Online Socializing

I’ve been filled with wonder lately and talking to several of my friends about the multitude of changes I’ve witnessed in my own short lifetime. Today I’d like to focus in on one of those changes: The amazing growth of technology.

For instance, the very first writer’s group newsletter article I wrote was about learning how to research on the internet, which gives you an idea of how long ago that was and how far technology has come since then! There was only one search engine at that time, if I remember correctly. Now I’m dating myself.

One of the problems I’ve encountered however, with today’s fast paced techno-world, is simply finding the time to keep up. Fitting these tasks into one day, every day, on top of working full time, coming home and preparing dinner, keeping up with the housework, handling the family’s finances, counseling children, husband, and other family members, writing and logging onto the internet to catch up with what’s happening around the world…whew! Well, you know what I mean? I’m certain you can all relate.

I’m totally jazzed though, about today’s new venues of socializing, but to stay in touch with everyone, I need an iPhone™ , iMac™, iPad™, iPod™, iPatch, ay, yay, yay! With multiple email addresses, Facebook™, My Space™, Twitter™, several Yahoogroups™, and a zillion various blogs to name a few, I’m exhausted before I even sit down at my computer. If I don’t check each of these frequently, I get so far behind it’s a daunting task to get caught up with who’s saying how, what, where and when. You have to stay in the loop! Right? Trust me, I’ve been out of touch for a while before and it’s a lost feeling for sure when you’re the only one not staying connected. For someone who doesn’t really like spending much time chit-chatting on the telephone, the vast information passageway of the World Wide Web can become as overwhelming and time-swallowing as a cold, deep, black, universal, worm hole.

And on top of that, I’ve committed myself to blogging too! Oh my! This part however, I admit, I’m finding a thoroughly fun adventure, and perusing the comments makes the work and time involved wonderfully rewarding. Oddly enough, scheduled blogging has also become a catalyst for inspired writing on my WIPs. Besides I love to write or I wouldn’t be here.

I also adore the internet and would be totally lost without its immeasurable knowledge base. Gosh, it doesn’t seem that long ago I was asking, “What’s the internet? What’s the World Wide Web? What are all those dot com addresses streaming across the bottom of all the commercial ads on television?” Now, if I have any kind of question, no matter what the subject, I run to the internet. Don’t you? Doesn’t everyone? What on earth did we do before? We had to drive to the library. Now I admit, I still have to go there occasionally, just because of the warm fuzzy feeling it provokes in me, but I don’t go very often any more.

So I’m wondering how everybody makes time for each of these tasks in addition to your normal routines? How do you fit surfing the internet into your day? Is that phrase outdated now? I can’t keep up? How much time do you spend online? Do you schedule your visits to the internet, or do you just sit and while away the hours? Do you limit the number of blogs you follow? Any time saving suggestions I could get would be tremendously helpful.

I’m looking forward to your comments and the possibility that someone can help me get this part of my life organized. Thanks, and until next time, I remain…

Overwhelmed but Happy in Texas,
Wendy Treitel