I feel like I’m drifting away.
Connection is such a tenuous thing, physically or emotionally. You want to connect, to trust, but how do you know when the connection is toxic, or failing, or broken?
Each day, I try to tiptoe around the world for as long as I can, but the internet has made this challenging.
It’s a Catch-22, if I don’t connect to the internet I drift apart from the world, but if I connect to the internet, I’m bombarded with stuff : news, ads, studies, misery and success, and just, well, stuff.
Page after page, link after link of:
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People with diseases and those pretending to have diseases, really? Pretending to have a disease? Stuns me every time.
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Finding life on other planets – shouldn’t we concentrate on keeping what little intelligent life we have on Earth first?
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What’s getting deflated? Definitely not the egos of athletes!
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Governments lying to us again…still?
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Bragging, boasting, whining, complaining, rudeness, trolls and trouble.
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Turtles and snakes in toilets, transformed food, books, social media, movies, cats, TV, music, royalty, and endless things going viral we won’t remember next week.
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Riots, wars, conflicts, comets, poverty, abuse, slavery, rape, murder, mutant ants, fires, biker wars, shootings, floods, terrorism, volcanic eruptions, killer bees, public shaming, teachers having sex with students (in the wise words of Pink Floyd, Hey! teachers! leave the kids alone!)…
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Hoaxes, scams, and stunts, aarrgghhh, my head is spinning!
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NSA, CIA, IRS, CSIS, OMG, ISIS, UFO, LOL, NASA, it might be fun to stay at the YMCA, if we weren’t drowning in abbreviations.
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Studies explaining things they think I should know, like: food, drinking, sleeping, the environment, politics, parenting. I figured out parenting, at first you’re disoriented, exhausted, scared to say or do the wrong thing, a bit like being abducted by aliens, then you realize, they’re adorable aliens, like ET and then, they have you, you have X-Files Stockholm Syndrome and you can’t get enough…or wait, is that politics, not parenting?
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Ads and commercials for things we don’t need, but apparently should want more than breathing.
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And remember when we only knew a little about celebrities and their lives? I miss that.
“Bragging, boasting, whining” I find this a bit hard to take as well. I’m not unrealistic but find myself shaking my head sometimes.
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Yes, I wonder if people are too disconnected to see how weird some of it is…it gets too be too much sometimes. 🙂
Hope this week treats you well. 🙂
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I find it hard to strike a balance, not in terms of time, more the negativity that one is exposed too. Gets too overwhelming. Has really changed the world, sometimes, I feel like disconnecting from all of it.
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There’s good stuff on here too, but sometimes it feels overshadowed by the negativity. It’s tricky to find the right balance. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by, hope this week is being kind to you so far. 🙂
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Yes I agree, made some great friends on social media and read lots of great articles. You’re welcome.
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We just need to filter…and filter…and filter and hope too much doesn’t get stuck in there. 😉
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Aye
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🙂
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I like a lot of it and try like hell to avoid the parts of it I don’t, Donna. I like your part of BloggyWorld, so I jumped on this THANG right soon darn quick. Part roadrunner, part ostrich, I guess. Beep beep beep boop. 😮
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Thank you kindly Mark, I’ve been staying off for close to a week, just checking here and there, needed a break…but now I’m back! 😉
Hope everything is great in your corner of the world. 🙂
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I noticed your absence, Donna. I kept checking your house and kept seeing “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and kept saying in my head, “Yes, you can, Donna Parker, yes, you can.” 😉
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Awww, you’re sweet, yes, I needed some time off to sort through some things and other various issues, but I kept up with my favourite bloggers, that’s right, you know who you are. 😉
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Glad you’re back, Donna, spreading your wisdom as you can. 🙂
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It’s good to be back…
Hope you have a lovely evening. 🙂
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I can relate too. I spend a lot of time online ( I should be writing, but I get pulled to the dark side i.e. Facebook), so I’ve decided to set my limits too. I’m going for walks around my neighborhood, and I find it energizing. I’m not bringing my phone with me, so I can truly disconnect. I’ll let you know know if I manage to do it for more than a month.
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Yes, it’s so absorbing and there are wonderful things online, but it’s a time-eater. 🙂
Good luck with the phoneless walking. 🙂
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A person with a single clock always knows the time. A person with two or more is never quite sure.
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Brilliant, sort of what I was thinking, love that!!! 🙂
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I think a lot of us have a love/hate relationship with the internet and the “permanent connection” that comes with it. I do sometimes take a break and unplug everything – I find it’s good for the soul 🙂
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I think you’re right, I love the good stuff, but with it comes…too much. Some connections can be overpowering. 🙂
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Donna, i was exhausted from a(nother) day at the office with no air conditioning (this keeps happening, has been happening for 6 years, and it’s just the floor i’m on, not the whole building). I think you’ve given me the lift i needed to get through the evening.
>Just as i’ve had to limit my TV exposure to “news” (news always = bad, somehow never = good, so why don’t we call it something else? Got any ideas for the new name for “news”?), you are spot on — Internet exposure sometimes needs a boundary. So i think i’ll abandon the Internet for everything… except your blog! Mega hugs my friend. 🙂
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Sorry to hear about the floor-specific no air conditioning issues – I’d be on the floor, the actual floor. I’m glad I could give you a lift and hopefully tomorrow is a better day. 🙂
I used to be a news junkie, especially political stuff, but I’ve cut back because it was making me cynical, especially about politics.
I hope your limited exposure never includes your posts because I look forward to them so. 🙂
Megahugs and to a cooler day tomorrow, my friend. 🙂
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Some days it’s like walking through treacle and you wonder if you’ll reach the other side.Then out of 300 emails is the one that lifts me up washes my feet and sets me on firm ground again. There are a few of you who do that for me so I can bear the rest.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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David, you’re so wonderful. Yes, even though I wasn’t writing I was still wandering around reading my favourite bloggers’ posts (you being one, of course), I was busy, but I couldn’t deprive myself of the joy your posts give. Hope this week treats you well, can’t wait to hear about it!!!
Massive hugs.
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I don’t have as much trouble with all the information available as I have with trying to figure out, and keep up with, twitter. 🙂
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It’s sometimes too much, especially on Hashtag days, but I like the ‘connections’, but it can be overwhelming.
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
CUTE…SURE GLAD YOU CAN MAKE FUN OF IT!!!!!! 🙂
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Thank you so much for the reblog. 🙂
Hope all is well and you’re having a great week so far! 🙂
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DOING BETTER—-HOW ABOUT YOU?
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I’m hanging in there. 🙂
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Praise God!!!!
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🙂
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I hear the OMG is a particularly serious threat to national security. ;>)
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I’ve heard terrible things about it, very destructive. 😉
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I just use the internet to post my blog. 🙂
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And read other blogs and tweet and promote The Nite Show…you can’t fool me. 😉
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Nah. The interns do all that. 🙂
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Good to have minions. 😉
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I must agree, I prefer waking up alive rather than dead. I tried to wake up dead once, it just didn’t work out for me. I had to go stay at the YMCA which I preferred over the FBI lockup. Thanks for making me laugh.
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I’m glad I could make you laugh. Stay alive. 😉
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Wise words, as usual. Not getting too absorbed in it and remembering what’s really important, that’s the key for me.
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Wise words, Norm, sometimes it takes stepping back and seeing things clearly, doesn’t it?
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It IS too much. Now I’m getting notices on Google+ too and had planned to figure out what all the fuss is about regarding Twitter. Can’t fit it all into my day. Over the past year, I’ve manage to streamline more but if I don’t play the ‘tough love parent’ I get sucked in more and more.
Another fantastic and timely post, Donna. Sigh. ❤
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Thank you kindly, Tess. I love some of the internet, but it can be overwhelming. I’m learning to pace myself and enjoy the good stuff and let the bad stuff go. 🙂
Hope this day treats you well, Tess. 🙂
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What do you mean bad stuff? I don’t have any. It’s all good, just too much of it. 😀 😛
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lol 😉
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Sigh.
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I can’t believe you’re dissing cats. I’m gonna have to report you to the Cat League, and boy, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when they attack. 🙂
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I’m amazed I haven’t been disconnected from the internet completely, I know the cats run it. I love them, but wow, the internet is overrun with them. 😉
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Like Austin, I just use the internet Donna. I sure hope they’re not using me, or the whole plan I had will backfire. :O)
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lol I’m afraid it’s probably already backfired. 😉
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As soon as I feel my head is about to explode because of the information I have taken in, I press the ‘off’ button and go and do something else. Sometimes I come back, sometimes I don’t.
The ironic thing, is that most companies and our life styles now dictate that we have to use the internet. I do all my banking on it and I save so much time by doing that by not having to go to the bank in town, yet I do sometimes wonder who I may have bumped into for a catch up at the bank? Sometimes it can take real human connection away from you.
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I agree, and that human connection is so important. We seem to have gained so much, I hope we don’t notice how much we’ve lost when it’s too late to change.
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I fear it may already be to late.
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I hope not. 🙂
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“Ads and commercials for things we don’t need, but apparently should want more than breathing.” Absolutely! Is it any wonder I hardly ever watch t.v.? On top of little to no valuable content, I have to pay twice: first to my cable company; second I pay again with all the annoying, inane commercials that run for six to eight minutes after a three to four minute segment of the program they sponsor.
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And now those ads and commercials are all over the internet too so we’re paying again, probably in ways we don’t even fully understand yet. And then they include brands all over the programs as well. Sigh.
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I’m and IT Admin so I definitely struggle to find balance on what I look at on the Internet. One of my main issues (besides keyboard warriors) is that it bombards us with sad topics we may not be privy too otherwise. I truly feel sorry for the person that has a problem in (insert far away place), yet I feel it draws my gaze from local issues that I could actually do something about. People will gripe about what happened in another state, yet their neighbors might be going hungry. “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Excellent quote and good advice, if everyone helped those they can help, the world might be a better place. 🙂
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I was in a difficult predicament a few years ago. My blog is reflective but also has a bit of humour. The sort of humour which usually involves me laughing at myself..a bit quirky. Anyway, after having quite a few life changing breakthroughs, things went pear shaped. I developed pneumonia and was having chemo and for a good 6 months I was fighting for my life. I was a bit torn how to approach this on the blog because I had friends I was connecting with by this stage and people aren’t made of stone. At the same time, when they’re reading you to have a laugh and suddenly things get serious…Well, I did feel quite bad about that. It wasn’t what they signed up for. Indeed, to be fair, it wasn’t what I’d signed up for either.
Through necessity, I blogged about what was really happening and I also took quite a break from the blog as I just wasn’t well.
Reflecting on it now, life has its ups and downs and when you get close to anybody, there’s always that risk that things could get heavy. That they may need your help.
Through my own battles, I have not only become more resilient with handling my own problems but also with being stronger for my friends. Being able to be that rock in their crisis. They also tend to know what I’ve been through which gives me credibility.
For me helping those close to me now not only means my close friends in the “real” world but also my online friends. xx Rowena
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It’s so difficult to know how much to share and when to take those much-needed breaks. 🙂
I’m glad you were able to help not only yourself, but others as well, that’s a wonderful gift. 🙂
Hope this day is being good to you. 🙂
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Oh yes. Today should be very good to me. I am running away from hom eto the Sydney Writers’ Festival with a friend. Tonight we’ll be attending Dr Norman Doidge who wrote”The Brain which Changes Itself” and “The Brain’s Way of Healing”. He’s a neuroplasticity guru. Can’t wait. His books really helped change my life.
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That sounds amazing and relaxing. I’ve read both those books, and I watched a documentary on it too (he’s Canadian). His thoughts on how the brain changes, changed my brain. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Have a wonderful time. 🙂
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Donna, I’ve posted some insight today. There must be so many people he’s touched and changed all around the world. Truly amazing. I hope I can do so much good and help so many!
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Really enjoyed your post, looks like you had a fantastic time…and the gnocchi made me drool. 😉
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I really was in seventh heaven. If I am well tomorrow, I’ll be taking the kids in. They’re pretty keen but my husband is working and they’re often not “little angels”. But, I talk a lot about nurturing the kids and it would be fabulous to share my world with them.
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It is good to share things, if possible. Hope all goes well. 🙂
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Wonderful quote.
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It is. 🙂
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All I know is that thanks to Facebook I know how many of my friends don’t think. Every time I see a meme “If I get a million likes I can bring awareness to organ donation and my mom says I’ll get a new kidney”
No, no, that’s not how it works.
Or, the “Please share this post, my daughter is missing” and you know what I’ve done, I’ve clicked through and found the original post… that is like 3 years old and that kid was found (or came home or the custody battle was resolved) like the next day.
Research – don’t blindly share! Seriously, people!
I’ve also discovered that I like being a stalker, or voyeur, because I like seeing what everyone else is up to, even if it means I pull a muscle rolling my eyes at the posts!
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Yes, Slacktivism combined with blind following/sharing is scary. You’re so right, Kate. I saw one the other day, ‘if this gets a million likes we’ll cure cancer’…Really? In what magical world do these people live in? The net has allowed us to peek into the lives of others, even if sometimes it’s slowing down just long enough to rubberneck. 🙂
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Lol @ rubbernecking. So true!!
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Too true. 🙂
Hope this weekend treats you and Mr T kindly Kate. 🙂
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Great stuff Donna! You’re so right, I always imagined the internet was intended to streamline our lives and in fact it just clogs up the pipes and buries us in gobledygook half the time but then there’s the other half that is truly inspiring and would be hard to do without – rationing is the only way! 🙂 (PS I lIke that Goethe quote!)
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Thank you and yes, I agree, it has added so much to our lives and that’s not always a good thing. 🙂
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Maybe those voices in your head aren’t even coming from the internet…
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Or maybe the internet is coming from them. 😉
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just blew my mind
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I know, right? 😉
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oh, yeah
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All right. 😉
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wheeeeeeeeeee
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I love your Psych reference 😀
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It applies to so much of life, doesn’t it? And I miss that show. 🙂
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My problem with the Internet has been a bunch of relationships that went south all at once, part of the same fight. I’m miserable about that but haven’t got much I can do. It’s only Internet-mediated misery, though. The same dynamic could happen more or less anywhere.
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Wherever it happens it’s sad and disappointing and frustrating.
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Fortunately, I miss most of the garbage happening in the world just by not having my computer having a landing page full of that stuff. I have it open to just the firefox search page. It’s blank until I hit something then it opens a screen of sites I visit regularly. I used to use MSN as my home page and long ago Yahoo but it’s such a distracting waste of time that I said NO MORE. I don’t miss being in the “know.” If something I need to know about happens, everyone I know will tell me about it. 🙂 #peaceatlast.
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I have mine open to a blank page, but still the world intrudes. But there’s great stuff out there too, I just have to wade through muck to get to it. 🙂
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“Does it inspire you to write that novel you’ve always talked about writing, talk to an old friend, travel, try new things, explore, take a chance…dream?” Exactly! Does it teach a new skill, help you to be brave, inspire? Does your time spent online leave you “doing” better, not just “feeling” better? These are some of the questions I ask myself from time to time.
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I think it’s a positive thing to question ourselves, it helps us from getting ‘stuck’. 🙂
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Donna, I find it so painful to be stuck, just so hard. You are right, there is something positive and powerful about questioning ourselves which I try not to confuse with doubting ourselves. Oh, this is a topic for a book!
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It is a fine line, questioning yourself and well, everything is crucial, but doubting yourself can be counterproductive, hmmm, you’re right, this would need a whole book. 😉
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When you write the book, Donna, I’ll buy it!
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It’s started…several are started… 😉
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Another story that will keep you up at night – did you see they discovered a warm blooded fish? It’s about the size and shape of a large pizza. Forget about life on other planets, the aliens are here!
Randomness aside, yeah I have found I occasionally have to take a break from tech and just go for a walk.
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Yes, I found the fish to be brave to be branching out. 😉 Or not.
Taking a break – important. Knowing when to take a break, more so. 🙂
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Sometimes I feel the same way as far as the internet and other forms of “social” media. I try to find a balance, paying attention to the few online things I enjoy most. If you think about it, the internet is about stuff that’s not on the internet, but I wonder for how much longer that will be the case…
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Things are progressing so rapidly, I’m interested and a tad uneasy.
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I think your post broaches the subject of whether we use the internet or the internet uses us. I decided to evaluate the various uses and the research (googling) aspect was a necessity for today’s world, blogging was critical because I love writing, reading and getting to know other bloggers, but social media doesn’t really add to my life in a positive manner so I opted out on most days. Some days I check in but have found that my day-to-day life is enhanced without knowing what someone ate for lunch, where they took their latest selfie, who pissed them off or what they bought at Macys. It’s not for everyone but it works for me. 🙂
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I agree, I find myself going to certain sites less and less and sometimes not at all, it just feels better. 🙂
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Sometimes the Internet is so overwhelming that I have to turn away from it, at least for part of the day. My job is online so I do have to go there a lot but I like to minimize what I look at. It can be info overload!!
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It’s probably like everything else, moderation is the key, not saying that’s not difficult, it sure is. 🙂
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Reblogged this on ' Ace Social & Media News ' and commented:
Also shared it here regards Ian 😉 http://flip.it/HY9ru
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Thank you kindly for the reblog and posting it as well. Much appreciated. 🙂
Hope this weekend is good to you. 🙂
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You too 😀
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🙂
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Yup. The Internet’s full of nastiness, but lots of positive stuff out there as well. I try not to let the negativity in if I can help it.
Thanks for joining the #geekpasticheblog party! I’m surfing around visiting all the posts and collecting links today.
– Gene’O
Instigator-in-Chief at Sourcererblog
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It was an awesome geek fellowship, thanks again for hosting, at least we geeks have quiet parties. 😉
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Lol, yes. Quiet parties, noisy Twitter accounts, hee heh.
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Oh yeah, very. 😉
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It’s hard to get the right balance. I need to learn to step away from the Internet from time to time as it can be life consuming!! Great post lots to consider found you on the . #WeekendBlogHop I
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Then you step back and it makes it easier to see clearly. Thanks, just over on Twitter trying to catch up, busy weekend, as always. 🙂
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well put!
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Thank you kindly. 🙂
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I think earning a BA degree in journalism back in 1973 was a blessing, because I learned just how biased and faulty the so-called free media is, and that explains why I tend to only read what I want and even then if I have doubts, I fact check through a number of sites that only offer mostly reliable fact based data to support or prove a media report is false, biased or dishonest.
I don’t trust most of the media, because 90% of the traditional media is owned by six for profit corporations and they are going to report what attracts an audience and studies show that bad news attracts more interest than good news.
Then once we take into account that mostly old very wealthy and powerful white guys control those media corporations—-for instance, Rupert Murdock who controls Media Corp the second largest media empire in the world—-can we trust any report that is political, financial or environmental in nature when the CEO can manipulate the news to support his biases.
Imagine what a media source own by the Koch brothers would report about global warming.
To avoid all those ads, or as many as possible, I don’t watch regular TV. I only watch shows that I buy on DVD’s. If they start putting ads on those DVD’s, then I might have to give up watching films and TV series.
To avoid the ads that plague the media, I also don’t listen to the radio when I’m in the car. Instead, I listen to books on CD’s.
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You’re so right, it’s scary how people quote the news like it’s the gospel, it’s so vital to keep using our critical thinking skills.
I’m shuttering at the image of the Koch brothers, they’re right out of a horror movie. 😉
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The Koch brothers get the most media attention but they are only the tip of the iceberg. There’s the Bill Gates Cabal and his multi-billion dollar war against democratic, transparent, non-profit public education in the United states; there’s the Walton family that has been spending about $160 million annually for more than thirty years to get rid of the public schools and replace them with vouchers and for profit (anyway you look at it) opaque corporate charters that throw science out the window and teach creationism and these schools have been found to be mostly worse or the same as the public schools they are helping to get rid of. This is just a sample of what the oligarchs are up to.
In fact, a film that came out last Friday, touches on this issue. The film is called Aloha. You have to see the film to discover what I’m talking about. If you see the film, pay attention to what happens to the billionaire character at the end of the film and why.
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It’s so scary and weird, yet too many people seem so awed and intimidated by wealth and power and just let them take over, the news, schools, business, everything. Haven’t seen ‘Aloha’ yet, now I;m intrigued.
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I enjoyed Aloha. I expected a light heated romantic comedy and I think that what what I got wasn’t the stereotypical Hollywood film. It seemed more complicated in a number of revealing levels.
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I was getting romcom with a great cast, but your take on it makes me want to see it. Thanks. 🙂
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When I went to see the film, thought I was going to get a romantic comedy. I think there was an attempt at a romcom in the film. but the serious issues (more than one) exposed in the film changed all that.
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It’s certainly being promoted as a romcom, they may be missing out on a whole group of people that would like it.
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True. The film touched on more than one sensitive/controversial issue (one historical and one current). I think that romcom part was small in comparison to the more serious side of the film. The film touches on the wars in the Middle East and there is even a bit about independent contractors taking part in the Middle East wars. Who are they loyal too—the corporations or oligarch they work for or their country?
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That is an excellent subject to explore in a film, maybe they added the romcom and big name cast to attract people to this serious issue.
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It’s possible but I think they wanted to deal with these serious issues as subtly as possible.
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A good plan.
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Love this and this is why I read blogs, not the news!
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So glad you read mine. 🙂
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Hi Donna,
I like seeing the Psych clips. I miss the show and watching it with my family. The end of an era.
Thanks for linking up at last week’s Pit Stop.
Janice, Pit Stop Crew
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I know, I miss ‘Psych’ so much, I keep hoping they’ll give us a movie or event or something. 😉
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Thank you kindly for sharing the #bloglove
I’m #26 (I wish), #49, #61, #73, #100, #106 – wow, thank you!!!
Hope this week is treating you kindly. 🙂
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Not all connection is tenuous, and not all relationships need boundaries. Also, voyeurism is not okay, unless you are actually in a relationship where it’s mutually agreed upon.
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You have your opinions, I have mine and that’s what they are in both cases, opinions, so we’ll agree to disagree.
Hope the days ahead treat you kindly. 🙂
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