Journal: News & Comment

Addiction

Permalinks to this entry: individual page or in monthly context. For more material from my journal, visit my home page or the archive.

Jeremy Wright was unable to go a single weekend without using his computer, despite a public declaration on his website. In fact:

I was probably on half a dozen times. My wife wasn't very impressed. I'm sure this means I'm addicted, but I'm not sure I want treatment.

Anyways, one of the reasons I was on is that I finally, finally got a laptop that works. A gorgeous Sony Vaio. So far I'm very happy with it, but I'll give it a few days before pronouncing it "dreamy".

I managed to pickup Burnout 3 on Friday and played a fair amount of it this weekend.

So on a weekend he planned not to use his computer at all, he got a new one (or at least started working with one he'd just gotten), bought a new video game, and played it a whole lot. Either it was a bad weekend to pick, or Jeremy does have a bit of a problem. This isn't a slag on Jeremy—many of us have the same kind of addiction.

My advice: Try actually turning off the computer for a weekend. Really. Unplug it (or them, if you have several). Put the keyboard and mouse and power cord on a high shelf in your closet. Resist the temptation to reconnect everything "just for a minute." Avoid Internet cafés and your friends' and relatives' machines for checking webmail or anything.

The surprise? The world doesn't come crashing down. You get out more. Your e-mail piles up, but so what? I take such a break from time to time, sometimes (when going on vacation) for a week or more.

If you find you simply can't do it, take some more drastic measures. Ship your computer to a friend or relative for a week, and tell them not to let you have it back. It's worth taking a serious, real away time from your computer now and then.

The cell phone too, by the way.

 |