The past couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. I moved into a new place, got married a week later, took off for Italy on our honeymoon and finally got back late Wednesday. Since I’ve been in a new place with no Internet and then on vacation overseas, I’ve essentially not used the Internet for two weeks. While I have been able to sneak a minute of free wi-fi here or there, I’ve really only been answering personal e-mails, leaving my RSS feeds, news sites and work e-mail completely alone.
The result has been unexpected- rather than feeling anxiety as my feeds pile up into the thousands and work e-mail surely threatens to completely overwhelm me on Monday, I’ve felt a certain degree of freedom. I got a card for my new library and have been devouring fiction, which has become a rare luxury. I’ve spent a lot of time with my new wife. I’ve done a little writing of short fiction and articles I’ve been meaning to get to.
I tend to be an information and news junkie, and spend hours each day trying to keep up. In the old days, I’d probably be one of those people who subscribed to three newspapers and every newsweekly they could get their hands on. The Internet multiplies the potential information we have access to by a massive number, and that, in itself, is overwhelming.
So will I retire to the mountains with a manual typewriter, riding my bike into town once a week to pick up the local paper as my only source of what’s going on in the world? Not quite. But I am thinking of taking an “Internet Sabbath” once a week to clear and refresh my mind. I guess I didn’t realize how much time and energy I spent keeping up on things until I was forced not to do it, and I found out not doing it was pretty nice.
Time to log off. I think I’ll go check out a book and catch a movie.
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