DLTQ.org

There is something that has been bugging me for the longest time: My internet addiction.

The belief that the more time I would spend on-line, the more nodes of information would magically come within reach, and the more my brain could make connections between otherwise separate ideas. I thought, unconsciously, that the more videos I uploaded and/or published on this videoblog, the better things would become. I expected, perhaps, the 43th IM conversation about videoblogging, per se, in general, might lead to new resolutions and new insight.

My confession is not about internet addiction as such, but you can see it here:

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Earlier, far too often, I saw time away from the internet as a loss, of some sort. Lack of internet. Lack of connectivity. I remember before I got rid of most of my books in 2002 (long story) - I had books all over my apartment, and yet I spent so little time with them, learning from them, and breaking free from inertia.

This is not about any clear cuts. No easy solutions; no mantras such as “stay away from the internet for 6 months”. But I will play it down. I will try to have a better balance. And above all: I will strive to once again enjoy books like I did when I was younger. When I could read a book untill near dawn, sucking it in.

But the books are nothing by themselves. Or, well, they are nothing compared to what they could be by being discussed by living people. By being contrasted with other books. By being used in one way or another. Of course, you may say that it is difficult to use Charles Dickens in your daily life - this is not some NLP coaching book we are talking about - but I guess you know what I mean.

I guess this emphasis on books in my life is spurred dramatically by my new day job as a bookseller in a bookstore here in Denmark. Salesperson with responsbility for such books as our art books, our architecture books, our sociology books and our computer books. My motivation for taking this job is not primarily that I Need Cash (even though that is an important part of the picture), but - I really want to work within the book market.

And I want to look into how books fit in with del.icio.us, blogging, videoblogging, screencasting, and all that. How books fit in with politics and society on a larger scale. And how we perhaps as people from different parts of the world could use a quick analysis of the book market of different countries as a way to see what is going on in that country.

I will definitely read more, but I will also try to write more. So, yes, I will try to really write daily here on dltq.org - and if you don’t see a post here in a few days, feel free to e-mail me and tell me off!

But yes, my confession: the last many years I have done far too little reading. It is time to fix that.

Have a good morning/day/evening!