What I Learned..From a Few Days of Limited Internet

1) Regardless of whether or not I check my email and whether or not people are frustrated that I will be unreachable by email for a few days, almost no one sends one. ;)  Well except for a wonderful one from my father and a few regular list-serv & duty things---but none of those were urgent by any means.

2) The internet has made the normal things so much easier to do. No internet meant I couldn't look up potential recipes to make for dinner and google has long been my fast answer machine to all sorts of random questions. Technically I lost the challenge because I used the internet at work to look up a distance from Mississippi to our house.....BECAUSE my aunt surprised us with a visit as she traveled through!  It was so great to have her stop by and it was quite the surprise. Ironically I'd just gotten the guest room situated last weekend so it was pretty easy to have her here, and as I hadn't seen her in about three years it was really great just to catch up (and have her meet my husband)!

3) I've come to the conclusion that I use the internet & Facebook to fill empty slots of time and to attempt to connect me to some world that exists outside of where we currently are located.......however that time could also be much better utilized doing things outside, reading, enjoying more of the simpler moments, and attempting to increase connections here. As the days progressed, I also felt myself relax, slow down slightly, and appreciate more. I got to sleep in for an extra 20 minutes each morning as I wasn't able to check email & news before work---the extra snooze was great!

4) I've realized that I use Facebook for work networking too. I use it to communicate with the coworkers I had who have relocated and to hunt down job options for clients by using my friends and their connections as information resources. Just goes to show that networking truly can be 90% of the job hunt.

5) And lastly, while the husband was still able to access the Internet on his computer and Iphone when he was home, I didn't really touch the TV. The lessened technology did increase our communication though and our general feeling of satisfaction spending time together. We're talking about instituting one night a week without internet or TV on both sides----I think it'd be a good idea!

It was a busy (and HOT--high 90s and low 100s) week, but an interesting challenge all the same!