Anybody else suffering from this affliction? After much navel-gazing, I think I may have the answer to my flaccidity of energy. Without straining my brain too far, I believe that the speed of daily living is the culprit for my lack of enthusiasm. I have been hijacked by a loss of spontaneity, of consideration and of the freedom to daydream.
Take my typical day. Beginning with failure to launch as I reluctantly emerge from Cloud Cuckoo Land, I attempt to introduce some semblance of planning to carry me through until I can gratefully return to nigh-nighs. Thoughts inevitably turn to the bank accounts, the weather, emails and both my personal and Gallery Facebook pages.
Opening online bank accounts mostly cause gloom to settle about my person due to our continual lack of funds. The weather dictates how much we water our garden pots and what we wear. Sorting through the tome of e-mails invariably involves some gnashing of teeth, frequent use of the "delete" button and only minimal enjoyment.
Then there's Facebook. I signed up to this particular social media whirlpool to keep in touch with the kids and far-flung friends. Then I started the East End Gallery page. I have become an expert in scrolling. I still don't use all my fingers to type on the keyboard, but I do manage to churn out the latest inanities fairly quickly.
I also use Mailchimp for my monthly Gallery newsletter and last but not least, we also have the Gallery website.
All this hoo haa takes great swathes of each day. I promised myself faithfully that I would update the website every week after my last frantic catch-up. Guiltily opening the "dashboard" a few days ago, I discovered that I hadn't added any posts since September. The addition of ten or so new posts took most of a day. There was material to write, photos to find and irrelevant posts to toss out into the trash. The difference between two entities like a website and Facebook that the website does not automatically grow in all directions as there is usually only one poor sod trying to keep updates flowing.
And has the World Wide Web actually improved our lives? I think not. Back in the days prior to the arrival of cyberspace, there were encyclopaedias, the dictionary and thesaurus. They contained facts and information. We knew that Mrs Brown next door was full of opinions which were not necessarily true. We didn't have to put up with the trials of American spelling. When we wanted to contact another person, we used the landline telephone, wrote a letter or if urgent, sent a telegram. Games were played outside or in a cubby house made out of Mum's best sheets under the desk. Even when my own children were very young, the internet was in its infancy. We read books, sang songs, watched the telly, splashed in the bath, climbed trees and visited friends on the other side of the street.
We didn't suffer from bad backs, poor posture or an alarming tendency to walk into stationary objects. That is completely the fault of the mobile phone. We could also spell and hold conversations. With texting came the decline of language and writing and difficulty in having meaningful social engagement.
There is no pause in the avalanche of information and opinion. We don't often have the opportunity to draw breath. And we are also stymied by the overwhelming unfriendliness of websites and pages. Somebody once claimed that computers would revolutionise the world and give us back so much time. That person obviously never tried to negotiate any government website.
Facebook isn't giving me the same enjoyment anymore. I have to search for the fun post, the humorous illustration, the latest hilarious storyline from the NT News. Otherwise, I might drown in a sea of spin and lies.
I need to take control of my own life. I am going to (try to) restrict my online time to an hour a day and another hour for writing. Starting right now after I post this piece on my blog!
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