Internet Vacation: Because sometimes you need an IV

I recommend an occasional IV for everyone.

Yes, the Internet vacation is a necessity. Through the magic of forward posting on this site, RSS feeds of this blog on all my social utilities and a reckless abandon when it comes to e-mail, I can do that with some regularity now that I am in between my post-graduate internship and an upcoming trip that I’ll post about in coming weeks. -I haven’t checked my Google Reader in a week or more – oh the horror!

The Internet vacation certainly isn’t new, even if my pushing the IV for short on Twitter and elsewhere may be.

Last year Lore Sjöberg at Wired took an Internet vacation and included a pretty funny diary. Now, I’m no addict, so I don’t expect a reaction like his, but I do feel like I need to check my e-mail or sit down at a computer whenever I see one. Here’s one of his entries.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of … itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I’d never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

As I’ve written, Blackberries and the trend they represent don’t help this one bit. But the more technology we get, the more prevelant the IV will have to be, no?

Tech consultant Eric Mack took an Internet diet for a week in January and praised it.

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It’s given me an amazing productivity boost.

I’m into that. So, I’ll take an IV from time to time, hoping for more extended tours. Forward posting on this blog and cutting everything else out. Let me know your IV thoughts.

Photo from Eric Mack Online.

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