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I'm off the grid: Days 1 and 2

By: Whitney Gronski Posted: 04/20/09 9:21pm

Hello, my name is Whitney and I’m a social networking addict.

I’ve been known to update my Facebook.com photo albums instead of doing homework. I send my textual thoughts to Twitter during boring lectures. I consume blogs with such a voracious appetite second only to my consumption of caffeine.

I’m an addict and I’m coming clean. This week is my rehab and it couldn’t be coming at a better time.

It’s crunch time, as I’m sure you’re well aware. Term papers, class projects and finals are breathing down my neck and if ever there was a time I needed to focus, this would be it. My schedule is full and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to devote 15 minutes here and half an hour there to meticulously checking in on my friends and family, especially those whom I see on a daily basis.

Really, when I think about the obsession I have with social networking (one which I’m sure many of our readers share), it’s stupid. A couple weeks ago, the Features desk podcasted about Twitter and I quickly realized what an internet nerd I had become. I was sitting in a room full of my peers, talking about a micro-blogging site of which most of us were members and thinking of how I couldn’t wait to tinyurl the podcast link into a tweet later on that evening.

Sadder yet: The bulk of the people I follow were sitting in that room with me, talking about @’s and the courtesy behind re-tweeting (RT, if you’re unaware).
It’s absolutely unnecessary how much I feel the need to check-up on people throughout the day, especially when our updates include things as mundane as “At Espresso Royale, studying for an exam. Grrrr!”

This is the challenge:

  • No Facebook or Twitter, and this includes text updates.
  • No blogs, other than this one, of course. Celebrity gossip and LOLs are not that important.
  • No forums for anything, especially news. I lurk and never post, but reading the dumb posts of other people somehow intrigues me for hours.
  • E-mail, as I need it to succeed in class and at work, is allowed. However, I’ve turned off the chat function on my GMail account because I’m sure it toes some sort of line.

I won’t lie and say this is easy. Today was my first day off the grid and it was a painful success. Both my jobs require me to be in front of computers and the urge to open tab after tab in Firefox and log onto every networking site known to man was a compelling one. But I resisted, all the while wondering what was happening on “the internets.”

But here are the bonuses: I was much more productive at both jobs as I wasn’t bouncing back and forth between work and distraction. I felt more focused and even more motivated. There were a few very Tweet-able moments in my day and, OMG, I wanted to tell the world so badly. But I overcame. I moved on. I made mental notes.

Maybe by week’s end I’ll be one of those people who carries a Moleskine and carefully considers the world instead of instantaneously uploading it to the web.

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A Week in the Life

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to step outside yourself and try something new? Each week, a reporter from the Features desk will be taking on a new lifestyle and spilling all the details on what it takes to live a week in the life of someone else.

This week, just in time for finals, entertainment reporter Daniel Luscombe will attempt to be more time efficient. He’ll document how he wastes the more time and find ways to thwart his procrastination.

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Gov. Jennifer Granholm speaks to a crowd about the Michigan Promise Scholarship during a rally Wednesday morning outside the Administration Building. Granholm is touring colleges in Michigan to discuss the scholarship.

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Commentary:

You're not a hero

04/21/09 8:49am

What a culture of narcissism and self-promotion we live in. It seems you want recognizition and praise even for your efforts NOT to self-promote yourself.

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Sammy

04/21/09 9:25am

She is not trying to be a hero! She realizes she is addicted to all things internet and makes fun of herself for it. I thought the article was funny and I look forward to her future blogs.

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kittah

04/21/09 9:44am

hai, no internetz 4 u.

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You're on the grid...

04/21/09 7:41pm

This is no where near living “off the grid.” I’m sure you still use public water supply and sewer, as well as natural gas and electricity.

Perhaps you should rethink what it truly means to be off the grid.

Thanks for trying…

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Alum04

04/22/09 11:42am

I think FB, twitter, myspace, and all the other friend networks have really lead to a degredation of human interaction. Think about it, we no longer send personal “letters” we send emails, or texts, we no longer call each other, we “poke” or “nudge.” Those that are “addicited” to social networking should try to fight that urge. Everytime you think you should “write on someone’s wall” or gossip, try calling the same friend and talking about something that is beneficial.

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