First Annual "Web Escape" Challenge!

It's time for another crazy Cary Milkweed elimination diet! Every so often, when I decide that I'm eating way too much sugar, or watching too much TV, or spending too much time organizing my dryer lint, I go cold turkey off the offending habit for some extended period of time.

The one thing I've never had the strength to give up, however, is the Internet.

A couple of times I've taken week or month-long breaks from the Internet forum where I spend entirely too much time, and the results have been kind of amazing. I caught up on "archiving" (non-cutesy scrapbooking) and other hobbies, I read more, I exercised more, and I was even better tempered and better rested.

Never, however, have I unchained myself entirely from Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, that forum I mentioned, blog reading, blog posting and all the random surfing I do on a daily basis...and I'm not going to do it now.

Not exactly.

What I am going do, however, is cut some of those things out entirely, and severely limit the amount of time I spend doing the other things. I'm spending entirely too much time drifting over to the computer and losing fifteen minutes here and an hour there doing absolutely nothing of consequence. What's more, I've noticed that I tend to do it as soon as I start to worry about jobs or moving or one of those other things I blogged about recently (or, um, always).

Thus begins, therefore, the First Annual "Web Escape" Challenge. Just add me to the ranks of fellow Cowtown area bloggers attempting to make life better through self denial.

The Details

For thirty days, I:

1) Will only check e-mail twice per day

2) Will stay off Facebook

3) Will stay off my Internet Forum

4) Will stay off Twitter

5) Do no random searching not related to work, while I'm at work (as a librarian, I do end up using the Internet a fair bit in helping patrons)

6) Read no blogs other than the few in my Blogger feed, and only when I sign in to blog.

Yes, I'm still going to be blogging, if for no other reason than to catalog just how often I have to stop myself from randomly jumping online. I'm fairly certain I'm going to forget at some point, since logging on to whatever, whenever has become an unfortunate habit. How horrible would it be if one of Eva's first memories was of tugging on my leg while I murmured "Just a second, honey, Mommy's twittering about how she should be putting you down for your nap"?

In the interest of full disclosure, I do sometimes get online while Eva's awake, but it always makes her a little irritated and me feel a little guilty. Who couldn't use a little less guilt in life, eh? And who (Eva) couldn't use more face time with a loved one (Mommy)?

Aside from the potential that I go stark, raving mad from withdrawal and end up tweeting a suicide note to Demi Moore (I'd post a link to that, but that would involve web surfing, so I can't-- but apparently it happened yesterday), I think this will be a very good thing. I think my attention span will improve, I think I'll spend more time outside, and frankly, Mr. Milkweed may even get lucky a little more often.

Well, maybe I shouldn't go too far.

Anyway, if you're hearing less from me in the virtual world, it's because I'm making a real commitment to spend more time on people and projects in the real world. I'll check in often to let you know how it's going!