Last weekend, a good friend of
mine wrote me an email. The email was sent on Saturday which I didn’t read or
respond until late Sunday afternoon. An urgent favour was asked in the email,
so in the reply that I sent, I (kind of) apologized for my late response. I
explained that the reason of the delay was because the Internet is one of the
most unreliable ways to contact me on the weekends or when I’m on holiday.
Why?
If I had life principles, switching myself off the net during weekends and
holidays would be one of them.
Here’s the reason.
My job requires me to sit in front of a laptop, to explore and search online
databases and electronic journals, to write reports and to do quantitative and
qualitative research analyses. I do some outdoor works but it covers only 25%
of my total responsibilities. I work Monday to Friday and (thankfully) from 7AM
to 4PM.
In short, the Internet and the company laptop hold the monopoly of more than
half of my waking hours in one week.
That, plus the time I spend online outside the working hours.
I can endlessly browse Amazon
and HMV,
bargain hunt on eBay,
browse for music and movies to download, read serious and entertaining news, watch anime for free
without wasting my hard drive space, look for and dream about a future job
though the current one already makes me more than just happy, and other
useful/useless things the Internet and I can think of.
But, I’ll stress this again, I try not to do that on the weekends and
holidays. Believe me, it’s not that hard and most of the time I manage to keep
my promise to myself.
And to be honest, I prefer having my laptop to go kaput because it’s
time to buy for a new one to myself being burnt out because I’ve got
an unhealthy attachment with the Internet and my laptop.
Not that I wish my laptop to die on me now, but you get the idea, don’t
you?
There’s this Internet Addiction Test I found and I think the source
is pretty legit. I completed the test about 5 minutes ago. I scored 25, which
means that I’m an average online user who at times logs on a bit too long but
still has control. If I did the test eight or ten years ago, I’d probably be categorized
as a severe addict, who’d score between 80-100 points, whose Internet usage
causes significant problems in real life.
Eight years ago, I couldn’t imagine life without the Internet. I went chatting
on mIRC daily. My ICQ number was still 7 digits
(I still remembered the number). I had close virtual friends which some I’d met
in person and became real good friends. I dated some blokes I met online. I was
famous for my misleading identities in some online forums. I often slept 2
hours day because I couldn’t leave my online games idle. I was so into the
virtual life that my undergraduate thesis was about IRC considerably novel
topic in social research conducted by someone whose major was not even in IT,
computer science, or communications.
[ cinta stevani ] Saaaay, kamu kemana sih?
[ cinta steven ] Aduh maaf, cinta. Aku barusan ke disko!
[ cinta stevani ] Hah? Ke disko? Jam 2 siang? Apaan sih?
[ cinta steven ] Maksudku… tadi internetnya keputus. Disconnect.
[ cinta stevani ] Oh!!! Hahahaha…
[ cinta steven ] Maaf ya cinta.
[ cinta stevani ] Gak papa kok.
[ cinta steven ] Ya udah cinta, besok kita jadi ketemuan di PIM?
[ cinta stevani ] Iya, dong! Kamu jadi pake polo shirt biru sama bawa mawar
warna pink?
[ cinta steven ] Jadi! Kamu pake terusan warna pink kan?
[ cinta stevani ] Iya, muka kamu cute dan belon berubah kan? Masih sama kayak di jpeg yang kamu
kirim 3 hari lalu kan?
[ cinta steven ] Kamu juga masih cantik kan?
Rambut kamu masih panjang kan kayak Dian Sasro?
[ Cerita nyata tapi bukan berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi. Ini curhatan
seseorang yang gua analisa buat skripsi gue. Si Steven yang nekat dan
malang
ini ketemuan offline
sama cewek cantik yang ternyata a possessive stalker dan agak2 psycho.
Kasian? Well...
]
After almost 2 years of delay, I finally got my degree and at the same time, I
sort of passed and ditched that maniacal period. Online chats no longer attract
me. My MSN, YM and GTalk accounts are neglected.
But of course, compared to those old days, there are now loads of other things
that Internet users can do online besides chatting with strangers.
From buying and selling
stuff to giving
out and receiving stuff for free.
From blogging to printing your blog and selling it in
hard copies.
From renting a house to buying a property in other countries.
From making your holiday reservations to getting married or a divorce.
From finding your old
mates to promoting
your new band.
From downloading box office movies to uploading your own movies.
From innocent Google
browsing to making the Internet as your last resting place.
There’s so much to see, to try, to taste, to love.
The Internet is a friendly environment to visit.
It’s a friendly and cool place to hang out!
It’s got numerous sources of a huge variety of information.
Some might even say that there’s no limit on the net.
Yet, an individual’s preferences (and limits) can be quite different from
others’.
It turns out that I still rely more on my own abilities to see, touch, taste,
hear, smell and feel than what my LCD screen tells me.
I enjoy the occassional sincere real hugs better than the daily *HUUUUGS*
I’d like to see the real you instead of some blurred delayed images via
webcam.
There are always places I want to go, attractions I want to see, games of life
I want to play. Things that not even the higher status in Kaskus or the cheap bids on
eBay or the high scores in Orisinal
and Ragnarok
or other the so-called online social interactions can give me the same
satisfaction.
So, yes, my love.
Don’t use email if you want my speedy response on the weekends or when I’m on
annual leave.
Text me.
Call me.
Or even come over (if you can).
Anything, but the Internet-supported communications.
[ But if you can't think of any other ways, darling, no worries. My mobile's
got 3G features. *LOL* ]
So what about you lot?
Are you able to disconnect yourself when you want to?
Or do you need your whole neighbourhood to drag you off the computer desk?
You know what, my friend who sent me an email last Saturday thought that living
unvirtually on the weekends to be a good idea and she’s going to try it!
I wish her good luck. *winks*
I’m sorry about the other weekend. I got ill
