I'm back, after two weeks of silence online
I've been less verbose than usual over the past two weeks: in fact, I didn't even email anyone except while at work. I've been on a two-week "computer fast" while at home after business hours, and it's been a neat experience.
My first benefit was quite unexpected, although it's probably obvious from many perspectives. After two or three days of spending time being a little more social in the hallways and with people (especially my wife) after work, I started to become more verbally capable than my usual geeky self. It's not that I can't usually speak, it's just that I consider myself "slow of speech" to use a biblical term, due to my frequent computer activity and infrequent human activity. It was pleasant to feel more comfortable around people after an initial bumpy few days.
Second, I noticed that I was quite bored. Almost immediately after returning home from work, I would have intentions that, more often than not, centered around computer use. In fact, even when I wanted to do something offline I would try to plan through the computer! For example, I had wanted to purchase a northpaw kit and build it myself--something that was obviously a more hobby-ish thing to do, and did not require a computer. But the ordering and the build instructions are all online! So I made a compromise with Kelty: she would order it for me and print the instructions and then I could have the benefit without breaking the pledge.
Third, I got a lot of stuff done! It turns out that boredom is a fantastic motivator to get things done that I would normally have placed far below high priorities like surfing the web for news items, scanning programmer websites for "cool tricks", or watching funny youtube clips. I was able to organize our (physical book) library, make dinner on several occasions, read from several books I've been meaning to read, and complete several projects that had been on the back burner (including the northpaw).
All in all, it was a fun challenge that was right on the mark for me--not too challenging, but just challenging enough. If you'd like to take the two-week torch and make this a relay race, let me know!
