The Black Holes of Cyber Space October 27, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Fun & Games, Humor, Mindfulness.Tags: Facebook, FourSquare, Pinterest, Social Media, StumbleUpon, Twitter
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Do you hear that strange sucking sound?
slp*slp*slp*slp*slp*slp*slp*slp*slp*slp
That’s the sand in your hourglass slipping away, vaporized as a result of your addiction to the latest and greatest high-speed pressurized pasteurized gizmo, game, and/or social media gadget.
Pinterest, Texting, E-mail, GPS, LinkedN, Web Surfing, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Tumblr, FourSquare, etc., have become giant Techno Time Sucks.
The Black Holes of Cyber Space.
There’s an App for That!
The more focused we become on keeping up with the ridiculous fodder tossed around by others, the less time we have to live.
Too bad we cannot add minutes to our lifespan the way we can with our family plan.
The minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years we spend glued to screens in an ever-deepening hypnoptic trance can never be reclaimed.
Time, once sucked down a Techno Turnip Hole, is water over the dam, gone for good. Or bad.
When we stumble away from StumbleUpon, express disinterest in Pinterest, opt for Real Time Face Time (rather than patrolling Facebook), we reclaim the reins and can tune in to what really matters to us.
Can you hear me now?
Aah . . . that’s better!
Related posts: Is Social Media and the Latest Techno Gizmo Driving You Crazy? (Piglet in Portugal) * #178 (Me Myself & I) *75 Waggish Ways to Waste Time * Blogging: A Waggish Waste of Time? * The Black Hole of the Internet (Maggie Madly Writing) * Down The Blog Hole * I Do TOO Have A Life! * My Name is Piper George and I am an Apple Addict (Talk about Cheesecake)
Yay! I could not agree more. I’m just off to a residential creative writing course in 30mins and I’m So excited. AND I’m NOT taking my computer so I can’t even be tempted to see what’s going on!
Yay! Have a wonderful time at the creative writing course, PiP!
Your post, and Irene’s, got me thinking about this again. Most of the summer, I spent little or no time at the keyboard ~ I paid bills and deleted most e-mails and blog notifications. I didn’t turn on the TV or watch any movies. I had no time to spend that way and I found I didn’t miss having an internet presence.
Now, I’m sitting at the computer for long stretches again and I’m wondering if it’s time well spent. Time will tell.
Well, Nancy I have expelled my Facebook account into that black hole you speak about and have never looked back. My Twitter account is still active, but developing cobwebs everyday due to me no longer venturing there and using it, so I have gained some time back that way. BUT I blog and I love it. You could say I have merely moved into a different hourglass!
Have a good Saturday!
I’m like you, Tom . . . I spend no time web crawling, twitter trawling, or pinning on pinterest.
I’m too far down the blog hole to notice other social media.
I stick to my blog and the blogs I follow. I don’t tweet, no interest in Pinterest, FaceBook creeps me out(I have never been on FaceBook), I don’t enjoy playing games unless they are board games at a table, I text very little in fact my phone is not my friend. I don’t know how people have time for all that I just barely stay on top of commenting to the blogs I want to comment on. Over two blog posts a week and I am befuddled. Today we are off to CH’s Mom’s to take her deck off so they can raise her foundation that sunk down during the drought. I do love playing with my pictures in editing programs and reading my Nook. Geesh, I don’t know what Stumble whatever is!
I’m much the same, Pix. My cell phone is a phone. For making calls. It sits quietly in my purse 25 days out of 30.
When I first joined Facebook, I spent time scrolling through what my “friends” posted . . . I soon realized that most of their status updates were fluff. They were just talking to hear themselves talk. So I stopped listening.
Hope you have a lovely fall day to disconnect the deck.
I just did a similar post. Amazing isn’t it? Since I don’t have a life, the internet fills that void. I’m not a really a social being, so interacting with people is uncomfortable for me. I find more comfort in chatting with people via the web. I have more friends on here than I do in real life. Sad, but true. It’s a control thing I guess. But some of the sites have become monsters in their own right. I’m not part of them. Instagram for instance. Or 4Square. No, I really don’t need to know who’s at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. Alot of these are more for the younger crowd like Tumblr. Even Facebook. Twitter is a great source for news and blogs. Stumbleupon as well. My son’s know a lot more sites than I do. I do realize I spend a lot of time on here so I make sure I step away and get exercise or just go for a stroll outside.
I loved your post, Irene ~ there’s a link to it in the “Related Posts” section. Second from the top ~ #178.
I’m good about getting up and walking away from the keyboard when we have something to do outside the house. But if I’m home, I gravitate towards the beckoning screen:
Must. Check. E-mails.
Not sure if it’s gravity . . . or a more magnetic lure.
Godforbid we miss something, right?
It’s funny . . . isn’t it? There are thousands of newspaper and magazine articles that I miss each and every day because I’m not a subscriber. But, once subscribed, I feel I must at least flip through the pages. Or cyber pages.
Tumblr is indeed a huge black hole. Sometimes we do need to pull the plug on the Internet and get out into the sunshine with real people. Good post!
After writing this, I was looking for links to include and stumbled into your terrific post “Black Holes of the Internet” . . . I did not use StumbleUpon to find it.
The more “connected” we are . . . the more “disconnected” we can become in the HERE and the NOW. Cyber space is a vast place. It’s easy to lose oneself in its reaches.
I can not afford to go on line at home, so I use the computers at my local library. I’m only here for 2&1/2 to 3 hours a day, on 4 days a week. That’s all the time I need to get everything done, with a lot of time to spare; so I do not have the problem you’re discussing here.
Hmm . . . maybe that’s what I need to do! Donate my computer (and its Gremlins) to science . . . and use the computers at the library on a more limited basis.
This is true. Cyberspace eats time, so fast you can look up and thirty minutes are gone by in a second. A timely warning, Nancy.
I may have to adopt a few more Cyber-Free days . . . to encourage myself to step away from the keyboard.
Regular cyber-free days is a good idea.
The more interests we have away from the keyboard, the more balanced life becomes. Aah . . . that’s better!
Word playground to tumble in… Now off to get on FaceTime.
Watch where you tumble, WWS!
Why what’s the fun in that?
Yay a new name!
Just keep the playgrounds coming!
Your word jungle gyms are the bomb!
And on a more pensive note…. ; ) I went to a wonderful “seminar/conversation” yesterday…about the mind’s perception of and relationship to “time”…extending into how we sense it, use it, experience the moment and it’s passing…and extending to how we make choices about our time… I do get lost in cyber space time, (blogging, not the others…yet) but my mind got even more tumble-dy in the abstract thinking about this idea!..but it’s fascinating! Away I go…maybe I’ll check out pinterest????
Your seminar on time sounds fascinating, Kathy. Everything we choose to do carries a concommittant choice not to do all the other things we could be doing at that moment in time. It fair boggles the mind.
BTW: I followed a link back to pinterest once . . . and found a collection of links to posts by ME . . . which led me straight back here!
The computer is addictive. And now I have a Nook so even more internet time. I think I am going to try to schedule computer time–set a timer and when times up shut it down. Wonder if I can (or will) do it?
If you’re serious . . . when the timer goes off, shut it down. And go do something else for at least xx minutes. Then, if you still want “back at it,” turn it back on.
Doing so will remind you that computer time is a choice you are making (which is precluding all the other things you could be doing with that time).
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I am more serious about it than I was yesterday. Monday it begins.
Best of luck, Patricia . . . but keep those kittie posts coming!
Thanks. I am factoring in blogging time.
Glad to hear that! You have the right priorities, Patricia.
Ha! And I’ve added another new one…Lumosity…it has a minor subscription fee, but it’s computer-generized program in a series of games to improve brain functioning. Speed, flexibility, computing…I’m giving it a try. But your point is certainly well made, Nancy!
To me, that’s a different fruit altogether, Debra. Some computer generated games are as much tools as they are toys. Enjoy!
Just make sure that your speed, flexibility, and computing skills in real life don’t take a nose dive.
The most time-consuming thing I do on the computer, I’m doing right now–posting, reading, and commenting on blogs. For me Facebook is a quick in and out, mostly to check in with our children because I really don’t care what someone is having for dinner or what time they are going to bed.
But the blogging does take a lot of time. The rewards are information, inspiration, and relationships. Everybody has to weigh the value of doing that, versus smelling the roses, on their own balance.
I suspect some day I will bail out on the whole thing. But for now it seems worth it to me.
I agree. Blogging, to me, has enough substance to offer actual sustenance. I generally feel that it’s a good use of my time.
Yep! I don’t do Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any of the other techno stuff out there. I stick to blogs. They are fun and I enjoy the people I’ve ‘met’ through blogging. When I see my next desert sunrise, I’ll think of you – an answer to your Florida sunset…butterflies make me think of Patti, hot air balloons, and so on. I also like the Trifecta challenges because they make me write things I normally wouldn’t think up and I like reading others’ takes on the prompts as well. Even so, I’ve let blogging take up too much time. I’m cutting back to an hour a night on work nights
Given all your pressing priorities, that probably makes sense . . . sometimes when I set a time limit, I become a bit more efficient and focused.
And I agree. It’s been a pleasure meeting people around the globe through blogging ~ it’s like having pen pals without having to wait for letters to appear in my mailbox.
My goodness, how timely! I took a leave of the computer and Facebook this weekend. Went into a spiritual retreat and feel relaxed. I will be making a few adjustments on how much time I spend online.
Sounds wonderful, Marie. I had lots of internet-free days this summer . . . but they overflowed with other stresses and strains. A relaxing “retreat” sounds just the ticket. May its effects linger long.
I’m glad I don’t have cable TV because it’s one less time sucker. And I would LOVE to go on Pinterest but I’ve labeled it the black hole with no return, so I don’t go. I have it on my 101 in 1001 list to not connect to the internet for a whole weekend at some point. I haven’t managed to do it yet.
I think one of the best ways to avoid cyber space black holes is to have a to-do list each day. As long as not everything is checked on the list, cyber activities get postponed. It’s tough self-discipline but it works for me.
Internet free weekends are a great idea . . . but I seldom make it from sundown on Friday to sundown on Sunday before succumbing to the temptation to take “just a quick peak.”
But I do often make myself finish my “To Do’s” first before getting sucked into the cyber hole.