Friday, March 27, 2009

A Blog Holiday - Can You Do It?

Okay, so I'm a self-proclaimed addict to the Internet. Facebook. Rallystorm. Querytracker Forum. Blogger. I love it all.

Especially blogger. So I made myself a deal. Go one day without opening blogger, without reading a single blog post, no commentary. Nada. Cold turkey. Step away from the computer and no one gets hurt.

I didn't think I could do it. You see, I have to read what all of you are doing. I follow, I don't know, like a billion people. What if something happened and I needed to comment?

You see my dilemma.

But I did it. Chose a date. Vowed not to open blogger or read any blogs. No. Matter. What.

I chose a bad date, and I'm just now seeing that any date is a bad date. But I chose Wednesday, March 18. The day after ABNA results came out. Yeah, well, so what, right? Right.

I went dark. No blogger. I made sure my Wednesday post was ready to go up and I moderated the comments. You may have noticed (because I know you all take notes on what I do, *snarf*) that I didn't respond to any commenters on Wednesday. I really wanted to. Couldn't.

Didn't read any blogs.

I did it. I didn't die or anything. There was only that one time I felt shaky and then I realized I hadn't eaten yet and I'd been on QTF for like an hour. So yeah.

It can be done. But you know what I did the next day? Spent like, f-o-r-e-v-e-r trying to get caught up on my blog reading! *snarf, snarf, snarf*

But you tell me. What would be hard for you to give up for one day? (Family is a given, peeps.) For me, chocolate, blogging and music top the list. What would you struggle with?

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Computer/internet. My life and the computer are completely inseparable like sound needs waves. I NEED that outside contact. I'm really a social butterfly trapped in a glass jar, albeit a large glass jar, but still! Must. escape. somehow...

I'm also a change addict. I need that too. I go mad with the mundane. The furniture has been in the same place for a month? Oh, gotta switch it around. We've lived here for almost two years? It is really time to move... Yes, that makes me slightly nutty. I'll take it.

lisa and laura said...

Internet is by far the hardest thing for me to give up. I seriously started to get itchy while we were on vacation...

My hubs is convinced I have a computer addiction or something and he's probably right, but I guess when you stumble across something that you really love (writing) and find a whole big community of people with the same interests as you, it's hard to not want to be a part of it, you know?

Eventually I need to get better at balancing though....eventually.

Janet said...

Wow - I don't think I could do a "Blog Holiday". Over on Erika's blog (whodoesntlovebooks.blogspot.com) she posted her woes of being without the internet for 5 days - 5 days! That would drive me insane.

Coffee is another thing I couldn't live without.

Pen and paper - I'm always scribbling ideas, information, to do lists, reminders. I don't think I could go an hour without pen and paper, let alone a day.

I commend you for your blog holiday - I only hope it doesn't catch on and become a stat holiday :)

Anonymous said...

Let's see...internet would be hard...thouh I've done that when I travel without my laptop...family is really hard, but I've done that so...when I go on retreat (silent retreat - talk about hard).

I think the hardest thing for me would be a sensory depreivation day - no music, no natural sounds (birds, etc) to fill the void, no family, no books, NO NOTHING...

definitely hard...

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

Last summer, I went camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota -- in the middle of Custer State Park, where there was no cell phone or internet access.

I thought I would go crazy, but I learned quickly that I wouldn't die without being connected.

But I'm never leaving again. :-)

Danyelle L. said...

The computer and the Internet, for sure. I'd never realized how much I research (besides the social research of blogging) I did until the Internet died. For a week. :'(

Writing and reading would be hard too. I only write six days, but it's hard to take time off even if it is to rest and recharge.

Annie Louden said...

Checking email.
And I'm sorry to say, but TV. If there is a TV around, I'll watch it.
When I was on my honeymoon, in the gorgeous South Pacific, we had no TV. And we really missed it. It is just something so nice to veg with in the evenings.

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

OMG this is so funny because I just posted about my Forced - not only blog, but all of Internet holiday. And I hate this holiday more than the Grinch hated Christmas.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Yup, sadly, blogging is at the top of my list. *SIGH*

I take a week's vacation and then freak out the next week trying to catch up on the 300 posts I missed. You'd think I was obsessed or something...

Jennifer said...

Internet and blogging make the top of the list...which is sad...and then writing. Shoot. The Internet even trumped writing.

Rachael said...

Computer/Internet. My life almost literally revolves around this laptop. I've thought about it before and guessed that between Friday, Saturday and Sunday I must spend at least 24 hours on the computer. I've been known to play for 10 hours straight on Saturday. Probably not good, but I really don't care. Most of my friends are online since most people I know in real life are far worse. Plus if I gave up the computer I'd also have to give up my writing.

Second thing is reading. I love to read just as much as I love to write.

Second thing is my music. I listen to calm down, I listen to wake up, I listen to settle down for a writing session, I listen to block out background noise. Music is so much to me. I'm listening to it right now, hoping to go on a writing kick.

ND_Green said...

The internet. I am *so* addicted. This is why I do most of my studying at Starbucks, where the internet is not free. Speaking of which, I should get there now...

Unknown said...

I feel your pain! I've survived without internet for three whole days.

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