So Much Time, So Little To Do

Wait... Strike that, reverse it.


This, I believe is a quote from Willy Wonka. It is how I feel about the world lately.  
Too much to do!  Computers were supposed to make our lives easier (weren't they?) but they  just give us more stuff to keep track of.  Access to more information, certainly, but how do we keep track of it all?

We can search the Web for answers to anything.  It is amazing, any question you can think of, someone else in the world has the answer, or has at least asked the same question.  The learning possibilities are endless.  It's exciting. And time-consuming. Especially when one page has an interesting link to another, and then to another, and then you see something else interesting, and that reminds you of another thing you want to look up and then... wait, what was I searching for?

Check emails, read, reply to some, save others till later, until the email box is overflowing, go back through the old ones, and try to remember, why was I saving this? Delete. Delete.  Check your Facebook page, update. Check Linked In, update.  And Twitter. And Pinterest. And all the others I don't use. Watch a video clip. Listen to some music.  Remember to write something on your blog, at least once in awhile.  Send out some pictures. Pay your bills. Check emails again. And Facebook. And Linked In.... it's truly neverending.

How do you keep up with it all?

Maybe it's just me. Some days it's hard to focus.  I have to work on that.  
But first, let me go read that thing I just found...

I'm An Infomaniac

Information. I like having access to lots of information. I like to know stuff. I keep reference books around, so I can always check facts and answer vital questions that come up... What's in a Mudslide again? When was that movie made, and who is that actor?

Of course, now that we have the internet, information is everywhere. With internet access, you can google anything, and learn lots of new stuff, from lots of different, worldwide sources. I love this and use it often.

But what about our time? Weren't computers supposed to make our lives easier? (or did I dream that?) In addition to googling anything we want to know, we have to keep up with our email (more new messages in the Inbox?), and our old-school mail, and our Facebook page, and I can't even think about Twitter, and now it appears I have gone and started a blog. Where are we supposed to find the time to maintain all of these new communication and information pipelines?

In some cases, we're now doing things for ourselves that, in olden days, companies used to do for us, like printing out our own airline tickets, and bills, and paycheck stubs. We now spend our own time, ink, and paper, printing for ourselves. Where are we finding the time to keep up with all these new duties? Our lives are already jam-packed.

I'm curious to see how we will face our time management challenges in the 21st Century. With all this access to all this computer-based information and communication, what will fall by the wayside, just because we no longer have the time?