been feeling chained to that screen and keyboard. I had the sense that most of my life revolves around sitting at my desk and typing away. Blogging. Writing. Facetime. List groups. Emails. Research. I was fed up with parking myself in my blue chair every day. So I rebelled. I pushed that chair in and stayed out of it. Wrote no blogs. Wrote no fiction. Did only the minimum for list groups and Facebook (like my daily origami FB post).

Don’t get me wrong. I love my computer and what I can do with it. I am amazed at what the internet offers. My laptop is the best tool I own. But my life seemed to be too much defined by it and I wanted–no needed–to change that.

I know I am not alone in feeling overwhelmed with all the tasks and social media that feed our reliance on computers these days. Most authors I know do even more than I do. (Against much advice, I still don’t tweet on Twitter!) Somehow, I can’t help but think that all this time we spend staring at a little screen affects our appreciation of life as it’s meant to be lived. Certainly my week off helped me to remember how I enjoy doing those other activities that tend to fall by the wayside while I’m typing on my laptop.

Will I go back to being chained to my desk? Of course it’s possible. Yet I hope that last week’s experience allows me to temper my time at the computer more. Everything in moderation, right?