Comments on: 48 Hour Cyber Sabbatical

By: barb elgin

barb elgin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:12:41 +0000

* When did you first sign onto the internet? What service did you use?

I started online somewhere in the late 1990′s using webtv! with a wireless keyboard, no less.

* How many hours a week do you think you spend online outside of work?

only a couple – almost 100% of my ‘online work/life’ is devoted to business-related stuff because my business is online.

* What do you like most about the internet?

- the connection – i wrote a book i sell all over the world with another coach i’ve never met in person! we met in a coaching program online.

- the ability to have so much ‘at your fingertips’.

* What do you like least about the internet?

- sucks up a lot of my time
- hype (in terms of ability to build an online biz)
- it’s a wild, wild west – people forget that

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:34:22 +0000

I began in 1994 on AOL V. 1.7. Dial up was the 2400kpbs! HA!!!
Too many hours outside of work right now. Need to balance that a bit!
I like most the connections with wonderful people
I like least the draw it has to keep me from handling the mundane tasks that I tend to avoid anyway (but must be done)

Thanks for sharing Anita…

By: Cali

Cali — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:34:24 +0000

I first used AOL too, in um… 1994 I think. It was so brutally slow I could click to dial in, go make dinner, come back and click to load my email, go eat dinner, and then come back actually read something. I tried to keep my charges down so I always downloaded my email, signed off, wrote my responses, then signed back on when I was ready to send. In fact AOL had a setting where it would dial in, retrieve and send email, then sign back out again with one click. Very handy! I didn’t do much internet surfing to speak of, at least not what we know today!

I can easily spend a couple hours after work online but I try not to. Lately it’s been more like 30 minutes – trying to balance! But I do sit in front of a computer all day, so I have the advantage of being able to check in when I have a minute or two.

I am incredibly grateful for the connections that can be made and the information that is available on the Internet. Those are probably two of the most powerful things we have in our lives. (Our faith being the other!) The negative aspect I think is sacrificing face-to-face relationships for virtual ones and skipping over the informative sites for the juicy gossip & mindless drivel. It’s so easy to get sucked in!

By: Bon

Bon — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:04:48 +0000

So. When did I first sign onto the internet? Does pre-internet count? My brother and I had a BBS called “Midnight Oil” in 1984. I’ve been online pretty steadily ever since, not counting a hiatus in 1988-1990. Oh, and if you care, I went by “Robbing Hood” then. Ah, I was young, once.

I have never used AOL or any big service like that. Do-it-yourself.

I am online at least 10 hours a day. Probably more. I basically live at my computer. When I’m not in the classroom, I am teaching online (my classes are hybrid), and I do much of my research using JSTOR (the salvation of 21st Century theorists who can’t get articles via interlibarary loan or are too lazy to see if the local library actually has a copy or are researching in the middle of the night and have good reason to believe the local library might frown on the forced entry into the stacks by a hyper-caffeinated academician in grungy sweats and a paint-spattered ballcap.

I love most that I can keep up with friends and make new friends in ways unthinkable just 20 years ago, when letter writing was a must, and a 2-week wait for responses the best bet in town. I love that the ‘net has enabled fellowship across the years and the miles!

I hate spam, chain letter scams, and glurge more than anything. I am not kidding when I say I can trace the precise year when spam exploded a hundred fold, from the occasional spam to over 100 a day. There oughta be some sort of rule that people go to Snopes.com before they forward anything!

By: Ric Booth

Ric Booth — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:46:33 +0000

My first time online was 1984 when I worked on a project for DARPA. Back in the olden days we called it the ARPAnet. We used programs called finger, gopher, kermit, pine, and ftp.

How many hours a week… hmmm, a couple…dozen or so.

Best feature of the net for moi: Blogging/community/connecting.

What I hate: multiple login accounts with different password rules for everyone!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:08:25 +0000

I echo Stephanie’s comment above…you were missed. You are a major security blanket for me sometimes and I appreciate it.
I first went online in 1998 with at&t dial up which was so slow I would get impatient and that prevented me from staying on too long. Now I probably average an hour a day.
I like the connections with other people and the easy access to information. It has opened doors for me because I am the shyest person in the Northern hemisphere.
The viruses, spamming, identity theft and other evils are definitely the downside.

By: Jeff Harmon

Jeff Harmon — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:18:49 +0000

I think I first signed on with AOL on dial up when I was 12.

My current job is running Status King ( the first facebook app that turns facebook status updates into t-shirts) so I spend way too much time online. I am on working until my eyes get feel like they have sand under them. Feels like work.

Information.

I hate that we still have light projecting computer screens. It kills my eyes.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:44:40 +0000

Yes, I think I was charged hourly but it didn’t matter so much then because I had no idea what I was doing when it came to navigating my way around the internet, so I wasn’t on much.

But when I began selling real estate I changed my package to the unlimited, because I knew it was going to take an unlimited about of time to figure out what I was doing.

By: anita

anita — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:17:40 +0000

Ruthann and Stephanie–> So in the beginning were you both on the hourly charge for AOL? If so, do you care to admit the highest monthly bill you ever paid? Mine averaged around 250.00 per month however I’m not happy to report that once I had a bill twice that big, of course it didn’t help that I feel asleep online a couple times and was signed on all night long.

By: Ruthann

Ruthann — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:48:59 +0000

I first signed on to the internet in 1992 through AOL on a phone modem that was painfully slow – but oh! I got so excited to be in contact with the world! I don’t keep track of my hours – quite a few. Favorite topics are theology and travel. I love being able to look up stuff, anything, and find all kinds of points of view – I read a lot online now with high speed.
The thing I like least – whatever danger there is of identity theft, followed by spamming.