Hey, it Just Sounds to Me Like You Need to Unplug, Man.

Matrix Reloaded Neo and Trinity

Image courtesy of What Is the Matrix

If you spend hours a day surfing blogs, you’re trapped in the Matrix. Being an ex-hardcore MMORPG addict makes me an expert on getting sucked in. In that world, I met thousands of people, I slew dragons, I saved lives.

Meanwhile, in the real world, I sat in front of my computer for hours tapping on my keyboard and staring into my monitor.

I know why you’re here, Neo. I know what you’ve been doing… why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer.

Living in a cacooning world, you give in to your urge to socialize - to connect to other people, to not feel alone, to feel important, to feel wanted.

Like throwing a rock into a lake and seeing ripples on the water or shouting at a mountain to hear the echoes of your voice, you feel a need to confirm your own existence.

But does reading about Google policing paid links help you get your laundry done? Does knowing that Yahoo redesigned its home page take care of your phone bills? Does leaving a comment about why Jason Calanis is wrong pay for your baby’s diapers?

You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?

Ignorance is bliss.

When I wake up in the morning, I instinctively fire up Google Reader to jump-start my brain. Since I’m my own boss, sometimes, that quick peek turns into hours of reading and commenting and posting and I get no work done.

Here’s a thought de jour:

You already know enough.

“Hey, it just sounds to me like you need to unplug, man. You know, get some R and R” - The Matrix

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6 Responses to “Hey, it Just Sounds to Me Like You Need to Unplug, Man.”

  1. This is a major problem I have too. I would spend hours on other people’s blogs or forums and not even touch my own work, I be raging when this happens. Worst thing is, I’m exactly doing that now.

    Gavin said this on July 24th, 2007 at 7:39 am

  2. I hear ya Gavin. Good news is you’re not alone :) I think Shoemoney once said he spends so many hours in his house in front of his computer he has this urge to connect to people and that’s the reason he spills his guts on Shoemoney, even if it might lower his profit margin.

    Halfdeck said this on July 26th, 2007 at 4:21 pm

  3. Hi,

    Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog.

    We have a lot of SEO blogs in Japan but not so many forums.
    Do you read Japanese?

    I know nothing about the guy named John Scott.
    So, I searched his site and blog on Google. :-)

    I wonder if you are a freiends with him and he still live in Japan.

    Thank you.

    Kenichi Suzuki said this on July 26th, 2007 at 8:16 pm

  4. Hey Kenichi,

    Thanks for dropping by. I have a hard time reading Japanese but I can understand Japanese if I hear it.

    John Scott still lives in Japan; as far as I know he’s a permanent resident there. I have exchanged forum posts with him once; he’s an interesting cat.

    Halfdeck said this on July 26th, 2007 at 9:51 pm

  5. Hey Halfdeck - that’s the way it obviously starts with all people getting self-employed .. not sure how long you are entrepreneur, but I just moved to an office after 3 yrs in my home. Office is close, but STILL, I stick to reading, commenting,blogging on the weekends ONLY - that’s just as I would be with any other company that would expect me to WORK during the week and not chat around.

    Frankly, nothing in the World, and especially not the SEO world is so important that a blogger needs to comment on it immediately, or at all - unless “journalist / publisher” is your business model. But, if one is into SEO and has journalist / publisher as a biz model, he should change industry :-)

    cheers
    christoph

    Christoph C. Cemper said this on August 5th, 2007 at 10:14 am

  6. I sometimes read blogs/forums on weekends if I have nothing better to do, but SEO blog reading feels too much like work when I’m not working and feels too much like play when I am.

    RSS is useful for people who wants to build traffic or build link juice through comments or people looking to socialize with like-minded folks but if you mean business, IMO you’re better off running a blog search than digging through RSS feeds.

    Halfdeck said this on August 6th, 2007 at 9:31 am

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