stop wasting time on the internet

This is a huge problem for me. I’m pretty much addicted to the internet, sometimes spending over 6 hours a day on it! (sad I know!) Fortunately I’ve come to the realization that 99% of information on the internet is irrelevant and pointless for me. I’m better off not being aware of it. So the main approach of my plan of action is to cut all links to news or anything that would tempt me to waste time. However the hardest part is to get over the feeling that I’m missing out on information (which is pointless), but this requires discipline. I won’t be able to cut out the internet completely, but the more time I can save the better so I’m going to try hard to cut my time to 30 minutes in the future!

What I’ve done so far:
- restricted daily usage to 3 hours (hope to bring this down to 30 minutes!)
- blocked the useless sites I usually waste time on or sites that would tempt me to waste time
- changed my homepage to google so I won’t be tempted by news headlines
- unsubscribed to all of my feeds
- deleted old favorites, archived important favorites
- deleted useless social networking accounts and email subscriptions
- cleaned email and created folders for organization
- uninstalled online games
- created reminders to get off the internet!

I’m also going to try to turn this addiction into an addition to drawing. That way I have something I want to do other than being on the internet, causing me to get off the internet to draw! Of course this will probably take a lot of dedication, but I guess I’ll have to find out what happens in a month. Until then I need to stop writing these entries or make them shorter because they take up enough time as it is. :P

GOAL: 1 month (December 13, 2009)

make a wish: http://www.real-wishes.com

wishes

I unsubscribed the 2 groups I followed on Thunderbird.
They were not taking so much time to read/contribute, but they were a constant distraction. And I have to learn to feel at ease with not knowing everything that happens in the world.

I’m going to reduce my time on the Internet eliminating the websites I visit one at a time. First victim is FML. This site is a major time waster and it provides nothing to my life. So good riddance!

I just updated my facebook status saying that this was my last status of 2009, and that people can throw rocks at me if I fail.

It’s a baby step towards more free time… Actually, to acheive my other goals, I need to be more creative, to spend a lot of time alone with no distraction, being bored and finding ways to CREATE something to escape this boredom.
Updating my status has been so far the easiest way to escape boredom. It justed catched me everytime I was at the gate of boredomland. It won’t happen anymore for 2 months : i’ll have to dig elsewhere… Comments & “likes” will be kept small and under control.

Yes, it’s a baby step. But they are the most beautiful ones.

(I’m French, why do you thing I have this outrageous accent ?)

I think I have been doing a much better job with this as time goes on but overall it has not been so much in reduction as it has been in redirection. Yes I will have to admit that I have been spending a little less time online as time goes on but the quality of the existing time has been going up. Instead of spending time on sites that have little to nothing to show for themselves or even remember in a day or two I have been spending more time on Spark People which supports my weight loss goals, as well as a few online prayer book sites which support a number of my goals. Also I’ve been spending more time on email thanks to DailyLit reading ebooks but I think classical literature is not a waste of time in the same way that mindlessly following link after link on Youtube for hours on end.

I really need to stop wasting my time on the Internet. Need to lessen the need to check my facebook or tweets. Most of the time I’m also looking out for news or updates. or just browsing through some random sites i can think of or come across.

at the end of the day, i realised i didnt do anything much.

i was cured before. and now, ever since mj’s death, i keep on wasting my time reading, watching news about him. its like filling up my 23 years of not knowing him. ps. i was never a fan until his death. whoss bad??? i know, im bad.

I waste so much time on the net. YouTube, Itunes, looking up lyrics, playing games… time just flies by and I realize I haven’t really accomplished anything. It drives me nuts!

I need to:
- track how much time I spend online. maybe that will give me a wakeup call
- develop a new hobby that doesn’t involve the Internet.

between useful interaction on the net and wasting time. Let’s try to aim for the first.