So it's been raining all day, and I've looked at the forum more than usual, Countryside too, and surfed a little besides - I figure a couple of hours (that was before this session). I got to wondering how long some of you more chatty people spend on the computer every day. I'd spend more time too, but just can't find it!

Checked the BTS statistics, Kim and I together (!) are still holding a very distant 6th place. Checked the Countryside statistics, and was AMAZED at the shear volume of the archive (80,000+ posts) - some people with thousands of posts! Names I recognize from this forum too!!!

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

Answers

Steve leaves to go to work at 5:30, so I'm usually on from 5:30 to about 7:00. I have just this one, CS, and my goat one that I have to check out. And my email, 3 different ones. The rest of the day is hit and miss if I get back on. I'll check back in around 1:00 when I'm eating lunch some days. And I do have to check the emails several times a day and I'll pop over here and CS and see what's up. When the thunderstorms drive me inside, usually I have to unplug the PC so that blows that. I have tons of graphics and photos in the PC that I just don't want to chance. I am so tired by the time I get in at night I can't think too well and usually don't feel like getting on. I watch TV with Steve on the sofa till he drags me off to bed. I just can't stay awake very late. Sometimes I'll wake up at 3:30 and get on, cause I can't go back to sleep.

I do spend time doing graphics and web pages also, so I must divvy up my time. I just love doing graphics, and once I get started it's hard to stop. I have so much to do right now, but it's all fun stuff.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

I usually get on about an hour in the morning at breakfast time, then just check things out at lunch time, and then maybe check again in the evening but not always. I go to BTS, CS, another forum of totally unrelated interest, and check emails. I can't stay awake very late anymore either.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Now that the weather is nice, finally, I am outside most of the time. I am on now because the milk is being pasturized and I will be on while I eat my lunch. On "breaks" I check e-mail as with 6 kids (his and mine) and all the grandkids, friends etc. that adds up and we love it that we can stay in touch. This winter it was far too much, I was having a lot of trouble with my eyes and couldn't read or do the hand crafts I usually do, my truck was down with major repairs that we couldn't afford at the time.....sooooooooooooooo the computer and the forums were what I had. Thus David, I am sure I was one of the ones you were speaking off re. CS forum. I cruise that one fairly briefly now and try to keep up with this one. I am still surprised at the volume of e-mail I get off the CS forum...people asking questions that don't post to the forum. I try to answer all of those to the best of my ability.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

I'm on about 30 minutes in the morning and probably an hour+, sometimes two (weather depending), in the p.m. Less so these days, as a lot is going on outside. Time includes emails, too. I belong to a professional group and read their posts, plus family stuff...you know..it all adds up!

I quit my last day job in October of 1999...had to get the final touches on my Y2k preps, and hey, that seemed like a good excuse. I didn't go back to work until this February (at least at a job off- farm and for pay!) I went to school full-time for a year somewhere in between those times. I had more "disposable" time for a while, and was basically coasting on my preps...

Anyway, I used to spend probably three hours a day online sometimes during those in between times. I'd do chores, etc., then drop in for a while to see what was being posted and sometimes (ha!)respond.

I'm pretty sure I was one of those forum abusers! ;-)

That's a problem with being able to type faster than think!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Four to eight hours a 24 hr period. I telecommute for part of my work week and surf in between assignment related keying.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

David, Dont forget bro. that our lifes all go in cycles and one day you may find yourself to be one of the chatters! Never say Never!

I can't stand to be on the computer very long, it makes me nervous, makes me feel like I am missing out on real life! Time can sure fly while you are on, and my sense of time disapears, I have burned a few things while on!

The little buzz thing that the computer does when your getting on drives me crazy, so I push all the buttons then jump up and go do something and come back after I am logged on, then I check my e-mail.

when we first got connected I surfed around quite a bit, now I have a long list of favorites that I hardly ever go to, my favorite , favorite is After Life Experiances, I love to read them. I check into this forum everyday, it's sorta like the comfortable spot that I keeep coming back to, I will check into Countryside every once in a while to see if there is any good info. but I just sorta pick and choose, I am so easily bored on the computer.

Often I will just leave my computer on and listen to music, I can hear the little bleep when I get a new e-mail. My husband and I stay in touch during the day through e-mails.

I've wondered if I have become more antisocial since getting a computer. The friendships that I have on the computer and this forum sorta fill a social need, and people from the web don't drop in unexpectedly nor call you for help. Is this a bad thing, I'm sorta becoming a hermit, because real people are so complicated. The cool thing about e-mail is you read it when you are ready and respond when you are ready. And I am sorta isolating myself from the people around me , because they cannot get ahold of me on the phone, if I allways have my computer on, I did alot of song downloading, loved that.

Oh well maybe it is a cycle! Tren

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Way too much LMAO!! But getting better... Its been a long slow winter for me, but spring is picking up!! I don't dare say how many hours per day I spent on this thing, lol -

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

In the winter time I can be online for about 3 hours a day (not including additional offline computer work).

But now, with the weather so nice outside, I'm lucky to get a half hour of online surfing in. But I did take a couple hours last night to do some offline work on the Beyond the Sidewalks Portal (formerly known as Yggdrasill).

Right now the only thing you guys can see on there that's new is the *Photo Center* where you can now upload your favorite pictures. But I am also in the process of re-doing the whole web site and when it's done, I'll upload the changes and notify everyone. I think it's looking pretty cool and I hope you guys will be pleased with the results...

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

4 hours a week. I only get to use it on my lunch hour at work since I don't have one at home.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Too much! Far more in the winter, less now that I have a garden to work in, not to mention stuff like grass mowing.

I am finding that I spend less time on in general. A close friend commented (before I ever got a computer) that the first year or two, you spend a LOT of time, then it sort of tapers off. Of course, being an info nut, I probably will always spend more time than the average person. I also think I lose a lot of time waiting for sites to come up. Thinking about getting a faster connection, like cable or DSL.

Julie getting on line has saved me a lot of money on long-distance calling. Now we mostly email.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Hi David and Kim, boy, it depends on what's happening on the farm, what needs planted or cut, or baled! Or, what's broke and needs fixed, and the at least an hour drive to anywhere to get parts to fix whatever is broke! Sometimes I get online everyday, but, then all heck breaks loose on the farm, and I "dissappear" for a week or more, not even getting online to check e-mail, or the weather! Yes, I need the computer just to check on the weather, we aren't near any major TV station, so it's hard to get a "local" forcast. Intellicast is the best here for weather, they are right more often than anybody else.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Like many of you have mentioned, this time of the year is very busy with planting and all the babies that come with spring. I usually check in here and at CS first thing in the morning (while my milk is pasteurizing also!). I have another homesteading site at a Webtv user's group that I visit often, also. Other than occasionally logging on during mid afternoon, that's about it for me. My husband has gotten in the habit of surfing a few sites and doing the PIP thing and stretching out on the sofa with this keyboard. He'll watch a good movie while checking out eBay! I don't know how he can concentrate on both at the same time!!!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Apparently way,way too much according to the Bossman. And he's probably right.Which is why I'm cutting way back. A.M. while I'm munching breakfast, and late at night instead of TV mostly.I visit Forums and look up sites for research alot.And do my correspondence,since all my relatives and most of my friends are online and live elsewhere.

Unless it's raining.Then I'm here more. And it just stopped,so off I go...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001