A trial separation from the internet

Determined to overcome her time-wasting addiction to e-mail, Facebook and RSS feeds, internet addict JOANNA ROBERTSdecided to put her willpower to the test by going on an 'offline diet' for five days

IF PROCRASTINATION is the thief of time, the internet is its chief accomplice. I used to think I had willpower, but in fact I’m a slave to e-mail alerts, RSS feeds, Twitter updates, hyperlinks and instant messaging, and am frequently tempted into distant corners of cyberspace when I have deadlines to meet. Increasingly it feels like I have two types of days: those when I’m busy, and those when I get things done.

The Onion parodied the internet’s potential for distraction back in 2003: “48-hour internet outage plunges nation into productivity”, the headline declared – and that was before Facebook and Twitter added to the noise, and iPhones and WiFi provided us with near- permanent connectivity.

But the backlash has begun. From an application that monitors your productivity to a plug-in that saves hyperlinks for later reading, a host of tools has sprung up to help people regain control of their internet use. Could they be just what I need to untangle my life from the web? I decide to spend a week finding out.

PREPARATION

Going cold turkey is not an option. I want a plan that’s sustainable, and while I could probably cope with disconnecting completely for a week, the internet is now such a basic commodity that being offline long-term would spell the end of my career.

I call psychologist Allison Keating for advice. “Technology steals time, for sure,” she says. “But the idea of genuinely switching off is very tough.” So what would she recommend? “It’s the art of saying no,” she says. “The apps are great, but you need to have self-imposed guidelines as well. Set time limits.” So I come up with three rules:

1 I will only check my e-mails three times a day: first thing, lunchtime and 4pm.

2 I will cut out my routine of checking news sites and forums before starting work.

3 I will assign my most distracting activities (social networking, instant messaging, online forums) a time slot: between 4 and 5pm.

MONDAY

It so happens that in the week I’m doing this experiment, Monday is a bank holiday. That isn’t the cop-out it seems. Usually on a bank holiday I’ll still log on, check my e-mails, maybe use Facebook, have a look at the news, and generally spend a good few hours at the computer. Not today. Today I’m taking a complete break.

TUESDAY

I feel refreshed after my day off, but I’m chafing at the bit to check my e-mails. I tell myself it’s because I might have missed something important, but actually there may be other factors at work. Dr Tom Stafford from the University of Sheffield believes that checking your e-mails is addictive, because the system delivers messages at variable intervals rather than rewarding you with a new e-mail every time. The upshot is that it’s always worth checking again, a bit like a gambler and a slot machine. Just knowing that strengthens my resolve.

Next I download Freedom, a programme that disconnects my computer from the internet for a period of my choice. The recommended time for the first use is 20-45 minutes, but I decide to go for 90 – how hard can it be? As soon as I press the button, I feel jumpy. What if someone is trying to contact me? What if there is something I really need to check?

I spend most of the next hour and a half wishing there was a countdown timer on Freedom to tell me when I’m allowed back online. I could over-ride it, but that would mean rebooting my computer and admitting defeat, so I try to concentrate on writing instead. It works to a certain extent, but I keep thinking of all the things I need to do online – people to e-mail, sites to check.

Yet when I’m reconnected, the urgency suddenly disappears. Could it be that I was merely procrastinating?

WEDNESDAY

It has been surprisingly easy to stick to my plan of checking my e-mails three times a day only. But the bulk deliveries have revealed how much rubbish I receive, so I begin the day by decluttering my inbox, consigning my favourite newsletter subscriptions, blog updates and Twitter feeds to my RSS reader and unsubscribing from ones I don’t read.

Next, it’s time for Freedom again. What I learnt from yesterday is that the internet will still be there later, something I’d almost forgotten in my compulsion to check things immediately. I still feel slightly on edge when I disconnect, but I force myself to write down things that occur to me and then put them out of my mind. I finally get some writing done.

In the afternoon, I need to do research. To maintain my new-found focus, I download Read it Later, a programme that allows you to save interesting-looking sites in a reading list to peruse later.

The tactic works: I actually feel as though I’m using the internet efficiently, acknowledging distractions but not letting them dictate my life.

THURSDAY

I’m enjoying the feeling of being in control of my time and I’m definitely more productive. By noon I’ve finished a piece of work that’s been hanging over me for ages. I reward myself by taking a proper lunch break. Usually I’ll skim the news online, but today I treat myself to an actual newspaper and read it in the park.

A friend texts me to ask why I haven’t been on Gmail chat all week. “I’m taking a break,” I say. “Shall we go for a coffee instead?” So we do, and it’s lovely to catch up in person and have a proper conversation instead of hastily-typed snippets when I’m in the middle of something else.

FRIDAY

It was all going so well. But today I have that Friday feeling, and I succumb to the lure of the internet. Suddenly, a message pops up on my screen from Rescue Time, a programme I installed to monitor my computer activity. “You spent 45 minutes on All Distracting Time today,” it says.

It’s just the kick I need to get me back on track – I want to see this experiment through.

Back at the grindstone, there’s one more task for the week: I need to read a long report. Instead of reading online and risk being seduced by hyperlinks, I download it and read it offline. And not only do I sit and read the full report, but I’m totally absorbed – a feeling of concentration I haven’t had in a long while.

CONCLUSIONS

I’ve had an undeniably productive week, but the question is: will I stick with it? I think I will. Once I got over my fear of missing out, it was relatively painless to stick to my three rules on e-mail and social networking. I’ve learnt that just because I can access anything I want at any time doesn’t mean I have to, and I’ve been reminded that e-mail, RSS feeds, Twitter updates and instant messaging are means to an end rather than worthwhile tasks in themselves.

As for the tools? Well, Read It Later is my new best friend, and I’ve already upgraded my Freedom from the trial version to a full one. But just the process of thinking critically about whether something is necessary or a mere distraction means that I’m starting to self-monitor.

Maybe one day I won’t need what my friend describes as “the digital equivalent of a toddler stairgate” to do it for me. Now that would be progress.