LJ addiction

[low_delta]

I've been trying to avoid LiveJournal. I have work to do, and I have to leave early. I'm already short hours this week. I'll have to make it up somehow. I'm not sure if I'll have to come in for a couple of hours Sunday morning, or try to make it up next week. Anyway, I'm trying to do eight hours of work in eight hours or so. Usually, I come in at 8:30. Check LJ until 9. Check again for a short time around 10. Take an hour lunch. Do a quick check once or twice in the afternoon, then spend a half hour there before I go home. Most of this time is not on the clock, so I stay until 6:30 and only get eight hours. Then I get home at 7:00, and maybe have time to eat before I have to go somewhere. Then I get almost nothing done in the evening because I get home so late.

I used to have lots of hobbies. I don't have time for them anymore. I think a major part of that is because I spend three hours a day on the Internet. I thought this was just another hobby, until I realized that I spend a whole lot of time here *every day*.

I don't want to give up LiveJournal. I enjoy this communication so much. I learn and I have fun, and I interact with cool people. That's the worst part - giving up contact with friends. I try to tell myself that I never saw my real life friends this much, but it doesn't do any good.

I know there are a few of you who are reading this, that I don't list as a friend, and it's not because I don't want to read your journals, it's because I don't have the time to give you the attention you deserve. In fact, I keep telling myself that I need to remove a few more people, but I don't have the nerve.

I've been productive this morning (until now). I feel good when I get something accomplished. I feel good when I'm pulling my weight in this department. I feel good when I get something done that works, and people say, "wow, that' really great!" I feel good when my boss likes my work. So I like working. I also like LiveJournal, and my friends there, but LJ don't pay the bills. I'm going to try to cut back my posting, but there is so much I want to say. Wish me luck.

Comments

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Posting isn't really the time consuming and additive part, at least for me. And especially not if you have the client available. I have a lot to say here as my life goes from day to day, and I like to share those things with my friends.

My problem comes with this driving addiction to constantly check what my friends are saying and then get caught up in conversations with them when I should be working.

Having a place to record my life and emotions is a huge chunk of why I have a LiveJournal. The other huge chunk is the interaction. To give up one chunk or the other, would throw it all out of balance. But maybe just exercising a little self-discipline and only reading others journals at specified times of the day is the only solution for me.

Good luck with whatever solution you find for yourself.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Self-discipline is exactly what it requires from me. You must know that I neither post nor respond to friends' posts as much as I would like. When I'm online I want to stay online, but when I focus on other stuff like reading the Sunday paper or a novel or dancing to music or whatever, then I want to keep doing that stuff too. So what works for me is parceling it out. I get maybe 2 hours a day (most evenings) for my prime online time, mostly when my friends are offline!

It's all part of the balancing act in which if I do too much of one pleasurable activity like LJ, I feel guilty. If I don't do enough of it, I feel resentful. The trick is to find that fine line between guilt and resentment called ENJOYMENT. :)

[cherie.livejournal.com]

My LJ friend,

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] .target>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

My LJ friend, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/kitters".target="blank">Kitters</a>, used this statement to describe LJ to a new user just this morning. "You are about to lose all self control and self respect to the hell bitch that is Live Journal".

Personally I enjoy interacting with my LJ friends more than the 'real' ones. But you are right, it sure doesn't pay the bills!

Good Luck Kevin!

[banana.livejournal.com]

If you come up with a good solution, let me know. I have the same problem.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

O'm sure there are a lot of people who are interested. I'm sure I could make a bundle.