spend less time on the computer

I’m going to try to limit my time to 1 hr/day. If I can do this for two weeks straight I’m going to call this done. Wish me luck.

I will write this goal off as completed. Although I am not perfect I am spending less time on the computer and not playing games. Also having a quicker connection helps 22/08/07.

It is lameity lame to not want to be on the computer.

The computer is not a priority. Unless, of course, I’m researching or something.

I really need to decrease the amount of time I spend on here. I can definately start using that time on something more important.

This is going to help me set my priorities straight.
For now, I’ll start out by saying…spend no more than an hour a day on the computer. Gradually, I’ll lessen that.

:)

Writing down my 43 things… Jeez… and one of my 43 goals are: Spend less in time on the computer… What a paradox.

it’ll be kind of impossible (or at least heavy) to do this during my holidays… because all of my friends are on a trip or something and besides reading there’s really nothing to do for me… first i was thinking about doing some sports but because of this shitty rainy weather I’m not gonna do that :D … well, i could do some “creative work”, one of my other “things”

any ideas, how to spend time at home in a more or less productive way? would be great!

thanxx guys :)

Because I am ill at home does not mean that I need to spend every waking hour on the bloddy computer. I haven’t been reading as much lately. I really enjoy psychological thrillers. Besides it’s boring…I am no longer expanding my mind..unless I am researching, but still I have found myself squinting lately…no good.

would probably make my social life more active, give me more social skills (which i really need)

you know this web site isn’t helping…
haha

Well, I’m all set up now, it’s just a matter of waiting awhile to make the inevitable tweaks (fixing pages that get blocked that shouldn’t, etc.).

TimeBoss seems to be working very well so far. My only beef is that the filtering/whitelist function didn’t seem to be working properly – I think it’s a matter of an Internet Add-on that goes with it not installing right somehow. But I added a free internet filter (from www.parentaltools.net) and that seems to work just as well, though it took me awhile to set all the settings so that each account is filtered to the right level.

So now my poor old computer has four accounts instead of two:

My roommate’s: No blocks or limits at all. She knows not to tell me her password.
My own normal one: Time limits and very lenient content restrictions (I just don’t need that stuff popping up when I don’t want it).
Restricted account: The one that’s always available, with access only to my primary email, word processors/office programs and a few carefully chosen web sites (eg. internet banking).
Boss/Admin: The account from which I can administer the two filter/limit programs. The password for that one will be getting hidden with the others.

If I ever have guests over I can always turn on a guest account for them, though this in itself will be a temptation for myself – we’ll see. If necessary I can always take away my own admin privileges, though it will drive me crazy if I do. I really, really wish that Windows vista had a better system of granting admin rights. Ah well.

We’ll see how this goes. Once I’m pretty sure I’ve got things the way I want them, the passwords will be changed and I’ll lock them up!

Okay, I’m admitting I have a problem. I spend way too much time on the computer. At work I pretty much have to, but I spend too much of my leisure time ensconced in front of the monitor or with my laptop on my lap on the sofa. There’s very little I do on the computer that I’d want to stop entirely, but I really need to cut down on it and get the rest of my life moving.

I wanted to share with you what I’m in the process of doing in case anyone is interested.

I’ve tried just trying to use willpower and restrict myself to certain times of day, no computer on a certain day, etc. but I can never hold myself to it. I do it for a few days, then cave. I’ve tried a few strategies, but willpower is always the issue. If I know a password, I’ll use it. If the computer’s there, I’ll turn it on. So right now, I’m in the process of getting draconian with myself.

I’m setting up my computer with ‘parental’ control software – I’m currently vetting different programs to find the one I want – that will lock me out of the computer at certain times of day. I’m leaving a ‘restricted’ account free anytime that has access only to my primary email and word processors, etc., so that if I need to print off a document or something I can.

So far the best program I’ve found for this purpose is called “Time Boss” (google it) – it seems to have pretty close to all the options I’m looking for. Now let’s see how well it works!

Once I’ve got all the settings where I want them and worked out all the kinks, I plan to change the password to something long and alphanumeric that I’ll never be able to remember, then write it down and store it in a locked drawer at work. Thus I can access it if I need to, but it will be damn inconvenient to do so, and I’ll be unlikely to go get the password without very good reason.

Right now my limits are very loose as I get started on this goal – an hour locked out before work, an hour after work, and three hours on Saturday afternoon, plus a limit of a certain number of hours total per day. Eventually I plan to increase the limits/decreased my allowed time until I’m using the computer at least half of what I do now, or until my other activities begin to top the computer in attractiveness.

So far this is working well for my laptop, though my desktop might be a little more complicated as I share that computer with my roommate, and I don’t want to put any restrictions on her!

If anyone’s interested I’ll keep you updated how it goes.