Productive Tool or a Hinderance

“Is the Internet really a productivity tool or merely an endless series of distractions?  Has the Internet created a world of ‘multitaskers’ who don’t accomplish as much as they could have without it?”

My first thought when attempting to answer this complex question, was that it all depends on what people decide they are going to do with the internet and how much they are going to allow it to penetrate their lives… Then I thought about it a little more… If we are expected to utilize the internet in our work, our communities and for socialization, then is it really just our decision? Do we have that much control if we are to participate in this internet centered society?

We are increasingly expected to utilize the internet in our communications at work through email & text messaging, in connecting with students through evaluative applications like SNapp , in accessing our children’s  school grades through PowerSchool, tending to school emails about school fees & school events, corresponding with teachers through email, keeping up with teamSNAP updates regarding our kid’s football schedule (which can change an hour before practice is supposed to start), completing community sports forms online, banking online, staying socialized by keeping up with our Forever Mom’s Support Group, our Facebook friends,  being responsive to our family through snapchat and communicating with our EC &I 833 classmates through Google Plus and Twitter … Yikes!

And it is the expectation we respond timely. Important messages are sent with the expectation we are checking multiple internet sites/applications throughout the day. Changes in decisions are made and communicated with the assumption we should be checking for messages very often, pretty much continuously… and if we do not, then “something  is wrong” or we are being “neglectful…”  And now there is talk more than every about “being present” and it isn’t any wonder!!! But “mindfulness” seems to be yet another task to fit into our internet crazed lives, filled with distractions, virtual duties, inevitable multitasking (like the video ingeniously portrayed), relentlessly drawing us away from being able to be “in the here and now” and hindering us from being able to focus on one task at a time. Taking time out to be mindful actually stresses me out more than I already am! Haha!

The benefits of the internet are countless. I will not deny this… The quick access to a limitless amount of  knowledge, communications with people all over the world, and the ability to stay in close connection to countless family members and friends… Wow! I wouldn’t want to trade these luxuries the internet has brought to my front door, for anything…… or would I?… Maybe I would if it meant life would be less disjointed, slower paced, with less expectations; if it meant getting more rest and enjoyment out of life by “being present” with the most important people in my life… For the time being I will have to struggle to find a balance… Hmm…