Thursday, August 16, 2012

On Stepping Away

I am a complete Olympic junkie.  The first showdown between Phelps and Lochte was so disappointing to me.  Why?  Not because I was pulling for one more than the other.  I was disappointed because I already knew the outcome of the race.

That disappointment caused me to take every step possible to eliminate spoilers.  I did not listen to the radio.  I did not watch the news.  I changed my home page on the internet.  I thought I had pretty well insulated myself.

Until I logged in to Facebook.

Early in the afternoon of the girls all-around gymnastics competition, a friend from high school had posted a status and link about the winner.  I was ticked!  So I decided to step away from Facebook for the duration of the Olympics.  In making that step, I also stepped away from the majority of anything computer-related except for work.

It was liberating.  Freeing.  It has made me realize just how easy it is to fall into the 'time suck' of the computer.  I'm not talking about the communication factor of Facebook and Blogger for family and friends.  I'm talking about the mindless zipping around from one site to another with no destination, no purpose in mind.  I fall into that trap all too easy.

Now that the Olympics are over, I am going to continue to limit my computer time.

There is a whole great big world out there.  Let's go explore it!

6 comments:

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

I didn't watch any of the Olympics, but I feel like I did, since my entire Facebook feed was commentary about it! No wonder you had to step away!

George said...

I didn't know many of the results early because the news I watch at noon didn't broadcast any 'spoilers', and I spent most afternoons out in the yard. I guess yard work is how I get away from computer 'time suck' for a few hours, at least.

Mental P Mama said...

I didn't have Internet or TV for almost two weeks. It was really nice. But now I'm all readdicted. It is a word. Is too.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I don't blame you one bit... We all do need to get off of these computers and get out there and see the big ole world.

We watched quite a bit of the Olympics ---but since we watch Fox News, they didn't give the results ahead of time.

Hugs,
Betsy

Busy Bee Suz said...

I was going to leave a comment here...but I've got a big world to explore.
LOL
XOXOXOXO

Desert Survivor said...

It is so good to unplug and get away--for awhile!!