So, I’ve decided to take a break from the internet for a day or so. I really thought this would be easy until I realized that I needed to balance my checkbook and pay bills today (all done online). I then reminded myself that I have a photography order and project to finish and they both need to be sent by email, of course! So…as soon as these things are completed, I am “dieting” from the internet for a couple of days. Which means that I will not be posting to the blog in that time. In the mean time, I may write, but will be doing it the old-fashioned “pen in hand” and journal method. Yikes, here come the hand cramps!

Isn’t it frustrating how dependent we’ve all become on technology? Yet, I just love technology! I get excited when some new sparkly wonderful thing comes out like the iPad. I find myself researching reasons why I should have one and how it would surely make my life soooo much easier, better, enjoyable, etc. I have a laptop, desktop computer, Nook e-reader, iPhone, snazzy voice recorder and audio book contraption, WiFi with a router, and many other electronic gadgets I’m sure I actually have survived without like GPS. How in the world did any of us actually find where we were going without GPS? I think it was called a map, but I had trouble folding those aggravating things back up.

You would think since I love technology so much that I wouldn’t be the hippy/country loving lady that I am. But, its true. I crave the simple things in life like gardening (have one every year), hanging my laundry out on a sunny spring afternoon, camping, sewing, crocheting, and just hanging outside watching God’s creation unfold and the changes the seasons bring. I try to imagine myself and my family living without all the things we’ve gotten so used to like cellphones, texting, internet, Facebook, satellite t.v. and video games. I know that we can live without them but at the same time they’ve become so much a part of society these days that you’d be considered an archaic outsider of some sort if you didn’t have them.

So, I’m just declaring a media diet for now. Who knows, I may like it so much that I start kicking the media stuff to the curb at least once a week! I might even make my family get into this. (I can already see the eyeballs rolling and hear the grumbling).

What do you think? Do we as a society lean too heavily on some of our technology to the point that it consumes our time more than it should? What could and should we all be doing to create more balance in our lives? In some ways technology makes life more convenient but the side effect at times can be more stress. For example, when’s the last time you could go grocery shopping without having to answer several phone calls? What about finishing projects? How many times have you had to answer 12 text messages and a dozen emails in the middle of everything? What do you do to keep from being distracted by the quick and easy entertainment that social networking provides and internet surfing? How about information overload? (that’s a whole new subject in itself)

So…I’ll see ya back here in a couple of days with how my media diet went and what I’ve decided about whether this should be a regular habit in my life. Here goes… hitting the publish button, logging off, shutting the computer down and getting up from the office chair, I can do this, I can do this…..