I spend way too much time on my computer. Reading blogs, looking up information, checking email, finding things to do, and other unimportant things. Unfortunately, this is nothing new, since I’ve written about it before.

This idea comes as an extension of the Minimalist Experiment. I’m going to become something of a modern luddite, while simultaneously trying to become more productive. Since I feel that I spend too much time on my computer, the vast majority of it in unimportant, unproductive tasks, it is time to cut out some of my computer time. I have better things to do.

So Here’s the Plan

I’ve got a few things that I want to get done, and a few ideas of how to do them.

Things to Get Done
• Write a minimum of one high-quality blog post a week (because I’m doing horribly at keeping any kind of a writing schedule going.)
• Create a digital resource (ebook) that I can sell.
• Keep up with my schoolwork and maintain my grades (some of my classes have major online components, so I’ll be using my computer frequently).

How To Get Them Done
This could also be called the “Things To Get Rid of List”.
• Check email only twice a day (instead of keeping gmail open at all times in my browser.)
• Determine how often I really use Facebook, and if it’s not often enough then delete my Facebook account! If it is useful, then I can at least unfriend all of the people that I don’t talk to.
• Determine how useful Twitter really is for me, and if it’s not useful, then delete the Twitter account! If it is useful, then at least unfollow the vast majority of the people who I don’t talk to.
• Ignore my cell phone more. I’m pretty good at this already, but I am still pretty dependent on that gadget that I carry around all day long.
• Since I don’t have a TV, I don’t struggle with the desire to watch that. I am, however, often tempted to watch some favorite shows online. So I have to ensure that I only watch them once my “to do” tasks are completed.
• Clean up my computer’s desktop to get rid of the distractions that lurk there.
• Clean up my actual desktop to get rid of the distractions that lurk there.

Timeframe
I’m hesitant to give a definite time restriction in which I want to get these things done. I will be putting them on my todo list each day. This way I will move at least a small step closer each day.
• Within a week I will have cleaned up my desktop and deleted or pared down my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
• Within a month I will have written the ebook that I said I would be working on for over a year now.

So there’s my plan. Would anyone like to join me as we take back our time from the technology that is supposed to help us?