My Vacation From The Internet

Some spilled thoughts after my vacation from the Internet.

Early Thursday morning, I left for Vancouver/Whistler for a short family vacation. Along with leaving Montreal, I also decided that I would relinquish the Internet while I was out West. No gmail, no facebook, no googlereader, no nothing.

Over the course of my Internet-free 6 days, I sometimes felt an urge to check my email but I refrained. I felt relaxed, connecting with friends, old and new, and chilling out with my family. It felt good to be Internet-free.

Upon my return, I had 71 messages in my inbox (mostly crap) and over 1000 stories in my GoogleReader inbox (most of which I deleted). There was a need to catch up, but there was also a desire to hold on to that freedom I had found. What was I really connected to?

Often, I feel like being too connected to the Internet, feeling as if there is something to check at every second -- whether someone's facebook status or a breaking newsstory or gossip hot off the press -- breeds an artificial sense of connectedness and completely false insecurities. There needs to be a middle ground.

The moral of the story? Moderation is key. Spend less time in front of the screen. Check your email twice a day, not twice a minute. And instead of connecting across the net, actually connect with those around you, in the wide wonderful world.