Regarding Internet Use…

Today I got into an interesting discussion with my buddy Matt regarding our Internet use habits.  Both he and I share the bittersweet affliction of spending a lot of our free time online, and this can sometimes (often) negatively affect our sleep schedule.  The topic started with something to the effect of “why do I stay up so late online” and proceeded in such a fashion that we were actually able to figure part of it out.

Connecting with Friends and Family

I find myself online regularly as a way to stay connected to my friends and family.  Living out here in Colorado is great, however the thing I miss most is my time with friends and family so the Internet, chat, Skype, and Facebook are great ways to stay in touch and feel like I’m spending time with those that I left back in Illinois.  It seems that often, many of these people (my cousins and parents notably) only come online later in the evening.  By the time you carry on an adequate conversation with one or more of them, it is quickly past midnight and sleep is affected.

Work and Play

I enjoy learning new things.  Whether it’s a new blog post about an interesting topic, new music, new coding practices or projects… I just plain like learning things.  This can burn up some time, especially if something cool on the coding front catches my attention.  Once the coding haze sets in, hours fly by and I barely notice.  In addition, it is easy to spend the evening on YouTube and Facebook if there is nothing else going on.

Admitting Defeat

This is especially present on Sunday nights, but staying up late is a function of not wanting the relaxing evening to be over.  By finally giving up and going to bed, you must accept the fact that it will soon be time to wake up and face another workday.  It’s not that I hate my job, but the constant stress and activity is exhausting and downtime is very valuable.

This is usually the spot in the blog post where I would recommend some sort of solvency or a resolution to do better, but I know my limitations and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.  Instead of the Internet, I suspect that my late nights will be taken up with caring for the new baby and I view my current Night Owl leanings as cross-training for that event. 🙂

That’s all for me tonight, I have an early meeting tomorrow morning so I’m going to actually try to go to bed early for a change.  We’ll see how well that goes…