Play Money Part 3

What the hell was wrong with me? My gloom was understandable, I guess, but really: A hard-drive crash is a set-back, not an existential crisis. (191)

What is it about the computer that makes us lose our heads when we no longer have access to it? Is it really the communication? We still have phones for that. Suddenly, when the internet's down or your hard drive crashes, your life seems to be thrown into perspective and you come to one heart-wrenching analysis: Your life is boring.

As a fellow computer junkie, I feel I have the right to put this well known fact into words. Yes, I often insist I'm not addicted to the computer; however, I am the first to find life worthless when I cannot check my e-mail, get on YouTube, or read everyone's away messages. In fact, most of my dealings with the internet have nothing to do with communicating with other people, as the majority of it is that person throwing something out into oblivion, and me picking it up. I have posted a whole two (!) videos to YouTube, but those are both music fan videos I did to my favorite movie (STAND BY ME!!! Check it out if you haven't seen it, it's amazing). My friend, though, is worse than me, and I thought she was going to kill herself when a hacker that she pissed off (because she would get into all these online arguments) somehow erased her harddrive. Now I don't go that far, but still, I've become so dependent on the internet that I don't even recognize it until it's gone. As I've noted on a post on the course blog, in one day I routinely spend 8 hours on the computer. Now that's not saying it's all a waste of time (though, honestly, most of it is). Just today, in fact, I've spent 11 1/2 hours sitting in front of a computer. Do you know how sad that is? Granted, for 5 hours I've been up here at work in the library and there isn't much else to do except homework, most of which I need the computer to use.

So although I don't feel like I'm wasting my life, I wonder if I am? I know Dibbell had similar thoughts, though he's using his computer time far more productively than I am. I'm very interested to see what happens next, and who knows, maybe I'll be able to turn all this time on the computer into cash! Here's to hoping!