Listen to presences inside poems,
Let them take you where they will.
— Rumi, Essential Rumi,
tr. Coleman Barks, p. 99
Still January 26, 2009
Here’s what Automated Weather Man from Gray, Maine, says tonight:
-12 to -5 tonight
Tues mostly sunny high about 20
Tues night mostly clear, becoming mostly cloudy around 10
Winter storm watch for Wednesday, moderate snow accumulation
Wed night low 10-15
Yay!! Warming up! Nice stuff falling out of sky!
But this is my weather life. What had taken up so much time in detail—and it’s not a bad way to spend time, tinkering with the weather, but still—this was 25 minutes of time a day, reading and re-reading the updated forecasts, looking at radar, reading watches and warnings and advisories. Getting hopes up, getting let down, or fulfilled sometimes. 25 minutes a day, now 5.
Oops, just went to the dashboard to use the calc, and there was the weather widget, showing the current temp at the airport (1 F) and the little snow icon for wed. OOPS! I confess. I was just on the internet for a moment.
OK, found sci calc. 25x365 is over 30 hours a year. More than an entire day and night. Just reading about the weather!
OK, if we’re going to go that far….let’s say I averaged 2.5 hours a day on the internet. This is: sitting down to check email, googling, researching, IMing, checking the weather.
That comes to….whoa. 38 days a year. Roughly 5.5 weeks a year, day and night.
This is a conservative estimate. It was probably more like 3 hours a day. There have been many nights when I could not sleep and I would be on the internet for 2-3 hours researching all kinds of topics in addition to time during the day. That’s 45 ½ days a year, or six-and-a-half weeks a year, day and night.
So, I’ve been on the internet quite a bit for the last 12 years. Just for the sake of estimates, let’s say I’ve been spending 6 solid weeks a year on the internet for 12 years. Are you ready?
72 weeks. 18 months. A year and a half of checking / writing email, researching, buying, reading web sites, googling, IMing, etc.
So in the last 12 years, only 10.5 of those years have been spent in some form of awareness of where I actually was sitting, living, sleeping. And this is only screen time. This doesn’t include the stolen moments anticipating and processing (“A&P”), which I think double or triple the time. Let’s be conservative and only double that time:
Screen time + A&P time:
12 weeks a year / 3 solid months, or 25% of my life
Total over the last 12 years: 3 years, or 25% of my life.
Now, that’s 25% of my LIFE, and it was spent during my waking hours only. Waking hours are 2/3 of my day on average, so what percentage of my WAKING LIFE have I spent on the internet in the last 12 years? I don’t know if I can do math that complicated anymore!
Let’s try.
37.5% of my waking time spent in screen time & A&P time. Over a third of my waking life consumed by the internet.
This is taking into account going to camp and being offline for a week at a time, as well as working as a web professional and working wired constantly for 8-10 hours at a time.
A&P time isn’t the same, but it does represent a significant departure from really being here and now.
So, now comes the big, “So what?” That is exactly what this book is about.
Posts
That 2.5 hours was previously 6 hours spent on (1) fumbling thru yellow pages, (2) digging out maps to figure out how to get to your kid's friends house, (3) playing phone tag with 10 other family members to coordinate a summer reunion, (4) going to the library to research that strange bump you found on your leg, and (5) etc, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat 2.5 digital hours may not be necessarily better than the former 6 "analog" hours, but I know I feel I can get a lot more done today that I could even ten years ago.
A working dad like myself even 20 years ago would've been a detached dad (coming home at 7-8p after a full day at work with a long commute). I have much more flexibility now and have been given the opportunity to spend time with my kid growing up.
The internet has been a real blessing for me.
Hey You Mon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading & writing & posting your thoughts....and sorry if any of this torques off anyone (hence the disclaimer on the side). Some of it even torques me off...as in "How on earth could she say something so abominable?? How completely self-righteous."
Oh wait. That was me, a year ago. <>
I totally concur with everything you said. The internet can be a real blessing for me as well...if I can keep it from interfering with my life (not a problem for a lot of people)...keeping in touch with family out of state, friends from all over the world. And the fact that without it Jeff wouldn't have a job. And so on.
The experiment was largely because social usage of the internet for me had become so automatic I couldn't stay away and really didn't think it was possible for me to drop. I realized that because of that one face I wouldn't read another long book, ever.
I had one year when I could be off the internet....the first in twelve years.
The time usage thing was a huge eye-opener for me.
Thanks again for reading and sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
Blessings to you & your family --
Not torqued at all. Actually, not really sure what torqued means! Must be New England slang. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI find your experiment fascinating and adventurous (expect no less from you) and puts perspective on the downsides of being digital.
I am just here to remind you of the upside every so often.
Absolutely. Please. I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeletefrom urbandictionary.com: "torqued: angry, mad, upset." Here in the gearhead capital of the east this is a common term! (and the polite version of the more common phrase.)
Actually....if someone really does get torqued, that will be wicked interesting and telling in and of itself.