Close your eyes...

...damnit, you have to have them open to read this.

You are at home. You are sitting behind the computer, mouse in hand and you are surfing the internet for that hard to find item. You are using Google.com to make quick searches, Ask.com to narrow down your choices and basing your purchase off of Amazon.com's suggestions based off of what you find online. You pull out the credit card/ debit card from your wallet/ purse and make your purchase with a few key strokes and a clicking of the submit button. Depending on the extra cost, you opted for next day delivery and in no time, you are enjoying your purchase made and absolutely in love with the computer age.

It's a pretty kick ass era, isn't it? I think so. Other than the development of the automobile around the turn of the century & early 1900's, no other technology has advanced so fast in such a short period of time than the computer age seen from 1994 to today.

So what's the problem?

Do you know who your neighbors are? Do you know them by name, do you know what they do as far as their career goes and furthermore, do you rely on their opinion as a good neighbor to find good deals, information or what's happening in your own back yard? Do you know more about your online friends than you do with most of your in person friends? Do your online friends know more about you than your spouse or significant other?

Do you think you have a problem? Do you think this sort of thing is a problem?

I admit, I am an online junkie. I am a gadget junkie that each just happens to be able to gain access to the internet. I own a T-Mobile Sidekick II and it is connected to the internet 24 hours a day. I get home and turn on my laptop, which is near me or close to me almost all hours I am home. I recognize I have a problem. I surf the same 6 websites every day, I am somewhat of an information junkie but I don't view my internet usage as being something that causes me to have job performance issues. If anything, it keeps me up to date on a lot of information the moment it becomes available. My Sidekick is a sweet little gadget, always connected to the net and can surf real websites and can help me log into my bank account at any time. Its a real time saver when I am no where near an internet connection and absolutely positively need to get online.

No, I haven't omitted that the Sidekick II also has Yahoo & AIM messengers on it at my disposal as well.

I tend to think that we as a modernized society have forgotten what it's like to have social interaction with our own neighbors, friends and family. Sure the internet makes it easier to talk to people, but it also isolates us from the rest of the world in the process. Hell, I have a set of really dark sunglasses that I keep with me at all times because my eyes cannot adjust to the light all that well. Had I spent more time outdoor than indoors on a computer when I was younger I might not have this problem. I mean really, when was the last time you had actually spent some time talking to your next door neighbors -- and I'm talking about an actual conversation, not something you're forced to do because you see them getting the mail, putting the trash can to the curb or leaving for the day?

I swear a lot of my family members read my website so they can keep tabs on me and find out what's happening in my life more than my friends do. Granted my work schedule doesn't leave much to a social life, so in a way this is the only way to get some sort of human interaction between me and my loved ones.

Hopefully after reading this, some people might open their eyes and maybe do something more constructive with their time than pop bubble wrap online. Yeah, I love that page.

P.S., was listening to the iPod writing this. Something about being one-on-one with your machines, I tell ya...
*currently playing Queen A Kind of Magic