The Internet And Me


I survived life without internet for 5 days….!

The internet connection at home decided to crash on Good Friday (22 April). Murray is the one who usually manages the internet account at home and since he is still away on honeymoon with Hannah, this means no internet during the Easter weekend, through to Anzac Day on Monday and an additional observed holiday on Tuesday by the University. Which explains my abandoning this blog for like a week now. Oh how I miss blogging.

It was rainy and wet during the Easter weekend. I was stuck at home with no internet. For 5 days. I know, re-writing this made it seemed very daunting to me too. But I can’t believe that I survived it and worked out my modelling in the process. Ahhh….I realised I never really talked about what I do as a student. Well, I model. No really, I model.

Mathematical modelling that is! I have been trying to solve this one problem. By the way, that’s what we PhD students do, we create a problem (usually a complicated one) and then drive ourselves crazy trying to solve it in order to inch closer to graduation. In my case, I have been trying, (for months..!!) to derive an accurate mathematical expression to describe a complex chemical reaction. Yes, it drives me crazy every week day. The absence of internet, it seems, made me work and focus better on my modelling. Even though it’s not runway modelling, but still… ;)

I am guilty of spending way too much time on the internet checking e-mails, Facebook, chatting online, reading blogs when I should be doing something else of more importance. I am sure I am not alone in this :) I thought I have an addiction to the internet. I felt like I will miss out a lot if I stop checking in for even a day.

But I went through 5 days straight doing just fine. It reminded me of the days when the internet was a luxury rather a necessity. While having no internet was a hassle for me because it made information access that much harder for my work, it has also gotten rid of unnecessary distractions that have potential to make me “wander off” from it. Yes I couldn’t blog or check on my favourite bloggers, but hey, it’s the internet, they won’t be gone :)

5 days of bad weather and no internet made me realise that life without internet is possible. Or rather, life with controlled internet access is possible and possibly healthier. I have a love affair with the internet, but not an addiction. What about you?