Internet surfing

(Do they still call it that? Surfing? I suspect not. Like so much in life, the whole business may have cruised on ahead to become something else, leaving me behind in the dust.)

Surfing, or searching, or clicking... I've really sort of fallen behind on the whole business. Lost interest. Lost my way. What is there that can use up hours of looking, every day? The novelty has long since worn off, so we should, surely, be down to some utility, by now, in our internet experience. But what?

I really hesitate to offer this observation - to admit that I don't get it any more - considering my very 'technical' husband who spends inordinate numbers of hours searching for things and reading, printing, saving, and responding to them. He is on 'chat' groups. He researches. He reviews. He shops. He finds humor. And outrage. And idiocy. He is so inclined to add to our 'favorites' list that it is simply too long to be useful any longer. (Of the several hundred 'favorites' only 9 are mine!)

And me? I look for email - which hardly ever comes. I look at the headline news page and see all of the same stuff I saw yesterday. Or 'sensational' stuff about celebrities that I refuse to click on at all on the principal that if anyone is counting 'hits' and using that information to support the inclusion of more of the same, then I don't want to encourage them.

Since changing my financial plan I don't have to look at my portfolio online anymore. I only check the local traffic cameras when there is eccentric weather. The old class reunion website is hardly ever updated now that the reunion is long over. I have my blog to post on, but it isn't something I read or check myself. And that about does it for me. It got too discouraging to look at Zillow for plunging house values so I sort of gave that up - although I do admit to having looked up George Bush's new house to see what it looked like, since the news reports conveniently gave us his address. It is just too ridiculous a waste of time to continue to put together electronic jigsaw puzzles, but... OK - I admit it, I DO still do that some. I have vacation reservations and research done for the year already, and it is months before we are going anywhere. I've recalculated my mortgage amortization with online calculators more times than I should admit to, and, yes, spent nearly an hour the other day in a fruitless search for a particular 'body image' cartoon. Diets, remedies, illnesses and pharmaceuticals don't really hold my interest - at least not in proportion to their preponderance on the internet. I can't think of a single webpage that I would want to 'check back daily for updates and news.' Plant and garden research only gets me with a longer 'want' list - and that I can do without.

So what else is there? What am I missing?

I know - it is sunny outside and I'm missing life!