From Cradle to Grave

6:30 am - Turn on computer.

6:35 am - Check email, Facebook, FriendFeed, Tumblr, Ning, Flickr, return emails, check favorite websites...

Repeat till 9 PM.

10 PM - Take iPod Touch to bed and play games and check websites. Pass out.

Is there ever a moment that I am not connected? Besides the daily rituals of staying alive, eating, drinking, rest stops and the gym, I am connected to the invisible tether of the internet.
In the car when I listen to NPR, I make mental notes to check the websites they are referring to in the news and interviews. Driving by a billboard, I notice the URL and make a note not to visit that site. Once I get back home, I put down my packages and rush through the putting away of milk, bread and other sundries. I plop down in front of my computer and like a good friend I say "hello, so what did I miss?"

I can only speak for myself, but I am not addicted to the web, I depend on it. But let's put that to the test, I will substitute "internet use" for "drinking" in this definition of a drinking problem:

1. Have you ever felt you needed to cut down on your internet use?

2. Have people annoyed you by criticizing your internet use?

3. Have you ever felt guilty about your internet use?

4. Have you ever felt you needed to be on the internet the first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of your anxiety about not being connected?

Yikes. I am an Internetholic.

I am not yet ready for an intervention because right now I don't think it's a bad thing....