Balancing SL "addiction"

Today I turned down a visit from a very close friend in RL because I noticed to my horror I had let the house become an experiment in accelerated decay. I realized this may be due to trying to squeeze just a few more minutes out of SL every day. I think this is a bad sign and a wake up call that I need to manage things better.

I don't blame the platform -- if it wasn't this it would be something else. I work very hard on my job and when I'm home I just want to escape. I believe Second Life may be pioneering the future of the Web and I think that's important, so I'm not leaving or anything dramatic. I just wondered if you have ways of making yourself get up and move your butt!

I'm trying podcasts to entertain me while I'm doing mundane tasks. I'm also trying to walk more places than drive to try to get healthier. What do you do?

shut down your computer.

Listen to an Eckhart Tolle CD. Take my son to his soccer game. Post to this nutty forum.

Nah, stay inworld, where everything is shiny and clean, and there's no bad smells.

I'm looking after someone's labrador retriever for 2 weeks.........all 5 of them!!! I Can only walk 2 at a time

Oh Weston, that's a bad sign!

I try and manage my RL and SL time very carefully. I recently started working part time, after eons of working full time, and found SL to be a great way to fill up my new found carefree life. A bit too perfect. Combine that with a husband who travels a lot on business and no kids, no pets = little responsibilities. Very pontentially dangerous!

So, days I'm home, I try and take care of all my RL chores as early as possible for one thing. Cleaning up is first and foremost lol! And, daily errands certainly come before everthing inworld, no matter what. And I never turn down an invitation to do something in RL rather than sit on my ass at home.

This way, I have little guilt about the time I spend here. Yes, I have some days where I am consumed with my activities inworld, but at least I'm assured that I've taken care of everything I need to otherwise. It's a balancing act for sure, but hopefully one which will get easier as you stick around.

Kind of addictive at first, maybe even for the long haul but there really is no comparison to living life to it's fullest for real.

As 3-Ring said, just shut the computer

right now life is such that we are doing renovations. I now use sl or any computer time outside of work as an excuse just to sit down for 5 minutes. Becoming "unaddicted" is easy just let the pile of work get so high that it can't be ignored because the house is going to cave in (or something like that)

I think we will be done with renovations (until the springtime) in another 30-45 days at which point I will be renting about 3 million dvd's and sitting in front of both my computer and the tv soaking my feet in a footbath and refuse to get out of that chair till at least april or possibly may!

I got a puppy

I barely have time to log on now!!

Before the puppy though, I used do at least an hours worth of "housework", sometimes more, before turning on the computer. Then SL became more of a reward, and I didnt have to worry what condition the house was in, in case anyone popped in.

I'm just after moving house now too.. and thats a great way of not logging into SL. Lots of boxes to unpack

I moved 14 months ago, and still have more than a hundred boxes not yet unpacked. All books.

To the OP, SL is cool, but friends are friends, especially close friends. Call them up and do something cool. Shut down the computer, hire a cleaner for a few hours, and get out of the house!

Did you not get the latest update?

ok ... shiny and clean ... and broken.

I do my housework, or watch one of the myriad of DVR'ed TV shows while riding my exercise bike.

Yeh - I don't want to turn down this friend. I do prefer her company to Second Life where no one is around really anyway. It's just the house. Yuch!

I'm shifting into high gear to do a whirlwind surface clean - and then we WILL go for a walk. So I'm outta this forum too for now. Thanks all.

Aw Weston....I think we all go through that. SL can have a strangle hold if you let it.....but I also noticed that after almost a year.....I spend less and less time.... You do wake up and look around suddenly and notice things like dust bunnies and empty coffee mugs on the desk and unmade beds and piles of laundry...and then ya get disgusted and switch into high RL gear. LOL

I work part time and my fiance is over seas...so it's just me and the cat (my sanity whilst I'm alone) so I can spend a lot of time in front of the puter.....but still....it gets to me... I open my window and the air smells so good and I remember, hey...I'm part of that world too dam it! I go outside and do yard work... wander across the ditch to visit the neighbors who are uber cool great friends... I watch an Indi film every so often or crank my tunes and do house work. But I so relate... and I agree this is a preview of the future and sooner or later we will figure out how to balance it out.

One thing that's great about SL is it's made the world a smaller place......we can learn a lot from each other on here...we can cross into unknown worlds and tear down preconceptions.... lose our prejudices should they exist..... That is really a wonderful result of SL so i think as humans, we're on the right track. *grins* Now go vacuum will ya!

Turn on music that makes you feel energized, shut off the computer, and grab that duster, the vacuum, the mop, those cleaning gloves, that laundry detergent, and get busy for a few hours. You could set up specific days at specific times things need cleaning. Print yourself out a schedule each week. You could just pay someone to clean your house if possible.

Both my wife and I are in SL. We even argue now in SL. Saves from having to go around closing all the windows…LOL ermm…bad joke….sorry dear.
I’m looking for that balance too. I haven’t completely found it. But I have stopped forcing myself to get on. And I’ve started taking naps. Ok there not naps. They're me passing out from exhaustion after staying up till 2am, sleeping 4 hrs then going to work all day. Okay…no help at all from me.

Thats a shame to keep all those books locked away! My books were the first to be unpacked in the new place and the last to be packed in the old place

Having an RL who's addicted is a bit hard on us avatars as we can't even sneak away to a quiet place and relax without worrying about being made to do something else.

Anyway, this addiction thing is quite an issue. My RLer had avoided any sort of computer addiction before finding SL., despite other members of the household being addicted to computer games.

set the computer to do something that will make sl impossible for the being. set it to defrag or run a virus scan. then you can clean the house without the temptation of sl.

and maybe you can get this girl to sit down and create an av, and she can start coming over to your sl palace.

I never spent more than a hour a day at the computer before SL myself. it will suck you in.

Yea, the night I stayed up until 3am was my sign that things were NOT right. I'm usually in bed by 11pm. Even worse, I realized I still had to do the dishes. Yikes. Good thing it was not a work night.

On the other hand, it gave me hope that my stamina was a lot better than I thought it was. Hope for me yet. Not ready for the old folks home...

Hitch them all up to a wagon and let them pull you around.

Which night would that be? I seem to hit close to 3 am more often than not...

A couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't with you

We've talked about that, however . . .

Once I slipped into high gear I was able to clean house fairly quickly. My friend did visit later in the day. We went walking on a greenway paralleling a nearby river. It was beautiful today. We saw a great blue heron wading and flying low strafing for fish, and two otters frolicking on the banks.

Somehow the ad farms and endless malls don't quite compare with this. But SL is still very cool, and I can hang out guilt free now as long as it's in moderation.