The need to unplug and recharge is upon me

[zridling]

Every now and then, I have to turn off the computer and go outside. Spring is here. Other projects call. Things get really busy at work, and so on. This same urgency to get away will hit me again in the Fall. Is the same true for you?

[Shook]

Well, the need to take a break from the computer very rarely strikes me (being one o' those teen gamers and such), but i can imagine how you feel. Stuff needs to get done, and it won't happen while the computer is on, so the only thing to do would be to turn it off.
But for me, it's actually pretty much the opposite, needing to have a break from the relentless schoolwork. In week 14 this year, we had no less than 6 assignments due different days in the week (could have been 8, if the Danish/English essays weren't due the preceding week). It's pretty stressful to sit on a Saturday and think: "Oh god, 2 assignments for Monday, 1 for Tuesday, another 1 for Wednesday..." and so on. It just feels... Overwhelming. That's when i start to think that i need a break, but i also know that my mother would have a fit if i didn't do the assignments. (Worth noting is that i made them all, just so i don't seem too lazy)
...
And yet again i manage to ramble. Enjoy your break!

[zridling]

Great points, Shook; I didn't think of it in that way. If you can't relax at the computer, then where can you!

[SKesselman]

If you can't relax at the computer, then where can you!

-zridling (April 16, 2009, 02:30 PM)

Where? In the South of France! 
Yea! Only 3 more days! Until then, it's clean, organize, pack, prepare, plan, worry, blah blah blah...
So Zaine, I'm also having to step away from the computer, as other projects call.
Perhaps if I had populated (?) a relational database with all of my "Travel List" items, this would be a breeze.But, no.
I can relax in front of the computer, but until I catch my flight on Tuesday, I really should be doing something else.

[40hz]

Is the same true for you?

-zridling (April 16, 2009, 12:14 PM)

Boy do I ever hear you! Transitional seasons always get me antsy.

Periodically, I need to grab an acoustic musical instrument (or two) - or even just a pen and notebook - and go someplace where I can sit and create. And without the need to be plugged into anything other than my imagination to do so.

15 years ago, if my friends told me I'd be saying this, I would have laughed in their faces. I was the most 'plugged-in' person in my social circle. A real Technoboy if there ever was one.

But I seem to be getting less and less enchanted with technology as time goes on. I no longer see technology as something intrinsically liberating. Quite the opposite in fact.

Of course, if I happen stumble on this post 15 years from now...

[Whereismyangel]

But I seem to be getting less and less enchanted with technology as time goes on. I no longer see technology as something intrinsically liberating. Quite the opposite in fact.

-40hz (April 19, 2009, 02:43 PM)

+1
The more things are complex, the less free we are...they ask so much just to maintain them in a normal state...

[SKesselman]

But I seem to be getting less and less enchanted with technology as time goes on. I no longer see technology as something intrinsically liberating. Quite the opposite in fact.

-40hz (April 19, 2009, 02:43 PM)

That's interesting. I thought I was alone in feeling kind of disappointed here.
I never saw (personal) technology as liberating, but I did see it as a huge convenience.
And, the more I learned about it, the more excited I got about the future of it. But ATM, technology is just getting in my way.

+1
The more things are complex, the less free we are...they ask so much just to maintain them in a normal state...

-Whereismyangel (April 19, 2009, 03:24 PM)

[off topic]:
Mon pauvre amour: So glad you feel this way!
Does this mean that if you haven't been able to fix my ingenious device after 1 hour, that I can bring it to its death on the Promenade des Anglais?   

As always, I appreciate you trying to help me with it, but let us not waste any more precious vacation time than necessary trying to fix it.

[DDRAMbo]

I've always had to get some exercise, and studies show that the brain works better when a person does get some often. Some companies promote periodic exercise breaks that may only include some torso and head twisting and stretches, but they've proven to help boost productivity and job satisfaction. Some people actually feel that sweating is a repulsive condition indicating that a person is having to expend too much effort doing something, rather than a natural means that the body uses to eliminate waste (it's true, sweat is similar to urine). I've seen teenagers and older folks with a hump in their neck from just playing video games and not getting out to get some kind of exercise. I shoot some baskets or ride my bike to the store at Least, but several times a week I Must get a few hours of exercise. It also invigorates the sex drive, which both partners will probably enjoy. 

[housetier]

I read books or play hackysack or take a nap when I take a break. I spend a lot of time at my club where I "socialize" with a lot of different people.

But my laptop or some other means of electronic communication is always nearby. Very seldomly am I totally unplugged because I am also not totally hooked. I use my laptop not to isolate but to communicate, to engage in discussion and such.

When I have to get creative I start with a handful of colored pencils and many sheets of blank white paper. After some time, however, I have to ask people for feedback: I cannot be creative on my own :-)

[DDRAMbo]

I think you all is gettin' the wrong point. Using a computer IS a sedentary activity; it IS rest. It doesn't Require a different sedentary activity to 'relax', it requires some 'activity' because it's a living, breathing machine. It even animates if you let it. In fact, it needs it. Just try to remain totally still for as long as you can and you'll find it increasingly difficult since your body has it's own mechanisms to get your ass, and every other part of your body, Moving to regain the advantages that accrue from physical movement, such as increasing your blood circulation to the extremeties that aren't well reached by the pressure from the heart muscles alone. You Think you need to Rest because your brain activity is showing signs of fatigue and stress because you're forcing it to use the limited nutrients and oxygen it can get from the limited motion of your sedentary position in a chair for hours.
If your brain doesn't Get proper circulation, you're in trouble. The brain will actually put you to sleep if you don't vary your mental activity. Does that mean you're tired? No. It means that the brain is designed to continually process New information; to form New associations, and to be on alert for danger by taking in all the stimulus around you in the form of auditory and physical sensations. If you've deadened all possible elements of these sensations by sitting in a comfortable chair in a quiet room with little distractions, your brain is just taking in the same stimuli over and over, sort of like staring at the lines in the middle of the road at night, and your brain will purposely put you to sleep.