Tomorrow I try a week without computers at all.
Wish me luck and see you on day 8.
If you see me before then, then make sure I have a very VERY good excuse.
…there aint no such thing as a [u][i]good[/i][/u] excuse, even of the [u]very [/u] variety! 
Good point.
Maybe I should have said “If you find me on here before then you should [insert punishment here equilivant in tremendity as walking the plank]”
Nothing as simple as [i]the plank[/i] for you sunshine!!
If y show yface, yll ave t dance the Dying Swan, back and forth across London Bridge, in the rush hour, like this guy here…
youtube.com/watch?v=qompIAoTlnU
…wearing tutu and steel toe capped welders boots!! Yve bin warned 
Ugh. This is difficult to say. Not quite painful, but certainly not what I would consider comfortable by any stretch.
I agree with vic-k.
That was bad.
I will say it differently though.
Either do or don’t. Remove “try” from your vocabulary and get down to business.
I think the correct punishment may be that he would have to do the
RIVER DANCE
For three hours
while singing Celine Dion Songs
only wearing a loin cloth and flippers
On a street corner of a Southern Town on Sunday after Church lets out
while holding a cardboard sign that says
“I used to write for food but now I am possessed to DANCE, DANCE, DANCE!”
I’m back and I took an extra 3 days just because I felt like it.
I also have slept fantastically well.
So wot y sayin then? We give y nightmares an keep y`s awake, or sumfink? 
Mr. K,
You may be using the word “we” with liberality. I am sure there is a small subset of the scriverati+3 that would be responsible for any nightmares experienced. The rest of the crew should be explicitly exempted from this association.
Sebbi,
The critical point now is only use the computer for limited times. After your “fast” consider only allowing use of the system for 30 minutes after completion of all items on your task list (if the task list is a computer list such as mine the 30 minutes is for personal use). I have reclaimed about 1 hour a day on the short side and seen an overall productivity increase.
For example, I was not on all day yesterday as my list of todos was not completed until 9PM. My list included completing the refinishing of a brass bred that I started three weeks ago. Bed is done and the Mrs is much happier.
That’s a very good point; and I haven’t yet spent much time on the computer without a specific purpose in mind (i.e. my computer is part of the todo list) - e.g. to scan stuff in, resync my iPod etc.
Your comments are very much welcomed.
I think one very big I learned thing is, like I think you said in the other thread - is that if the computer is sitting there on the desk it’s saying “Go on, switch me on” as opposed to if it is in a bag deep under my bed.
That’s a very good point; and I haven’t yet spent much time on the computer without a specific purpose in mind (i.e. my computer is part of the todo list) - e.g. to scan stuff in, resync my iPod etc.
Your comments are very much welcomed.
I think one very big I learned thing is, like I think you said in the other thread - is that if the computer is sitting there on the desk it’s saying “Go on, switch me on” as opposed to if it is in a bag deep under my bed.
Temptation is tempting no matter the form it takes. Drugs, women, gambling, gluttony, computers. Each can be a vice. Each can be controlled.
I think the hardest part is learning the habit of denying yourself gratification. Once that habit is learned you can leave the computer turned on, open to the scrivener forums and manage not to read or post a single message. The habit of self denial is not learned over night, nor is it taught in a class. It is acquired through constant practice with many small things until it becomes integral to who you are and is extended into all areas of your life.
This is not to say that one never experiences pleasure but that the experience is a child of conscious decision rather than impassioned lust. Lust is born of temptation fulfilled. As Bob U. lead in a different thread, lust and its child are temporal and self destructive. Deny them a place in our lives and we will be able to achieve the goals we set for ourselves as our lives will be ours, our decisions will be ours, our very existence will be ours.
I would offer this challenge to you, young Sebbi. Begin today with denying yourself one small thing. Spend the time you would have spent indulging, meditating on what I call God (the power from which all that is originates). Deny yourself this one thing for 14 days then add an additional small item. Every 14 days add another item to your list of things that you will control instead of them controlling you.
I started this several years ago. I made the mistake of starting big. TV. Cold turkey. I failed miserably and slid into a depression the likes of which I hope to never experience again. After wallowing in self pity (that is what MY depression was unlike some folks who have real issues) I looked around and was shown the error of my method. I started over using the plan I outlined for you above. Here are some things that are on my list that no longer dictate my life to me:
• TV (13 items here)
• Alcohol (2 drinks a day)
• Clothing (yes I wear it)(personal uniform)
• Coffee/Caffeine (several pots a day or soda when coffee wasn’t available)
Do I still watch TV, drink beer or whiskey or rum, buy and wear fine clothes, drink coffee and soda? Yes. But I do it on my terms. I rule those things, they do not rule me.
What is the point? The computer may call, but you are its master. Learn to exercise that mastery and the world is yours for the taking.
Going for another week away from the digital domain.
While I’m away, I don’t want to come back and for anything to be broken, and you have to make sure vic-k is sufficiently able to climb up stairs.
I’ve left some ice cream in the freezer - don’t eat it all at once though.
I’ve done the week off computers thing a few times. It’s very refreshing.
Now I don’t have internet at home anymore. In theory I should be able to use my computer for writing instead of surfing. Mostly it stays off. Must try this writing thing again.
Interesting list, Jaysen.
I have no trouble giving up any of the things you listed (well, one of them I don’t do in the first place so there’s no giving up involved), but I am an info-junkie from way back. That’s why the internet is my complete downfall. I used to read books (almost) obsessively, now the reading is more online, so the form the information’s presented in has changed, but it’s still info-junkieness and it still owns me.
Deny me the internet and I turn to books. Deny me my books and I sneak off to the library. Deny me that and I turn restless twitchy and useless.
[size=150]GERRAARRTOFIT!![/size] [size=150]Cheeky bugger!![/size]
[size=50]wot flavour ice cream?[/size]
I think my last post prior to today was 6/28. That was 14 days with no computer use that was not strictly utilitarian (checkbook). Next goal is 1 month with no email, and only work and scriv forums for 'net reading. figure I will go for that in another month.
I already ate the ice cream vic-k. You want to lick the carton?
Studio717: the list items are my personal demons. i do my best not to preach about them specifically but they are areas that I see as issues in many places (“why do you expect your kid to listen to you when you are too busy watching TV to listen to them?” is one of my favorites). In the end I really think the last line is the the key. When we master (control not expertise in) the things around us the possibilities are endless.