reblog

e-ddiction…

October 17, 2009 at 21:24 (baby stuff) (addiction, computer, dependance, dependence, exhaustion, new parents, online, social media, support group, twitter)

I just spent most of the day on the computer at work. Multiple computers, in fact. 3 were Mac, 2 were PC. Now I’m at home. Should be a relaxing evening. And I’m on the computer, once again. I just ate dinner with my wife, laptop open on the table. Then I texted during dessert.

Looking back at the last 8 months of my life, I notice a trend. Baby arrives. We are tired. We don’t hang out with people. We feel lonely. Try hanging out with people and then are exhausted for next 3 days. Feel lonely again. Resign ourselves to a monk-like existence of diaper-changing, constant sleep-deprivation, and prayer mantras of “oh god help”.

Sure I’m always a bit of a tech geek, but during this time I’ve clung harder than ever to technology as a way to connect with people. Started my Twitter account, bought some domains, researched a lot about social media, did some video blogging. Anytime I felt too tired to actually think, too worn out to talk to anyone face-to-face, I drifted towards a glowy computer screen of some sort in an attempt to reach out in ways that wouldn’t induce paralysis or projectile vomiting.

Now that the baby is 8 months old and we’re slightly more adjusted to life with her, I should probably wean myself a bit. No email after work, or at least no work email after work, no texting during dinner, no domain purchases until an idea is thoroughly thought out. You get the idea.

Well at least I’ve passed the denial stage. I wonder what’s next. Here goes.

Hello, my name is Ben.
Hello, Ben.
I seem to have a little problem…