How To Use The Computer To Do Absolutely Nothing

March 6th, 2007

TechnologyOver the weekend, other than some design tweaks, regarding technology I got Jack done with a capital J. I managed to get caught up with The Prisoner, Gilmore Girls, and Battlestar Galactica but I still have several unfinished posts - not to mention a pile of bottle caps I need to scan and add to Bottle Cap-O-Rama.

So here’s a slight detour to give you insight into the various time-wasters I find myself sucked into via the computer. It’s my best and worst friend in terms of productivity. These are ten things I find myself doing that are really nothing but avoidance mechanisms to getting actual work done.

1. Ripping DVDs. Whenever I have extra CPU cycles to burn, I pop in a Netflix DVD, fire up Handbrake, and let it churn away. I have a master plan of streaming these files to our television via some undetermined technology.

2. Backing up. This is a great way for me to feel like I’m doing something really important without exerting much brain power. Regular back ups are a good thing but for the home user, a bit overkill - especially when the last one was only yesterday.

3. Email sorting. Moving emails into folders takes time, especially when you get into the realm of researching Nigerian scams and their potenial fodder for blog posts.

4. Staring at server logs. I can easily blow an hour checking out Google Analytics, looking at the number of visitors, figuring out how much the traffic has grown over last month, and noting what stories people clicked on. It’s endless, and ultimately, rather ridiculous, as my numbers change so imperceptibly it’s like watching lichen grow.

5. Template tweaking. I can tweak stylesheets forever, leaving no rollover unturned. Yesterday it was: those images are positioned one pixel too high. Tomorrow it will be: my class names are too long.

6. Organizing my iTunes library. At one time I was totally up to date with all my ID3 tags and cover art. There are several albums worth of random songs I could revisit, even drilling down to the composers.

7. Bandwidth testing. When I’m really bored I’ll go to DSL Reports, test the download speed, and try to figure out ways to improve my net connection. It never helps.

8. Running Disk Warrior. Sometimes, I’ll do a bunch of permissions repairs and a disk defragging just for the heck of it. Seeing a chart change colors over a long period of time is just so satisfying.

9. Deleting old applications. I have tons of shareware programs I’ve downloaded and played with, most of which are completely useless. But before delegating any to the trash bin, I have to play with each once more, because even a useless program could inspire a blog post.

10. Organizing feed reader and browser bookmarks. There’s always the time-consuming bookmark culling, which means visiting every bookmarked blog or website for a thorough evaluation of quality. What time is it?

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