Escaping the Internet and Social Networking

Every quarter I teach a class that in week 5 asks students to keep track of their media/technology usage for 48 hours. The results are startling, further proof that Generation M really is a double-entendre (Millennial and Media). The amount of time that is spent communicating with (or at) others, listening to music, watching television and/or movies and playing video games is truly unbelievable -- taking up over half the waking life for many youth today. And, of course, adults are increasingly prey to technology as well. I just bought an iPhone four days ago and can't believe how much time I have spent playing with it. Anyway, two brilliant new apps try to get us back on track to actually focusing on what we're doing when we're on our computers. Both provide the opportunity to block the greatest distractions in our lives: the Internet (http://macfreedom.com/) and/or Social Networking (http://anti-social.cc/download). The apps are not free, but can be had for the low price of $20. God this sounds like an advertisement. But they really are brilliant and could cut the time it takes to actually finish something by hours. While I often use the Internet while writing, I assume just keeping notes of what I have to look up and doing the actually writing will actually free my time up to get away from the computer altogether ... something most of us should do more of.