via SoxFirst
The Internet is an invention that both exponentially economized productivity and also made productivity secondary. The siren call of Facebook, the gravitational pull of Blogger, the thousands of Groupon-type emails in my inbox, just begging to be clicked and web-window-shopped. It's damn near inconceivable to attempt tackling a to-do list. The Internet Gods mock your to-do list. They laugh at your futile peasant ways. You are not getting anything done, and you know it.
This is a problem for me, this distraction. So I went to a coffee shop tonight to get some writing done, out of the reach of wi-fi. Well, turns out the place did have wi-fi, but I just logged in real quick, to check my email. No big deal, barely even counts. I disconnected, sipped my latte, opened a new Word doc, and stared at it. Turned the Internet back on and posted a quick blog post. Disconnected again. Stared some more. Started typing.
Lo and behold, I accomplished some writing. I set a goal to write five pages. I wrote two paragraphs, then the coffee shop closed. I went home and extended it to a full page. A page I don't hate. In fact, it might be pretty good, possibly. We'll see.
I'm making a resolution to turn off the Internet for an hour a day. I'm delaying sleep to record this resolution, which means I'm taking it very seriously, because I take sleep very seriously. The Internet is a fickle mistress, and I estimate the physical action of turning off the wi-fi connection will be therapeutic. I'll create a space dedicated to offline personal literacy in an attempt to become more fluent and articulate.
I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
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