Internet (R)evolution

When an hour and a half prior to the unofficial end of the workday the Internet gods disgraced our think tank bubble for an unforeseeable period of time, Revolution broke out. Scholars, RAs and interns alike went through identical phases of psychological distress ranging from minor irritation through thunderous outcries mixed with unsophisticated cursing to monitor punching. In the midst of this unconnected misery and deteriorating general work morale, once again we were all reminded of how dependent inferior human beings we really are to the supernatural forces of information hyper highway. So what on earth are we going to do now? I have to send this email, read this Post article and check the latest online sales…NOW! What do you mean “server not found”….this is my workplace!
A couple of hopeless minutes passed. After receiving an official confirmation from the Tech Department that the Internet indeed does not work, people seemed to calm down and stoically acknowledge the fact that the world indeed stopped. Legitimate time-out for everyone! And so did humankind rediscover the forgotten beauties of interpersonal communication: real life discussions and stuff like that - just until the server gets back to business again and everyone can retreat to their respective cubicles, and return to intra-office emailing.
Addicted or not, I started to have growing concerns about this dependency phenomenon and new age romance between me and the Net. I spend more time with it than with my boyfriend. I realized I spend more time online than off line which is clearly more than what I would want to. And ratio is getting worse and worse every year. As much as I fight against the supernatural forces by trying to avoid a state of dependence from which there is no return, IT seems to have won the hand wrestle. “Your Internet usage is causing significant problems in your life. You should evaluate the impact of the Internet on your life and address the problems directly caused by your Internet usage.” That is not me. Yet. But I might turn into one of these shaking neurotics whose fingertips are suspiciously smooth from 24/7 typing and talk in 0-s and 1-s. According to the Center for Online Addiction (yes, they do exist), I am just “an average on-line user” who may surf the Web a bit too long at times but has control over its usage. For a control-freak like me that is reassuring, at least for the time being. So I will try and keep swimming against the cyber tide and cheer when we get cut off from the virtual world from time to time. At least we get a moment to enjoy the real one.