Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: What You Are Doing Right Now Is Addicting
I read an interesting article in the latest edition of Newsweek and it is a bit ironic that I am sharing the article with you here...on the internet. It came as no surprise to me, as I read the article Is The Onslaught Making Us Crazy? by Tony Dokoupil, to learn that research is now indicating that our internet use leads to "behavior that people are conscious is not in their best interest and does leave them anxious and does make them act compulsively." The article goes on to say that "the digital connection to depression and anxiety was also once a near laughable assertion" and that now numerous studies are finding that "the more a person hangs out in the global village (internet), the worse they are likely to feel" and that "Web use often displaces sleep, exercise, and face-to-face exchanges, all of which can upset even the chirpiest soul." I'm not sure if you've noticed any impact of your internet use in your own life. I know I have. I notice the urge to run to check my inbox, my blog, my YouTube channel. The urge to move from page to page on the Internet. I notice that the urge rears its ugly head frequently during the course of a day...or even an hour! It is not the technology itself that is the problem - it is about the boundaries we set in using it. So I am determined to begin with making myself aware of the urges and then beginning to dial back on my actual time on-line. I am hoping to figure out a schedule where I can do all my weekly posts in one sitting and designate a certain block of time for each day where I will do my searches, respond to email, and interact with "the Net." Recognize that the behavior of being on-line is addicting. Peter Whybrow, the director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, was quoted in the article as saying, "the computer is like electronic cocaine," fueling cycles of mania followed by depressive stretches. I don't know about you, but that is not a cycle I want to be a part of! So, please, be aware of how reliant you are on your technology. While I so enjoy your stopping by and enjoying my blog, I would enjoy it a lot more if I knew you were visiting as part of a conscious and structured plan for maintaining a healthy relationship between you and your computer :)I had a lot of fun creating some of my own tissue paper tape for today's project! Here is a video to show you how!!!! Enjoy :)
1 comment:
First, let me say that I am very inspired by this tissue tape project. Your instructions are so clear and make it seem so doable, I will have to give it a try soon.
I have gone through periods where this lovely thing "the computer" has led me to give up so much of my time looking at things, reading things, even playing games, that I get very annoyed with myself when I finally glance down at the clock and see how much time I've let go by. It's too easy to go from one thing to the next so quickly that you don't really realize how much time you are investing. Lately I've been so absorbed in completing a project at home that there have been a couple of days that I have actually not turned on my laptop at home.
I am also trying to plan my posts ahead (though there hasn't been a lot to post about - again the big project). I'll sit down and at least load the pictures into posts and save them until I can go back and add the verbiage. But I always have to remind myself not to go wandering around the internet when I'm supposed to be doing something else.
You've struck a cord with this topic and I could go on, but I will stop now.......just looked at the clock! :)
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