Disconnected: The Documentary

I watched this tonight:

http://www.hulu.com/disconnected

It's about 3 Carleton College students who go without computers for 3-4 weeks in 2007.  I suppose 2007 isn't all that different than 2010; the 'Big Three' computer methods of communication are still e-mail/Facebook/blogs.  It was interesting that throughout the documentary they thought they would miss e-mail and Facebook the most.  Turns out that their e-mail and Facebook while they were offline was merely junk mail because their core circle of friends knew they would be unreachable via computer and kept in contact through the phone and in person.  Those that went through the experiment seemed to miss their blogs the most, which I totally understand.

Watching the documentary illustrated two things to me (other than I think it's sad that kids these days do not know how to operate a typewriter):

1 - The computer is required for so many things now.  If you're in college, you now have to submit assignments online, register online, etc.  There's a high probability you have to use a computer in your job.  There are a large amount of things that can be done offline (type papers, pay bills, submit forms, reserve library books, make purchases, etc.) but are much, much easier to do online. 

2 - It is so easy to waste time with a computer.  I can be completely accused of this.  I start doing one thing and then get detoured online.  Yes, I like to check blogs, check Facebook, write e-mails, do consumer research, etc.  But if I only had half an hour of computer access a day, I could fit all that in.  So why do I waste 3 or more hours on the computer a night?  I dunno, I guess part of it is that I feel that I'll "miss out" on something if I don't compulsively check, and part of it is that being on a computer is easier than the alternatives. 

Watching this documentary helped me really classify how I spend my computer time and perhaps more strategic computer use would be more advantageous to allow me to get more things done.