Social experiement in internet deficiency
On the heels of talking about how to manage your presence on the web, I am presented with an opportunity to experiment with how much I am present here at all. Extended presence does not equal extended productivity, of course. More and more I find myself surfing aimlessly, looking up references I don’t use and refreshing the same sites instead of actually working on my art. Well, here’s my chance to do something about it.
Last weekend I moved into a new place in West Seattle, and it is perfect in every way except that there is no internet. No dsl, no wi-fi, no unsecured wireless networks around to “borrow” from. While it might seem unthinkable at first, this is a perfect chance to fight the distractions of the interwebs! A chance to conquer my bad surfing habits.
The official countdown started yesterday, April 16th. My goal is one month of no internet connection at home. This doesn’t mean I’ll be off the web entirely—I can still surf during brakes at work, answer e-mail and comments and the like. And my blackberry is connected to business e-mail so I can fulfill all Etsy orders in a timely manner.
The pros and cons so far:
+ free time to play with cat, clean, stretch, think!
- can’t upload files/photos from home - problem solved with the purchase of a flash drive.
+ I already “found” the time to do a few sketches yesterday
- cannot update finances in Quicken. Possible solution: bring laptop to work
+ hopefully now I can make some progress on Artist’s Way, and institute the habit of sketching for 1 hour every day!
Results to follow. :)
