To Be (Connected) or Not To Be (Connected)

That is the question.

We’ve been living sans internet for a couple months now (aside from the occasional trip to my sister’s house to use it) and I have to tell you, I’m getting a little bit addicted to the disconnection.

Don’t get me wrong, I miss being able to look up a recipe or a phone number at the drop of a hat, and of course I’m failing miserably at keeping up with my site here which I am quite fond of, but I think I could learn to adjust and live without the internet for the rest of my life.

This whole state of mind perplexes me, because up until a couple months ago I so enjoyed my internet hobbies, and I’m sure that I still will if/when I get back into the swing of things. However, I’m also really enjoying our time apart.

I don’t understand these two states of mind that seem to be dueling it out inside my head, but it has got me thinking about the idea of balance. I once heard someone completely admonish the idea of balance, saying that it was a terrible concept in relation to how one lives one’s life. I think what they were trying to say was in an attempt to achieve balance, people were not being passionate or taking a stand for any one point of view and therefore were not contributing to society or their own well-being.

Since then, whenever the idea of balance comes to mind, I think about that person and that concept and how it might apply to the situation I’m in. I think I finally made up my mind about that whole idea: I don’t agree with it. I think balance is a good thing.

In relation to my internet usage (or lack thereof) I am using this idea of balance to find my niche between being too connected or not connected at all. One of these days we’ll wander back into the world of www.com right here in our own home and it will all be at my fingertips once again. And even though I could read a hundred blogs a day, join Face Book, twelve Flickr groups and Tweet up a storm….. I shan’t.

To be connected or not to be connected? My deep and intellectual answer is this: Sort of. A little bit. Sometimes. But not too much. Everything in moderation.

That person who doesn’t like the idea of balance reeeaaaally wouldn’t like me.

Comments

[Abbi]

I love your picture of the corn and marigolds! Balance is a trick to find. I think you are totally right that we do need balance in many things but perhaps in a few areas the other person is right too - when something is the truth and there is a call to action we should be passionate about it! So I think it depends on the situation. How is that for riding the fence? :-)