Hello, My name is Emily, and I'm a Technoaddict

I have a confession to make. I've become a technology junkie. Until very recently, I was content with my giant 2000 Dell desktop computer (that served me well for 6 long years), my old camera that took film (film, what's that?) and made a hideous sound when it would rewind, my twelve inch television that's been a constant companion on my various moves througout the past 6 years, my sporty radio that velcroed around my arm when I ran. Last Chrismtas, I got an iPod nano, rendering the sporty radio obsolete, although I do miss listening to WXRT as I jog. Things really began to change this summer with the acquisition of my Macbook. Slowly, the Macbook began to change my life. I was no longer chained to my desk chair, but could now do all sorts of things while constantly connected to the internet. This Christmas, I received a digital camera, completeing the trifecta of digital equipment. (The twelve inch television remains, although I rarely watch it because I watch everything on my computer).
Lately, I've been wondering where all my time goes. I calculated yesterday that I spend, on average each day, 3.5 hours in class, lessons, rehearsals or teaching. Where on earth, I asked myself, do the other 10 hours of the day go? Occasionally I have to write a paper, and I spend about an hour a day practicing, but there remains many, many hours unaccounted for. When I was working, I spent eight hours a day in an office, atleast an hour commuting, and still managed to practice and make dinner and put together application and do auditions and all that. There was no time to spare, but I still got everything done and made it everywhere on time. These days, I find myself doing everything at the last minute and running to class, usually arriving five minutes late because I just had to stop at Dunkin Donuts to grab a coffee. I haven't been to bed before 1 am all week, which means I usually require atleast an hour nap in the afternoon. What happened???

Technology happened. I was joking to Nick the other day that in his absence, my Macbook has become a substitute boyfriend. It lies in bed with me, sometimes sleeps in bed with me when I am too lazy to put it away before falling asleep, and is my constant companion throughout the day. I've become obsessed with downloading episodes of The Office from iTunes (also due in part to a generous iTunes gift card I got for Christmas) and watching them over and over again (why Pam, WHY can't you just get with Jim? I love him, we all love him, GET WITH IT!). I've recently developed an addiction to YouTube, due mostly in part to my friend from school introducing me to the vast array of operatic YouTube clips (this could potentially qualify as career buidling, but I'm not sure watching Sherrill Milnes croon "Maria" from West Side Story helped much). Add to this the newest development of "video-chatting" with my boyfriend for atleast an hour a day on Skype, and you've got one addicted gal.

Today, I decided that I must do something about it. While everything in my life is fine (despite my boyfriend being on the other side of the ocean, but that's an entirely different story), I'm singing well, and I've pretty much got my shit together, I feel that the copious amount of time I spend in front of the computer is probably unhealthy. I read once in a magazine about "technodespair" -- a depression that can develop from too much exposure to technology. So, I'm going to try to limit my "computer time" to two hours per day, including TV watching. This is not going to be easy, but I'm determind. I will do yoga, spend more time thinking about my music, read actual books...things I used to do more of before I was sucked into this technotrap.

On the bright side, I was just rationalizing with one of my singer friends about singers' "downtime". Unlike other musicans, our voices can only hold out for about an hour or two of practicing, tops, per day. So the time we spend on IM or watching television is actually time well spent -- resting our voices and rejuvenating for the stressful life that we lead. Ok, maybe I'll up that to three hours computer time per day...