Unplug? Not me!

Hello Bloggerers! Long time no see! I'm shamefully behind in posting new updates... but I promise I'll try to post more often from now on :)

Today it's time for a long overdue post: why I'll never unplug. This post was inspired by an blog post I found on Twitter: http://kaitnolan.com/2011/08/19/why-ill-never-unplug/ (I believe the blog post was written by @KaitNolan; I found it through a tweet by @GeneLempp.)

I admit that I'm just starting to barely dip my toe into the online writing community, but even in my everyday, non-writing life I've noticed a lot of people talk about how we're "plugged in all the time" like it's a bad thing. I don't really understand the push to "unplug" and I agreed completely with what Ms. Nolan had to say, but I also thought of some other reasons why I'm joined at the hip to my technology and proud of it. So without further ado, here are my own personal reasons why I'll never unplug.

#1: There are interesting people online.

Seriously, if I had no other motivation to surf the web, the shear variety of cool people there would be enough to tempt me. My interests happen to be CG graphics and writing. Just on Twitter I've found an official DisneyPixar feed, some amazing artists, and a whole series of awesome writers who love to share expertise. Give that all up? Are you nuts!?

This is where I agree 100 percent with Ms. Nolan. I'm lucky to have a group of friends and family who are very supportive and interested in my hobbies, but sometimes it's nice to be able to vent about Photoshop and Comic Sans and n-gons with people who've been there, ya know?

#2: Online interaction and non-online interaction are not incompatible.

Honestly, I can't see how online interaction is a direct path to ruined social skills, like some people claim. For decades now, people have been fluent in face-to-face, writing, and telephone interaction. You don't as a rule see letter writing or telephone calls ruining businesspeople's social skills, do you? I don't see a reason why we can't add internet communication to our toolkit. I talk with people in real life, and then I carry on digital conversations with them later. The two are not mutually exclusive.

#3: Technology is not a one-way path to physical problems/mental problems/any other sort of problems.

Yes, if you spend too much time on the computer you'll end up with problems. But if you spend too much time exercising, you'll end up with different problems. Moderation is better for just about everything.

Angela Ackerman said something in the comments for Ms. Nolan's post that I think makes a lot of sense: "Social networking should never run the show…it should not be this giant flying circus that people need to get away from. If it is, then you’re doing it wrong." I couldn't have said it better myself. YOU run the technology. If your technology's running you, then you need to change your approach. No killer robots will emerge from the depths of Twitter to punish you for neglecting them. I promise.

#4: It's fun.

Yes, that's one of my major reasons. In fact, that's my final, all-encompassing reason that I'll never unplug. I happen to enjoy tweeting, chat forums, and video games. I happen to enjoy them very much. 'Nuff said.

I think sometimes people are way too harsh on entertainment. Being 100 percent practical, 100 percent of the time would be very stressful. Sometimes you just need a little pure entertainment, and I think that's okay.


And on a completely unrelated note, Twitter is down and it's driving me NUTS because there's something that I really want to tweet about. Normally I would vent such a minor irritation on Twitter. But I kind of can't do that, because Twitter is kind of... not working. Oh dear.