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And, I'm Back

It's been more than a month since I last posted. Miss me? I would like to think you did. :)

 "Laura, where did you go?!?? What have you been doing all this time???"

 Well, between vacation, a family crisis, a new job/internship*, and Skyrim (kidding), I haven't had a lot of time for the Internet. So rather than try to juggle everything, I went on a self-imposed Internet hiatus.

 Observation: My productivity did not increase. Weird, I know -- turning off the Internet is supposed to limit your distractions and create time in which to get shit done. Apart from being too stressed out to do anything, though, I realized that most of my "productive" time happens on the Internet. Or at least on a computer. However, I barely touched my computer for all of June.

Result: I didn't do any of the work, reading, writing, connecting, stalking -- I mean, talking -- and relaxing I normally do online. And in place of this computer time, what exactly did I do? Write? Practice the cello? Knit? Read? Nope, nope, nope, and nope. At least, not any more than I normally do.

 Conclusion: I call B.S. on "the Internet is a time-waster" and "the Internet makes you frigid and disconnected" and "The Internet is such a distraction! If you just turn off your computer, you'll get so much more done!" LIES, I tell you. The truth is, if you don't want to be productive, then you won't be. You'll find your own distractions -- you don't need Facebook to create them for you.

Turning off the computer doesn't solve the real productivity problem -- which is not really wanting to do anything. There will always be distractions, online or off. The way you solve that is to grit your teeth and ignore them. Determine to do something, and get it done. Blaming the Internet is the easy way out.

 However, there's nothing wrong with taking a vacation. And I needed that vacation. But now I'm back, and nothing can save me from having to check my inbox.

 Bring on the emails...

*Unpaid, but it still counts as work experience! Woot!

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