Johnny Five - Need More Input!

Sometimes I feel like Johnny Five from the old Short Circuit movies....NEED MORE INPUT!

I'm typing this post up Tuesday night. I got to thinking on the treadmill earlier how many different sources of input we get these days. I may not be the norm, but I'm always either online via laptop or phone at home and am in front of my computer all day at work. Honestly, not counting time I'm sleeping, I'm probably NOT online maybe 2 hours a day on weekdays. And if I'm at home, I probably have the TV on while I'm doing something else on the laptop.

When I was on the treadmill, I had my phone sitting on the holder thingy, wireless headphones listening to Fast Money off the DVR in the other room and had the TV in the workout room ready to watch some Burn Notice off the WDTV Live player once the show I was listening to was over. If the little LEDs blinked on the phone indicating a new email or text, I'll check it. Earlier yesterday I exchanged accounts with 3 people at work and started Words With Friends games with them and also started games with my sisters and wife, so 6 in progress games. At one point 2 people had taken their turn while I was jogging, so once I was tired and slowed it down for a few minutes, I took my turn while walking. This was the first time I did something other than just read a quick new email while on the treadmill. Normally I might glance at it, just to see who a new email is from and if it's important.

Some might think that not disconnecting might be stressful, but really that's not the case at all. Everything I'm doing at home is personal. I do not get my work email on my phone or computer unless I specifically go in to check it, which I do not do normally. So really, it's just more a desire to stay connected and 'tapped in'.

When I'm on the laptop at home I always check Google News/CNN/local news and news from my old hometown and places my immediate family live, I also check out several stock market websites, am usually logged in chatting with my sisters/mom if they're online, checking Facebook, emails, blogging, etc. Generally my wife is either doing the same, or busy doing her college course work. I wouldn't say it's relaxing per se, but it is what I enjoy doing.

I do find that if I don't disconnect from the computer by about 9:15-9:30pm them my mind is still very active and I have a hard time going to sleep right away. So since I'm actually typing this post and it's 10:22pm, I might be up for a bit, so better wrap it up.

Do you find that with all the new technology and all the 24/7 news feeds that you're more plugged in these days? Do you enjoy that aspect or feel it's a bad thing? Curious to hear other perspectives and experiences...

Posted in: Technology