Zoom, zoom (In which I outpace the internet)

Technology is weird. It changes you in ways you don't expect. Take today, for instance. I realised the internet is building in me an expectation of speed and endless distraction.

I am something of an internet addict. I know this thanks to a few occasions of forced withdrawal (one hour a day on the dial-up internet of a small-town library is not nearly enough, but in desperate times it's better than going cold turkey). In the wayback, the load time of a single page might take five minutes, and that was fine. I was patient, I waited, and eventually I had my fanfic (yes, my first real use of the internet was reading fanfiction. First SWAT Kats, then Redwall *hides face*).

Then internet connections got faster. I became less patient; I expected more, and make it snappy! When we couldn't get a cable connection to the new house, it felt like someone had slammed on the brakes. I was Wile E Coyote, and the ACME rocket-skates had hit a rock. But the internet was still travelling faster than me.

Today, I spent a lot of time hopping between sites, refreshing pages, looking for updates. Pleading, crooning to the screen, come on, internet - entertain me! Nothing, nothing, noth--ooh! No, wait, not interesting. Nothing, nothing....

Today, I was faster than the internet. I plumbed the Great Procrastinator to its depths, and found no more distraction.

Damn. This means I have to go write my thesis, doesn't it?


*pokes teh intarweb* By tomorrow, it's sure to have changed! *looks at computer hopefully*