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It’s been over a month since I wrote about my goal to use the internet with more purpose instead of wandering around aimlessly for hours on end, wasting my time. This is an ongoing goal of mine and it felt like it was time for an update. So far, things have been going pretty good.
In the morning, I hop on briefly to read the news and check my emails, then I don’t touch it again until after dinner. In this sense, I’m fortunate that I don’t do office work where I’d be on a computer all day, tempted to pop open a browser on the side. I’m in very blue collared work, operating machinery all day, so there just isn’t the opportunity to go on the web. Even on break, I just read a book rather than staring at my phone.
That’s still what I spend a lot of my time doing instead of going on the web: reading. I feel like I’m getting a lot more out of that than wasting my time hopping between YouTube videos or visiting Reddit. When I’m not reading, I’ll play video games, usually on an older device with no internet connection (been playing some old handheld Shin Megami Tensei games of late!). Also, with the weather getting nicer, I’m going outside a lot more, enjoying walks or going to local places to eat (I’d much rather support local businesses than multi billion dollar corporations when possible).
My evening internet time is still limited to an hour, and I’ll usually spend it either watching some of those walking videos I mentioned in a previous post, hunting down music on YouTube that I want to DL, or I’ll be reading stuff on Gemini.
The latter I’ve been appreciating more and more. One of the nice things about posts on Gemini is that they’re basically the author saying their bit, then they’re done. Thanks for reading, etc. There isn’t an algorithm following readers around, seeing what they’re looking at, then suggesting a slew of other things to look at. There isn’t a pernicious force trying to monopolize people’s time, keeping them on a platform. The only time I’m seeing links to other stuff at the end of an article is if a bunch of people are responding to each other on a shared topic that has gained some interest all of a sudden in Gemini feeds, which makes a lot of sense. On the whole, Gemini and the people that use it very much respect visitors’ time.
I’ve been feeling a lot better limiting my time on the web as well. So much crap on there just assails people with useless information. If it’s not that, it’s just this huge miasma of negativity that often permeates from the place. Unfortunately outrage and click bait nonsense are two major engines of the web. In a lot of ways the world wide web is just a gigantic cortisol generator, and I want no part in that. It isn’t healthy to constantly be waste deep in something that is bombarding you with negativity, most of which has nothing to do with you. Nevertheless, the web’s tendrils have dragged a lot of people into all manner of nonsense that puts them in a funk that is difficult to shake.
Getting away from all that has put me in a much better mood. I cannot recommend it enough, spending less time on the web. Even my energy levels have been improving. I’d image it’s because I don’t have this or that negative topic lingering in my mind for hours after reading it somewhere on the web. About the only things that wonder into my mind while away from my computer these days are something to do with a book I’m reading, a game I’m playing, or something that happened with friends of family recently that makes me laugh. It feels so good to go onto the internet with a plan, do what I came in to do, then get out. The positive knock on effects have been surprising, and most welcome. Hopefully this will continue for some time to come. I’ll try to do another update in six months or so. Until then, I definitely recommend anyone who has read this to give it a go. I’m not saying to completely forego the web. Just try to avoid getting sucked into the trap of being stuck on it for hours, wandering around, letting the copious amounts of negativity there get the better of you.
Pennywhether
pennywhether@posteo.net
May 2, 2021