Break away

I’m tired of the Internet. It’s been growing on me as of late. I want to take a break from this sea of insanity, the one thing that always seems to entertain me. That sure doesn’t seem practical since I work here, but I want to do it anyway. I’m thinking of just limiting my time on the Net to just work for a while to see how things go. Maybe I’ll check my email, maybe I won’t – we’ll see.

I do suppose I’ve gotten tired of the Internet before, but not as much as this. I’ve always thought I should be spending more time out of my desk chair and away from “the office”, which conveniently is also my studio where I live. It’s become apparent that the one thing I need more is reality, whether that be actual people – not to imply that you Internet folk aren’t real, just that you’re not the same, just like with texting and any other form of alternate communication other than that of the in-person verbal standard – or just the real world that I and everyone else has been missing this past decade.

The world has advanced – oh so fast, mind you. Its technology has advanced far beyond what we’d imagined twenty years ago to a gripping standstill. The Internet, beneficial as it be, has caused this standstill. It’s the hub for everything, the one source where you can learn whatever you want and likely talk to whoever you want in the world. Everyone’s on it even if they don’t want to be. It’s an invisible rope that ties you to your computer, the digital world, and everything else you don’t need to be so present in your daily life.

But what has become of the traditional daily life? People, even when “working”, browse Twitter, exchange emails, talk to friends via Facebook or text, and find other ways of distracting themselves. It’s the “age of communication”, but such “communication” is broken. What will happen to us? Will we end up like those helpless passengers of the Axiom from the beautiful Disney•Pixar film Wall•E? Will we lose all sense of verbal communication? I could ask questions all day, but that’s not even the point of this little article.

We’re all missing something, spending even mere minutes of time on the Internet. Outside there could be a rainstorm or a beautiful sunset, but you’re not there to see it because you’re like me right now: typing away on your MacBook Pro with nothing else to do with your day. The Internet has its place, but so do other people in your life and their place should be far above that of the Internet. I’d not like to go on record as saying that the former is bad, it’s just not as important as a real friendship with at least one person in your life.

What’s my plan, you’re probably wondering? I’m not going to do what Paul Miller at The Verge did and just leave completely because I work here and I don’t have the support to keep up such a ridiculous thing as completely leaving the Internet. I’m just downright tired of it. I want to experience the beautiful world that we have without being distracted by Twitter the whole time. When I’m bored, I don’t want to think about what I could be doing on my computer right then. I don’t want to keep living the over-digitized life of insanity where I live on the Internet.

In this day, it would seem that there’s no escape from the madness to which I am referring. There’s always an escape, though, and you just have to find it. I’m taking a break from my overdose of Internet, from certain people, from everything but real life – the one I’ve not been living these past five years. Lately, I’ve felt tied to the computer, as if I’d never get away due to stressing out about work or just having nothing else to do. Well, not anymore, my friends. I’m going to be serious, have some self control, and limit myself here.

I can’t go on being so disconnected in a “connected” world.