The Most Addictive Object for Me & Maybe You Too... "THE COMPUTER & THE INTERNET."

[Stuart G]

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2024, 02:22 AM - Edit history (2)

I GOT HOOKED ON TO COMPUTERS EARLY IN THE 1980s.. I went to the library at first to use the computer & internet. Eventually, I bought one and I using it right now. I use it every day for hours at a time. It took some time to get addicted to this.THING......but I am now addicted to this........"THING."
..........Of course, I have always liked searching at libraries for interesting stuff. I would often go to the downtown Chicago Public Library to get old historical stuff. (no video tapes then, just small records, tapes & newspapers.)
I liked looking at old newspapers that the library had, and eventually taught high school in the Chicago Public Schools. After a while, I started to teach research and how to do it, and often I met students at the local library to teach them in person. (Yes, how to do research and use the internet for research) (and the Reader's Guide & Other Resources)
........Why addictive? When I start, I like to go to certain locations on the internet, to look up the news and certain topics that are not news,: topics like history, Democratic Underground, inflation, war, current events, puzzles and so on.

Anything that is in the library is also on the internet .YES...ANYTHING and some things that are NOT at libraries, are
on the internet )

.............................HARD TO STOP??? ..... ...TOTAL YES!!!....................................... ...............I HAVE STUDIED ADDICTIONS AND TAUGHT THEM AT SOME GROUP MEETINGS, ................
. I want you to know this particular addiction is not new for me. . .I have been addicted to this "THING" for over 30 years.

Got any ideas? I would welcome any ideas at all...But, shutting the "THING DOWN" would be very difficult for me.. And one
of the neat things is after paying for the computer, and all the stuff connected to it, using this THING is very cheap indeed.

(The one thing it certainly wastes is one four letter word...NO NOT MONEY...BUT ....TIME.
Yes, it costs a lot to buy THE THING in the beginning.. .(but after it is bought it is cheap)
.......NO, it doesn't waste time all the time, ..just ... ...SOME OF THE TIME..!!!!!..........

.............I hope the bosses don't delete this, because it is nasty and irrelevant. I am sorry if this post disturbed people,
, but I got in a mood, and I needed to say this.) Why? Why Not???

..........................You think by now, after a number of years .I WOULD HAVE THE ANSWER ????
................... .MAYBE YOU DO......I DON'T.......

.....................NADA, NO,

.............(1 more idea).. .........Thank You for Reading This............Stuart G ....

[Arne]

1. Just a guess

You're in your mid sixtys?

[Stuart G]

3. I am older than that .. 70s

[Arne]

4. 70 here as well

[usonian]

2. Old timer here. I built S-100 computers when there weren't any home computers.

It led to a pretty decent career in engineering and computers. So I forgive myself for a bit of overuse.

I only cruise DU and Hacker News, but that's a boatload of info. I prefer text over video because I am an infovore. I save everything as pdf so I can search it later and come up with answers.

Internet search, and the ad-filled internet are garbage and cesspools to me. I used the internet before "dot-com" and it was fun, not torture. I block ads ferociously.

But I take very long breaks. The weather was nice today, so I did massive brush cleanup with lots of chainsawing. I use the iPad mostly for holding music scores for the piano, and I go out and about taking photos. Got a decent sunrise and a neat sunset today.

I guess the point is to have lots of things to do, so that computers are squeezed into rest periods rather than vice versa.

Good luck with your "addiction". I can say that much of my retirement money is a result of mine.

I still have the S-100 computer, but it needs work on frayed cables, and all the disk drives went away long ago.

[Stuart G]

5. Thank You for Posting This..Very Outstanding Comment About this. Thank You Again! ... from Stuart G

[usonian]

6. Thanks for the comment. Take yesterday, please!

Rain and wind, gusts to 50mph or more. So, no going outside.
(Going outside would mean that something broke and desperately needs fixing! )

I did some of the usual internet cruising on my two aggregator sites, and saved articles of interest.
But I most enjoyed a discussion on Hacker News that pointed to a “top ten” list of relaxing music at classicfm.com.

Made up my own list, and as I was finishing that up, got a request from sprinkleeninow to recall a piece that she later posted.

But since I was stuck at home, I did some more reorganizing around the house. The antidote to cabin feer is neing able to see countertops for a change, and so on.

The “repel” factor I have is that regular glasses don’t really have enough bifocal power to see screens clearly, so I have to pop on reading glasses, but with the phone, my nearsightedness works great, and I can read the screen with my “distant” vision, and that’s a problem. I do it too much. I’ll figure something out. Posting IS torture compared to desktops and laptops.

Another thing is to have friends and family nearby. I am 50 miles from all my friends, so there’s no “dropping by for coffee or to fix some gadget”. Had two zoom meetings yesterday, which is good. But the concept of email and messages, or even get-togethers with real friends and family is a real antidote to idle cruising.


I could go on and on, but let me summarize a long draft (maybe I’ll post it later)

• Converse with and meet up with real people.
• Be engaged in sometning. Be playing music instead of just listening, be coding instead of reading about tech. Be building things instead of buying or moving stuff around.
• Finished goods do sediment, and become ordinary. Tools don’t. They continue to empower people, and grow more capable over time. I point to the back room which holds both the IMSAI chassis and the first models of Raspherry Pi and Arduino. The “second” computer revolution is unfolding now.
• Go out (unless there’s a wind and rainstorm going on) and observe nature. Mother Narure is constantly changing and creating pictures that most people don’t look up and see. (Or look down, as with the paintbrush plants popping out of the groud now in February)

Enjoy.