Internet Diet: Week 2

Last week I set goals to reduce the amount of time I spend on personal internet business at work and to not be on the internet in the evening between work and the kids' bedtime. Honestly, I didn't do a great job with either goal at all last week. I started out the week tired and things went downhill from there. It becomes a spiral, where I'm tired so willpower is harder, and then I don't do the things I want to do so I just decide to give up and have no discipline and stay up late wasting time. Then, when I'm tired at work I feel more distracted and am more likely to spend time on the internet. I have a few excuses for things, like the fact that it's summer and we have family visiting and so everyone's schedule is out of whack, but the reality is that there will always be distractions and I need to just live with them instead of waiting for 'normal' to arrive. I also found myself rebelling somewhat against my self-imposed goals--including wanting to fudge on the times I wrote down on my diary. I thought that was an interesting impulse and  I want to examine it a bit more this next week. As of tonight, I'm recommitting myself to try harder next week. We'll see how it goes. 
Monday June 24th
7:05-7:30 Email, reading blog posts, news, Facebook (commenting and sharing Segullah post)
10:20-10:25 Checking email and class availability, news
12:05-12:25 Checking email, reading article on Slate
2:17-2:20 Email check
3:25-3:40 Facebook
5:45-6:10 Email, facebook, reading articles on Slate
7:10-7:35 Email, looking up Zion hotels
8:10-11:00 Email, Facebook chat, Segullah business, surveys

Tuesday June 25th
7:00-7:30 Email, blog posts, news, Facebook,reading Slate
10:28-10:33 Email check, reading news
3:00-3:05 Email check, news
5:00-5:10 Email and Facebook
7:00-7:15 Email, blogs, Slate articles, Facebook
9:10-11:10 Email, blogs, Facebook chat, school stuff, articles on Slate and Salon

Wednesday June 26th
7:15-7:25 Email, news, Facebook, blogs
8:30-8:40 Email and reading news
9:05-9:10 Email--checking on school enrollment & Primary stuff
11:55-12:15 Email, Facebook, news
3:25-3:40 Email, blogs, news, school enrollment
5:30-5:45 Email, blogs, news, Facebook
8:00-8:15 Email, Facebook chat
11:30-11:40 Email, news

Thursday June 27
7:00-7:15 Email, news, blogs, Facebook
8:30-8:40 Facebook
11:20-11:25 Email
1:25-1:35 Email, blogs, news, Facebook
5:00-5:10 Email, Facebook
6:00-6:20 Email, blogs, Facebook
8:20-11:40 Email, news, Facebook chat/words with friends, writing and editing Segullah posts

Friday June 28
7:10-7:30 Email, news, blogs, Facebook
8:30-8:40 Email, checking on school stuff
11:55-12:15 Email, blogs, news
6:00-6:15 Email, blogs, news, Facebook
9:00-10:30 Email, blogs, news, Facebook chat

Saturday June 29, 2013

8:00-8:30 Email, blogs, news, Facebook
1:05-1:25 Email, blogs, Facebook
5:20-5:30 Email, Facebook
9:30-11:00 Email, news, Facebook chat

Comments

The Weed said…
First of all, I'm really impressed that you stayed committed about posting again and tracking things so meticulously. I think that's impressive in and of itself.

I found that when I got a smartphone, I was online much less because where before I would sit down at the computer to do my "two hour" email check and then get stuck there, now I just quickly glance at my phone and the impulse is quelled. (Better, of course, would be to not give into the impulse, but at least it really cuts down on my computer time. Or so I think, not having tracked it.)

Also, I had a really weird moment of realization when I was like "If I were logging computer time I would have to log my actions *right now*" and it felt all weird and meta.

Anyway, I'm way impressed that you're doing this. It's an interesting mini-study.
7/01/2013 3:03 PM
FoxyJ said…
I think that's an interesting idea about the smartphone. I've been scared to get one because I worried that it would make it easier to spend more time online, but I can see how having a way to quickly check email might actually be good. The book I read about willpower had some interesting ideas about how to make it so your brain feels like tasks are 'complete' and I wonder if being more able to track my email in a simple way could actually reduce my computer time.
7/01/2013 10:37 PM
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