Today I'm back online, for the first time in a week. As I detailed last week in my previous post, I took a couple of days forgoing instant communication, just to see what it was like. The overall verdict? Life is much better without it.
I found aside from having more time to do other things, I found life was in part more enjoyable. This I would attribute to not looking to see if anyone contacted me or seeing what other people have been up to. It was nice to just have my own little world, and have some distance between me and my friends. Now, I'm not trying to say I didn't want to see my friends, but most people I'm sure would be familiar with the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder", and I definitely found this to be true this week. When I did see my friends, it was more fun and enjoyable, and the conversations more interesting, I could ask them what they'd been up to during the week, and not already know, thanks to Twitter or Facebook. It was definitely a more enjoyable week.
This week, I found plenty of things to fill my time, rather than checking my e-mails every five minutes. I went for a five hour bike ride on Tuesday, (note; I was out for five hours, not riding for five hours straight), played cards and had dinner with friends. Spent a day wandering around the wonderful city of Melbourne with a friend, and I played a LOT of guitar, which earned me some callouses on my fingertips. I also spent some time watching movies, playing some video games, and even had a night at Dark Zone (Laser Tag).
My plan wasn't an entire success though, I gave up in part on SMS-ing, as I kept receiving messages from people which required a response, though I did not send any unnecessary messages to anyone.
Now having completed my little experiment, I've come to a few decisions. Having enjoyed my time "offline" so much in comparison with being "online" all the time, I've decided to keep reading blogs but once a day, and I'll check my e-mails twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the evening. Facebook will be receiving the same treatment as e-mail, and for Twitter, because I use Twitterific, I'm thinking I'll use it while I'm on the computer, and I'll use it on my iPhone if I think I've found something worth Twittering about, but otherwise, it's going to be stuck to the computer only.
Other small little things I discovered this week, are how nice it is to receive a handwritten letter, or a phone call from someone, rather than an e-mail or SMS. Call me old fashioned, but I think they're nicer.
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