You know you have been spending too much time online when you try to scroll down on a book....

You know you have been spending too much time online when you try to scroll down on a book....

I have spent a couple of evenings over the last month with the Ipad on the left, the iphone on the right and the study book in front of me but was feeling restless and out of focus  and skilfully used all the excuses to distract myself from achieving what I needed to do.

This afternoon my phone suddenly died, not only I could not check the time as I don't wear a watch but in addition I didn't even know my friends number or anyone’s phone number as a matter of fact.  It hit me that I hadn’t memorised a single phone number from my phone list and wasn't sure which number to dial in case of emergency was it 911 or 111? (it is actually 999 and 112 in Ireland). ‘Gosh, I must work on that, I thought.’ I grabbed the phone, oh yes ok, you are dead.        

So I did the unexpected, instead of window shopping I sat down for two hours in a cafe reading the Yoga book (that I put in the bag out of guilt before leaving the house), those were the two most productive hours I had in a long time. No internet, no computer, no phone. I scribbled 5 answers from the long list of 50 of the Yoga course while sipping tea. On my way to the appointment I remembered the world when there were no mobile phones and where we had to go to libraries to do the research for assignments.

Is the internet and the immediate access to information making us learn things that we could never have access to in such a fast way so allowing us to absorb more knowledge than previous generations or is it giving us all ADD from ultra stimulation?

Once home I managed to resuscitate the poor oldie phone and memorised my father’s phone number. 'Dad, you should be happy to know that you are my only free pass from jail!'

No switch off and go...