I think it's safe to say I was a web addict. I was blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and surfing constantly. A good chunk of my free time was spent online. I was attached to my phone. There's a statistic that says the average Smartphone user checks their device 34 times a day. You know what I called those people? Amateurs.
I was understandably thrilled when an opportunity came open at my office to put my web savvy to the test. Now all of those moments when I thought "wouldn't it be great to get paid for this," were coming true. I really would be living the fingers flying, connected, doing what I love dream that had been inside my head. I just didn't count on one thing: once something becomes work, it's hard to accept it as play too.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I am doing a show that is all about finding the best of the web and putting it on TV. It's a great show. I feel energized. I am loving what I do. I feel like I am bringing people something different, and that they maybe wouldn't be exposed to otherwise. It's just that now when I go online all I can think about is work. I surf sites not for fun, but to find stuff for the show. And even when it could be for fun, it still feels like work. My eyes still burn from the screen glare, but not in the way they used to. It's harder and harder to play with my phone when my family is home because I am not taking "me time" (my former favorite rationalization for my web addiction), but instead am "putting work before family."
Two months ago you couldn't have pried my phone from my cold dead hands, but now I am putting it down, or even (gasp) turning it off. All it took was making it part of my work.
That got me thinking. Maybe I could do this with some of my other bad habits, too. If they became a part of my job, maybe I would be able to give them up as well.
Now, I just need to figure out how to convince my boss we need a show on wine drinking, celebrity gossip, putting off exercise, and impulse shopping...
Maybe I can find the answer online.
9 comments:
There is a show about wine drinking, celebrity gossip, putting off exercise, and impulse shopping... it is called the fourth hour of the Today Show & you madam, are no Kathie Lee or Hoda.
I was gonna say, 34 seems a little low. hahaha... I need to put on a show about procrastination, fear, chocolate, and bread. But it'd never get done.
I feel like that about dj-ing. Last time I was in the States sunbathing with my ipod on, all I could think of was whether the song I was playing would go down well at my next gig, and what song would I play after that one etc. Takes the fun out of the thing I probably love the most ..music.
Same here. All it takes is one person telling me I HAVE to do it instead of me choosing it for fun and my oppositional defiance disorder fires up on all cylinders.
I suppose that could be one way to retrieve your sanity.
I used to be the same way with computers. Fantastic thing to use and abuse and have fun with...until I started spending about 8 hours a day in front of it for work for the past eight years.
Now it's only 5% fun (blogging, etc.) and 95% aggravating.
Remember when there wasn't even cell phones, let alone smart phones?
People actually talked to each other, weird.
I need to find a way to make eating chocolate work. How do I do that?
Yeah, I started getting paid for social media stuff a couple of months back, and as a reward I started playing stupid facebook games. I assume that once I find a way to get paid for that, I will devolve into playing minesweeper. *sigh*
This is so true. When I spent forty or more hours a week in front of a computer monitor for my job I had no desire to log on at home. My eyeballs were liked overcooked eggs that needed cooling in a dark place. I had one e-mail account and belonged to a few Yahoo groups. Now that I'm a SAHM I am a full-fledged online addict with multiple accounts. Help needed here.
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