by Jimmy Marks
My mom got a free iPod Touch with her computer when she bought it about seven months back. She loves her MacBook, she's getting better with putting picture albums and email together. She's one of a growing number in her generation that's only getting more computer savvy as they age, and I'm quite proud of her. But the iPod Touch was just a bit much; if you've just grown used to CDs as your means of music, something with as much functionality as the Touch can be more frustrating than satisfying.
(Brief sidebar: My mom, back when we had a cassette player in the car, bought the Bible as read by James Earl Jones. We listened to the book of Jeremiah four times, because the tape player flipped the tape automatically and mom kept flipping it manually. I love you, mom.)
So, long story short, we're switching iPods. She's getting my old 40 gig with some of her favorite albums on it. I'm just getting used to the Touch. Love it. Now, I can get email, Safari, maps, my calendar, YouTube, and I plan on downloading Twitterific for it so I can tweet on the go.
And today, it hit me: the Internet is eating me.
I spend about 7 hours of an 8 hour work day online, working and sending email and researching articles and tracking news. That hour I'm not online USED to be lunch, but I'm going to be cutting in on that hour now, too, because I can go somewhere with Wi-Fi and read blogs while I'm having a sandwich.
I'm a little depressed.
I've read some articles recently about how the 40-hour workweek is disappearing (this one's from MSNBC, but there are others). Going home at the end of the day doesn't mean work doesn't follow you in the door and sit around while you make dinner. But I happen to be from what I'm going to start calling "The Eaten Generation". We don't just work online, we live there. We socialize, we entertain, we communicate, we adapt. We've had our whole language changed to squeeze in the non-words we've made to chat each other up, like OMG and LOL. We're getting our news and our paychecks and we're talking to our credit unions and businesses on Twitter to get a better sense of them.
So, here's the trillion (trillion is the new billion, by the way) dollar question: are we better off? Are we doing more or less with this connection? Are you happy with how dependent we're getting? I'm hoping to showcase, over the rest of this year, the ups and downs of being consumed by the web. Hopefully you'll join me here at C.C.C.Blog for updates.
Can you disconnect? I think I can. But I don't think I will.
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