Fighting the Addiction...

If there's any addiction I really really really really (did I say REALLY) want to break this year, it's my addiction for IM, especially MSN Messenger. I have it on all day, all night, during work, when I'm home, and with my iPhone, ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE I go. Even though I don't want to talk to anyone in particular, I just keep on going back to the IM screen again and again, just checking who's on, who's off, and maintaining my linkage to reality.

It's more like "Reality", especially when I perceive it to be more real than the real world I am hanging out in. It simply doesn't make sense that I'm IM-ing online when I'm out with friends. There's a certain lack of respect for the company I'm with. I guess SMS is also not very good, but it's nowhere near as awful as IM-ing when there's company.

At work, IM impedes me from concentrating fully on the job at hand, so that every couple of minutes, I check who's online and send inane messages to people, disturbing them when THEY are trying to concentrate. I mean, it's ok if there's a purpose to the IM, but when I chat for the sake of chatting, it crosses an invisible line...

Ok, now it's November, and I realized it's one of the items on my 2009 New Year Action Plan. The past few days, I've been on leave, and I've staved away from MSN. I'm still on, invisible mostly, but I've at least succeeded in resisting the temptation to just message someone to say hi and nothing else. If there's a reason (genuine catch up after a long absence, asking colleague out for a snack, scheduling a gathering), it's ok, but not chatting for chat's sake.

And I'm going to cut down on MSN usage on weeknights as promised. In fact, it's like a drug; when going cold turkey, it's ultra painful and pointed. After a while, adaptation takes place, the lingering hunger disappears, and you realize the body doesn't need it anymore. Just like my addiction for KFC, I haven't touched it at all this year, and when I passed one today, I felt... nothing. It's incredible what the human mind can mandate the body to feel and react.

Wish me luck for the last two months, so that I can curb this addiction, instill a renewed discipline, and embrace fully the real, vibrant, analog, delicious world!