The negative side of constant connectivity and ubiquitous computing

As you can see its been awhile since I last wrote an entry. With everything I'm working on I find it hard to write regularly in a blog. How do the active bloggers do it?

On one hand I have all of this tremendous access to information and communication tools. And on the other hand I'm drowning in information and overwhelmed by the constant demand for my digital attention.

I could do a great job with this blog, posting daily or more, if this blog was all I had to do. But its one of three blogs, 15 Websites, 4 college courses and multiple multimedia projects that I'm responsible for. Around all that I also have to keep up with the various technologies associated with those endeavors, like the week-long Apple training I attended last week on the Final Cut Pro editing suite. Oh yeah, and I have a personal life I value, too.

My reaction is to pull the plug. On weekends and during evenings I rarely look at email and I seldom have my cell phone on unless I'm making a call. Now this irritates family, friends, students and colleagues at the times they want instant response, 24/7. I'm beginning to think that that's just too bad. Closing the door electronically and pulling the shades so others can't see you is not unreasonable. We all need down time, and I forsee that there will be more of us who decide not to be constantly available.

Okay, so this message was posted by a digital curmudgeon.