

# Internet Addiction

By Earnest Long

Copyright 2017 Earnest Long

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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#  Chapter 1, What Would It Take To Change?

Health Scare

How would you feel if you had a health scare? Would it change how you felt about your computer? It might make you feel it was not so great and just another gadget or high-tech toy. As well, you might want to read more and not just watch TV. And you could read more in just a day or two to get used to the idea. Also, you could finish off what you were doing on your computer or you could just pick up a book the moment you thought that you'd really prefer to read.

People You Knew Didn't Seem To Like You Anymore

As well, how would it change things if people you knew didn't seem to like you anymore? Perhaps, they didn't like you around them or people you both knew. And, after that, people you used to speak to didn't want to see you hardly at all. Would you give up your ideas of influencing cyber communities just because you did not have good real ones anymore? You might. Why would you want people to see your stuff online if you had no real friends? Perhaps, neither you and nor they would want to. Online, you have the chance to have your views heard. But without real people to talk to about them, do you really want to write any of it down to tell others? You might not do so.

Possibly, it is not what you think. And you went online only because your real friends were too busy to see you. But after a health scare or with your friends leaving you, you might now want to work on improving social skills and other social acceptability. Maybe, you could get back in with your old friends or you could find new ones or both. To make more friends or for your old friends to see you again, you now realize you need no more than plain quite ordinary social skills. Your ones now must be appalling.

Normal Social Skills

And you know now as well that having these normal social skills will be the only way to make or to keep friends. So you need to read a bit and watch TV a bit. That's all anyone does who has friends. They do not have fantastic careers in the arts. And nor are they legends in their own lunch hour at the office they work in. Nor are they even legends at computers in their bedrooms. And nor are they legends at their desk in their own study with a computer they bought from a shop or ordered online with their spare cash for a month or two. This is if they call it a 'study' when they are amateurs.

Imagine What It Might Feel Like

So why don't you imagine what it might feel like to be ill or not to have many friends? Then, you might pay more attention to things you know that you really should be doing. When was the last time you read a full-length novel just for the sake of enjoyment? Or have you read much at all recently? Perhaps, you haven't when it is too much to be reading and writing for several hours a day working on a manuscript. It is as well too much for you to be able to read afterwards because of eyestrain. And this is when you can't really do that much on a computer for the sake of overusing your hands or the amount of screen time any computer use will often take.

Benefits of Less Screen Time

You will likely keep your house cleaner and do more exercise if you just do fewer computer hobbies/work to post online. It might just make you feel stressed. As well, it is common sense that you will have more time without high standards of work required for publication that is so time-consuming to achieve. Also, posting stuff online is stressful for other reasons and not just having to make it a quality offering.

Particularly it is when, like some problem Computer Users it seems don't, you have not studied the market properly. And you have not done this either at any time that you really could have. You might not have done your market research or any other proper research before starting to write your story or before starting a digital art or a video-making project you hope to publish. Or it could be at any time after you started writing or doing art in earnest that you had still not looked to see what there was like your own stuff as you really should have done by now. How many books you already own have you read? Perhaps, you haven't read many of them at all. How many famous novels can you remember? And how many books have you read in the genre you're writing in? Or how much research have you done in some other way? If the answer to all of these questions is that you have done almost none of them, then how do you hope to write well? You can't realistically hope to write anything decent.

'The reason you always fail is just that you cannot write a book, do other creative hobbies and do all of these other things at the same time. You can't as in total it would be too much computer time'.

#  Chapter 2, Game Changers

Time Savers

One time saver is to have rules for recording a diary or making notes such as if you do this on a portable sound recorder or on a sound recorder that you have on your computer. Having managed some things better using sound recordings such as using them successfully for 'writing' reviews or for making some types of notes you wanted will leave time over to concentrate on improving other recordings.

Remember, a portable sound recorder will potentially save screen time and computer time. This is just from common sense it would. It would unless you did not make any kind of a note at all. As well, making sound recordings on your computer might still be less screen time than other programs such as word processors or spreadsheets. After learning how to use sound, you may save time on many of the tasks you want to do. These tasks are usually anything that uses many words such as making notes of any kind, jotting down ideas or inspirations, writing a diary, recording a reminder of something to do later or anything for which you might usually use a word processor, other program or make handwritten notes.

Also, with any new types of programs, you want to use them well and feel good about how you use them. Using sound can take some getting used to and learning it can be time-consuming in itself. So keep this in mind that it takes some getting used to and don't feel disheartened or frustrated or overuse it too much.

Physical Health

Improved physical health and better sleep give you more energy. And you are not so tired if a bit fitter and having slept well that you can't plan your work properly. Also, you will have more time for reading and watching television and you are less likely to overuse your hands or have too much computer time when you are better able to make plans and to keep them. You will also have enough time for cooking, cleaning and washing, going out for a walk or doing some other exercise. Improved personal hygiene should be a priority along with other physical health. It means you don't feel ill when before you might have often felt ill or under the weather.

'High levels of fitness help with concentration sitting at a desk and mean less computer time, not doing unnecessary work or making as many mistakes'.

Regular exercise, regular meals, regular sleep and keeping up with the cleaning and washing can give you higher energy levels all day. Doing these mean you concentrate better and use your computer better as well. And concentrating better and using your computer better will generally save time.

Exercise

It is always good to do exercise. You can go out for a walk. Also, it is good to do some other exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is good for you. So go for a run. And you might do muscle building exercises when they are also good for health.

You can do more exercise by going out for walks during the day when it is still light. As well, it can be sunny and pleasant in the day. If you have the energy, you can still go out for another walk later. And it might help you to sleep better at night if your first walk is earlier. You are likely to do more exercise going for an early walk. Later, you might feel tired or not have enough time. One walk a day is excellent when compared to not going out at all. And going for more than one walk per day is likely to increase the total exercise you do.

Diet

Good nutrition and eating adequately improve concentration and you are able to make decisions better. Improved diet also increases the total number of different tasks you can do in a day. Why don't you start a cookery hobby? Really, this is an excellent tip. It is as it's an almost certain way to good health.

Learn to cook if you don't know already how to. And it is so important that you eat regularly. This will mean that you do not have confectionary, snacks and soft drinks to fill up on because your stomach is empty or for the energy in them because you need a quick boost. Sugar will cause your body to crash after a while. And you will not be able to concentrate well beforehand. This is when you often only feel high. And after you have had something sugary, you can't properly concentrate. Not skipping meals so you don't have snacks is healthier anyway. If you were to have, for example, mostly energy and not enough of nutrients, then that will eventually affect your general health and your ability to be able to concentrate regularly.

Sleep

Go to bed at a reasonable time. You can do more cleaning, washing and cooking if you don't feel tired. And you will probably not feel tired if you just slept regularly. Also, regular healthy meals and regular exercise help you not to feel tired.

Improved sleep is sometimes just from you finding enough motivation to sleep better. And this can just be by knowing the health benefits there is of it. Then, knowing the health benefits of a good sleep, you are likely just to go to bed. Really, you might see that you were often only making excuses once you have slept normally again.

Planning

You might feel it is healthy and uses your mind to do a variety of tasks including different computer tasks. But then, you can still try to include a decent amount of reading that is on paper or you can still try to include a decent amount of listening to the radio. This can't possibly be harmful and is only beneficial.

'Don't listen to the radio on your computer or on your TV. Instead, listen on a normal old-fashioned looking radio'.

Just this one tip might mean you save much on computer and screen time. As well, it is only common sense. You, though, might just have to get a listings magazine to see what radio shows are on. Also, you'll probably have to listen to them at the time. This is when you can't record them.

Decisions you make affect many areas of your life. This could be things such as computer time just as much as anything else it could be. It is important that you can make any decisions you need to make well, quickly and not feel stressed over them. Also, your social skills might improve when you watch just a bit more normal TV of any kind or you do a bit more of any reading.

If you are trying to make more friends or to get a girlfriend by going on a diet and improving your social skills, then you might just want to do fewer computer tasks. It might make you hungry if you still tried to do a lot and you still used a computer a lot. You could get a headache or feel ill and then binge on food and snacks to make you feel better again. Also, you will not be able to concentrate or be able to do tasks you do try to do well, fully or to a decent enough standard if you have not eaten enough. So you could do just what will give you the most benefit. That is not to use a computer too much and not to eat too much.

'When you don't want your computer to tire you, then you might use it less for hobbies and instead watch more TV and video and do more reading on it'.

This could as well be reading either using a computer or using paper.

'Really, you might just have fewer worries if you only watched TV or read and did nothing else much'.

This is if you are on a diet or not that you might just have fewer worries if you only watched TV or read and did nothing else much. But it is particularly true if you find it hard to plan. Planning if you take too long on it takes a lot of concentration. So, it uses too much energy. The reason you might find it hard to plan could be a diet you are on to start with, poor sleep, not having a clean shirt or being overweight. Or it could be for you lack the proper planning skills or you have a poor general educational attainment.

And if you only watch TV or read even if you were not on a diet, and, as well, your only motivation to do these was to improve your conversation, then it makes it an easy-to-understand plan. As well, it would be easier to understand, follow and keep-to plan for anyone. It makes it easier to plan just by you not having as many things on your plan. This is, in fact, a good method of making any plan. You just keep it simple and short. When something is not in your plan, then you don't ever have to think about it. It is only common sense that it is easier to make a plan like this.

Variety of Tasks

'Almost anything people do is good physical and mental exercise'.

'Just not putting things off for too long is an important skill that will help you in many ways'.

'A computer used for mental agility practice can give powerful short-term gains. But in the short to medium if not even just the long-term, it can reduce mental agility'.

Many types of different tasks are good for you. Doing a variety of tasks that are both mental and physical is healthy. As well, you can do different types of tasks that stretch you a bit. You can try to do both hobbies and interests and as well, you can try some new ones occasionally. Do different hobbies and interests and do more than one of each. For example, don't just have a hobby of only photography and then only watch TV. You can do both mental and physical tasks and you can do puzzles and other mental agility exercises.

There are many examples of mental and physical tasks and puzzles you can do. Mental tasks are such as reading, watching television, talk radio, music radio and music videos. Physical exercise is to go for walks, clean your house, do muscle building exercise and to do some cardiovascular exercise. Cooking is a bit of exercise and the food is good for you. Mental agility exercises to train your mind are such as puzzles, quizzes, chess or other games, a crossword, trying to remember lists of facts or figures, recreational study, having a hobby, doing art, learning something new, writing reviews and then learning them off by heart or anything else.

Stress is associated with many of these activities. And it means that the body releases chemicals that have a long-term detrimental effect on the body. This is if you do them too much. Or perhaps you know already that you find them stressful and they cause you a worry about health. Many people find any kind of puzzle or test stressful because they found exams stressful at school. Others had teachers they didn't like for some lessons or other pupils or teachers bullied them in class. Some people with such experiences might still not have gotten over it. And doing things on a computer reminds them of it.

You don't have to feel that you have to prove that you are a good pupil or a good person who can study or do creative arts such as to your old school teachers, either good or bad, your parents or anyone else. Either this is if bullied in these subjects or you were helped and good at them. But still, you can do those subjects in which you have a natural talent. Having a natural talent in something is often why people had no very bad experiences when in class at school. As well, your creative work will be 20 times better than any subject you were bullied in.

In some subjects, you might never have had good lessons. And, really, you can know almost nothing at all. Also, when you do the subject as an adult, it causes worry and anxiety. This anxiety prevents you doing it properly. And even if you had more lessons now, you would not be able to benefit from them anyway. You won't as you can't easily forget the emotional hurt you felt when a child. Nor is it easily got round by using psychological techniques. So you almost certainly cannot just push it out of your mind. And it is doubly stressful when you might not really know the subject well to start with that you'd be any good at it.

When you know hardly anything about something, you have no normal reason to want to do it. One reason might be a misapprehension you had at one time and that you could have unfortunately continued in. That is that it was a therapy to do it. And for this, you used your computer. As well, this was in your own home you have as an adult now. And you did the one thing that caused you so much anxiety at school and as a child. It is usually a defunct therapy to do this now in any professional setting. But on a whim or for another not very well thought out kind of a reason, you decided to try it out at home. It all leads to not doing much. This is doing things on your computer or anything else. You worry and as well, you get poor social skills. Also, doing it correctly would save time for the same amount of work. Still, it assumes that you did anything that was at all comparable to how you were once you have gotten better at it.

People you met after you left school knowing how you were bullied about something by how you speak about it won't answer you back when it seems that today you are saying that you now have an interest in it. But they might like you to talk about a subject you weren't bullied in ever. It could be as well that you just had a plain bad teacher for your class. Or it could be that the subject was not taught well at your school generally. Conversely, if you dropped a subject for some other reason other than having a bad time in it, then it might have no emotional baggage for you.

Long-term screen time is bad for health. And that is just sitting in front of it and it does not matter if you enjoy using your computer, you do something useful on it or if you struggle with it. You can follow some pieces of advice that will reduce screen time. They are things that indeed you can do and that are within everyone's power. As well, you might enjoy doing other things more. And you don't ever just have to watch the TV or ever just use a computer. Have other non-screen activities you can do and that you might enjoy.

Having less screen time is a goal in itself. But you might not just be able to give up using computers immediately. That is unless you really wanted to and you knew that you could just stop doing it. Some people might get withdrawal symptoms. People saying things like, 'don't use your computer as much' or 'don't watch TV all the time' can sound really so negative. And it does if they don't say what else you can do instead. As well, it is a kind of easy to keep to plan just to switch off your computer or TV when you've been using it too much already. Or you can try to reduce how much you use a computer gradually. Perhaps, you can think of why you don't want to use it as much anymore when you feel like going on it again. Then that might help you to do something else.

If you did give it up all at once, then you could have time on your hands. And you could end up doing nothing, feeling bored, listless, not reading any books or doing anything else. Still, using a computer even a little can be a motivation for you to do other things as well. You might read more or watch more TV. Or, when pleased you have such a wonderful thing as a computer, you feel that you can just get on with the rest of your life. As well, you can do this in all kinds of ways. It is more interesting to do many things and not just one or two things. Doing different activities may mean you want to do more of other things as well. A computer can help like this. And so having one should be beneficial to doing more. But this is only as long as you don't do everything on a computer. If you did, then too much computer time could ruin your concentration. As well, you might find that you did very little overall.

Choose things to do that also include things you can do off a computer. Remember, that there are still paper alternatives and other alternatives to TVs and computers. For example, some people forget that you still have normal radios even if they are digital. And these 'old-fashioned' looking radios are often a lot cheaper than any kind of TV or computer. Yet they offer thousands of hours of enjoyment without a downside. And this is when it seems that for everyone computers have a downside. Things computers help you well with are hobbies. In fact, you can do hobbies on a computer a lot better than you could beforehand. And computers often have a lot less of a health downside than older technology had for doing hobbies. As well, the software has other features of interest to hobbyists that they might want. Also, when you have a computer, you can read or watch more video additionally than you might be able to get anywhere else.

Keep mentally and physically active. For physical health, it is best to do all healthy-type activities and not just some of them and as well, to avoid unhealthy activities. Screen time, touching paper or canvases or paint, playing a musical instrument or talking a lot are bad for physical health. Also, you should have a good diet, cook, clean and wash, do exercise and sleep well. And you can do a variety of hobbies and interests to keep mentally active. Still, doing less is good for your health and less stress. But this is only if you don't become bored and so you feel stressed because you are bored. Sometimes a challenge such as a computer project is a good type of stress. It is if you just saw it as being, in fact, just that and a challenge. And you didn't see it as being a negative thing you don't really want. Perhaps, doing projects but only doing them occasionally is still healthy.

More Excelling Tips

'You don't have to use your computer every day. Nor do you have to spend all of your spare time on it'.

'It is not just computers being stressful that has an effect on your health. Screen radiation, other carcinogens, too much typing and dust around computers also have effects on your health'.

'Regular physical exercise and the same each day is good for you'.

'It is the overall length of screen time, typing time and sitting at a desk and one or two other factors such as how close to the VDU/TV you are, the size of your screen and the model of the VDU/TV that means you can get ill'.

'Also, you don't have to do the same each day or the same week in and week out. And that can be a game changer as well'.

'It is over many unhappy people that computers have a hold'.

'There are advantages of using a computer but you can't use one too much'.

'It helps a lot to not feel you want to stay on your computer because they are some kind of puzzle if you do, in fact, learn all about them you can'.

'If computers are no problem to use, then often they will lose their unfortunate hold'.

'Perhaps, you will think of other things to read about or to do once you have already done lots on a computer'.

'It might help you to use a computer less if you just did something useful on it'.

Feeling Low

People when feeling low or depressed are more likely to overuse computers. This is when they don't feel like taking time out. They'd need this time to learn productivity features for example that might help them. But they just don't feel like doing it. Also, anxious people feel better when they can click on links and they like having the interactivity you get with computers. Somebody with a more rounded life would probably want to do something other than using a computer in all his or her spare time. Or their seeing friends might take a lot out of their time as well. So, well-rounded people often don't use a computer much.

Make Notes

Improving physical health will improve your mental well-being. You are likely to reduce some of your worries if you are able to keep to health and other goals. Then, you'll probably have better social skills, not have worries about using your mind and you'll probably not have worries that you don't have such a normal life in other ways.

Don't Try Too Hard

'You might have normal social skills if you just used a fraction of your time constructively'.

Make some effort to watch TV, read or listen to talk radio. But don't do too much all at once. Really, people can sometimes do very little indeed and still succeed. Or, if you just set less harsh goals, you might still do more than you are doing already. This is when trying to do a lot but not succeeding and then doing less than ever.

Useful Tip

You can make notes on the normal television and books that you read and then learn them as if you were studying them at school or college. This will not just improve your memory but it will help your social skills as well.

Do A Crossword Every Day

Just do one crossword a day. That way, you don't overuse your hands. A paper puzzle book does not involve any screen time.

Diaries

Have you considered keeping a diary? Perhaps, you could have one just as people did in the past. But with the editing tools of a word processor, you could do it better on a computer. In the past, people often started diaries in an attempt at solving personal problems. Usually, they were successful after a few months in reducing their worry. And all they did was write down what they had done that day so they could read it again later. Particularly, they wrote down anything new they had done. Problems diaries might solve were how to manage your time better, to improve your personal hygiene, to organize your files and your notes better or to learn more about a creative art.

Other Things on Your Computer

You can do other things than just a conventional diary if you have a computer. For example, you can keep Task lists, To Do lists or Schedules. These can all be about what is going on for you just now. And they can remind you later how you felt and be useful to refer back to.

Also, you can get the software you want. An example is a breaks app. And you can get creative art software you'd like better, find easier to use or that you like the look and feel of better. As well, the right software can help you do what you want creatively.

Goal Setting

Try to de-prioritize doing creative arts. This is at least until you feel more able to do them better. You may want to wait until you have read or seen more of other writers' and artists' work, you have had some more experiences to use in your own art or writing or you have had a chance to study the market more. Alternatively, you might want to learn how to do the creative art better before attempting a major work in it.

You can learn about a hobby or creative art by reading about it, doing exercises for it and by looking at other people's works. Also, you can learn the skills you'd need if you were to post your work online. This is before you had a queue of finished work ready to publish. Too much editing because you do not feel inspired to start with or you do not know how to edit properly is time-consuming. And it is common sense that it is a wasted effort if, by chance or through lack of technical skill, the finished work is not much good anyway.

Divide doing creative arts into periods. These are something like learning it, looking at others' works, trying your hand at it, first efforts of publishable pieces, learning marketing skills and other skills to post your work online, studying the market and any other things you could do as separate activities. Also, do different creative arts at different times. You can divide some of these activities up into different weeks. Or try some out even if you are not successful at them quite. And don't do one only.

Revise School and College Work

You can revise your school and college work to see what you did of a creative art when in full-time education. In fact, people often did do creative arts for many years. But they have forgotten most of it a few years after they left school or college. So that then might be a good place to start. Revision of any subject will improve your general knowledge. Good general knowledge helps many writers to write better. Particularly, you need to brush up on your skills if you are going to post stuff online. This is as well as having practice at longer works if you are going to do any. Or you might get any more tips you need. This could be about computers or anything else.

Reading

Try reading one chapter of a book and make handwritten notes about it. Perhaps, you could read a chapter of a book each day on a subject you'd like to learn. One thing that some people like to do is to make precisely one page of handwritten notes per day. To do this, you can use a portable sound recorder to help you. Make notes on the portable sound recorder first. However, when you come to your handwritten notes, you might try not to exceed more than one page of handwriting. It may require some drastic pruning from the notes you made on your portable sound recorder. And this is when you might have made many notes using one.

You can scan in handwritten notes. Using a scanner for handwritten notes saves screen time. This is when you don't have to type them in.

Some people don't want to feel that they are starting a big program of study if they are no longer teenagers. They might feel that study can't get them a job. Nor might they have a long career ahead of them that could justify it.

Yet, anyone really could just do some revision. Also, you could try learning something new to use your mind. It is good social skills to know facts about something and not just have only a casual reading. Having a good mind like a student will improve your social skills. Perhaps, just try not to overuse your computer at the same time.

You can pep up your social skills as well by watching interesting TV, short videos online, listening to the radio or by reading a novel. It is good social skills to do a variety of things. This is when you can't talk about just one book or about just one format. People are interested in more than just one thing themselves and as well, any good conversationalist will have more than just one thing that they like to talk about.

Have just one goal. The goal you can have is not to overuse your computer. It should mean that you don't become ill. Nothing you can do on a computer is worth getting sick over. Damage to your health is permanent or accumulative often, but computers only give short-term gains or pleasures. At home, they are just toys. Or they are for amusement, for a hobby or they just help to pass some of the time if you were feeling bored.

Gratitude

Take some time if it is a lovely sunny day to have lunch with the windows wide open. Or go out for a walk in the park. Building your muscles up, you feel a sense of achievement. As well, you will be able to sit up straighter and concentrate better at your computer desk.

Perhaps, when you have more energy, then counter-intuitively, you no longer feel the need to do a lot. Or, at least, you don't want to do any drudgery. But you might want better skills in anything that you still do. For writers, you might want to research the market a bit better and improve your own product offering. And you might feel that this is worth at least a little time that you'd probably need to spend on it.

You might like to work more on your hobby if it meant you could do other things better as well. For example, writing might encourage you to read more, such as other peoples' novels, that you wouldn't have read normally. Perhaps, you will also gain some insights into other authors' works by writing yourself. Or writing could just be no more than another quite normal interest you had amongst other things you did. Today, and even if you did have problems to start with, you might write just because you enjoy it.

Working Too Hard

Not working too hard or not doing just one thing is a change. And it all works in a virtuous circle. You will clean and wash more regularly, sleep better and after so much time perhaps as well do some other goals than the repetitive boring ones you might be doing now. So you should then improve your health. Also, you might improve your looks, your social skills and other things. And it is really such a few simple things that you need to do. But it is also likely a massive change in your life even if the actual changes are small. You could not feel so tired and de-motivated. That is massive all on its own.

Yet, you felt before that you had big ambitions. Perhaps, you were wrong about them and they were ill conceived. And if you spent more time reading and watching TV, then your social skills would improve immensely. This tiny thing of spending more time not just on hobbies, but on other reading and using the TV means you can talk to anyone about anything that is a social topic. You can when you might have craved this for years. And all the time, you were so near to achieving it.

Still, today, keeping a diary might help you all you want with self-esteem issues. Or it will help you with thinking about where you are going in life. This is whether on paper or on a computer that you keep a diary or other notes, scribblings and drawings.

And it is finding out what is useful to you and for you only in your having a computer and not always having to think of readers or viewers that is often all that some people need so they feel happier about having a computer and, as well, they feel happier more generally.

How Did They Manage It To Start With?

Sometimes people describe things as though they helped them, but they forget how they managed it to start with. A respondent said a few months after he had started sleeping better and going to bed earlier that he went to bed now at a reasonable time just as there was nothing more he wanted to do with his day. This was as he did a few things but then was not overambitious nowadays. Also, he did not feel he had the concentration to watch any more TV or videos late at night. As well, recently, he had not been able to follow some of the documentaries he had watched. The documentaries he had understood all right must have been easier ones. It was his first experience for a long time of not being able to follow normal media. Yet, how did this start to improve despite the later setback when he tried to watch more and found he couldn't understand all of it? There was an improvement because he'd had an input from other people when he went home to his family. As well, he felt that if he did not start sleeping more normally soon, then he might become physically ill and die. This was from long-term poor sleep. So he just followed all the advice he'd had already more properly. He was motivated to go to bed and so he did so. And this was even if beforehand he might have quite liked to stay up to watch a film or he had enjoyed the quiet of the night. Perhaps, once he had tried to do more he found that it had really affected him not doing much for so long. He couldn't do much before when he was tired from poor sleep. But now, he had another worry. He had not made all the improvements he wanted. Still, he did not want to go back to his old ways.

In the past, when he had made an effort but then gone back to his old ways, he had mistakenly thought his problems were because people were pointing out his faults that he still had. This was to him and to others. These people wanted him to go back to how he was in the past for some reason of their own. And if he did, then they'd leave him alone or stop talking about him. Or in the old days, as he had thought often after he'd reminisced, he felt that he might really have been better off. And so now, he really should go back to how he was. Or it was for a not very well-thought-out reason anyway whatever it was he had thought and that meant that he had stopped his new routine and gone back to what he had done beforehand. But, today, he realizes that going back is never a solution. For example, he did not want to go back to watching the late night movie in an attempt to pep up his conversation for the next day and other things like that. It didn't feel like the right thing to do again now. This was when he knew that his health had already suffered. And now he felt that his health was more important to him than people's comments or if they said things such as they were talking about him to other people.

Nor was it ever the solution for anyone. If you stay up late, then you will always feel tired the next day. This is a scientific fact. And you will not be able to do as much or to concentrate as well as if you were less tired. Also, you will have more energy and feel more awake if you do sleep earlier even if there weren't as well genuine short and long-term health benefits to it. Really, you don't want to go back to how you were beforehand when you had too many late nights, too much screen and computer time and nor were you able to concentrate on anything. This was just for the sake of how you feel. And it is not even as well just that you are making yourself sick. Also, as many people know only from long experience, worry will only make anything worse.

Log

If you are going to go on a computer, then plan your work, work only for an hour on your computer ever at a time and keep a log of the work you have done. A log gives you a sense of achievement. Also, you can use it to decide what work you want to do in the future. For example, you might decide to do 1 hour per day of hobbies but more if you watched less TV. Also, you could decide to do other computer hobbies but, as well, you can decide that you won't do them all on the same day.

This ability to plan your work and not spend too long on a computer all comes from keeping some notes about your activities to refer to and that will help you to think about what you want from them. You can set limits for each hobby to keep to that will mean you can overall manage better. As well, you might find that to do any art project does take a lot of time. And this is ones you do mainly on a computer. Or, for some people, the time they'd have to spend on their projects is not as much as they thought. Perhaps, if it takes a lot of time for you doing hobbies on your computer, then you can do shorter projects instead. Or you can just learn to worry a bit less if projects go on for a bit long. This is even if they go on for weeks or months without being finished.

Divide tasks into smaller tasks to see how long each one takes. This might mean you find something takes quite some time for even one small task. Then, you can adjust your activities having this knowledge first. A task to be useful has to have some complete purpose to it or one point to it normally. It could be the basic sketch or cartoon for a painting, a plan for a short story or essay you want to write or anything else. And with the 'data' that you have, you can then see if there are ways to save screen time, keystrokes or anything else.

Speech

You might save some screen time by making notes on a portable sound recorder. Also, speech recognition might work quicker than typing. And you can find ways of making speech recognition work even faster. Or it could be any other insight you have gained as well.

Adapt tasks you do to the technology you have to use. For example, you could make some rules about your portable sound recorder. It could be how you will use it, when you will use it and what you will use it for. Also, it could be the length of recordings and the point of making the recordings. If you were to make many points in a recording, then it might be difficult to remember all of them when playing it back. This is when it is speech and hard to follow even if on paper it would be easy to see anything you had said at a glance. Also, you might not have made your points as well as you would have on a familiar medium like paper. So it is doubly bad. An excellent tip is just to make one point per sound recording file. That will save you overall time as it is easier to do and you make fewer mistakes. As well, you will likely have sound recordings that are more useful. This is for many uses of a portable sound recorder although making longer files may still be useful for some purposes.

A number of things you can do on a portable sound recorder you might before have done only on paper. Sometimes speech diaries on a portable sound recorder can go on for hours and be rambling and incoherent. And anyone else or you would not want to hear them again. On paper, you can follow what you have written just by glancing back up the page. You can do this to see what you said earlier. Or you could try to learn to do better the types of sound recordings that you want. If you were satisfied with them enough, you might think they have advantages over paper or a WP and keep using them. Perhaps, as well, you can do reviews of books and TV shows using a portable sound recorder. And you don't have to handwrite them, type them up or use a computer. For making portable sound recorder reviews, possibly keep the reviews quite short. This is when playbacks might ramble if too long.

Success

It causes a great deal of anxiety to try to read more and to watch more TV. The reason it does is that it smacks of trying to be more intelligent than other people are that is always a bad thing to compete on. Some people do seem to be generally clever if you test the waters and much better read than you might be. And if you do test the waters, then you could at least get emotionally hurt. Many people you might find out could be really an awful lot cleverer than you are. And this is more than you could have ever imagined. But they just don't normally tell you this, show it in any way or have good jobs like those that you might expect.

Perhaps, it is good genes or a lack of any health problems in their families. Or it could be they have had a good education. As well, it could just be that they have properly looked after their health and followed all the kinds of health advice that you get. This might be something as simple as going to bed at a reasonable time. Or it could be from never having skipped meals as some people do so frequently. And either it could be that they did it by themselves as adults having read the newspapers or it was because their parents encouraged it when they were growing up.

Some people feel the head start they've had is nothing they'd ever be able to catch up on. And this is even without concerns over whether everyone is the same or not in mental ability. Perhaps, students are clever. This is really only by common sense. And you hear a lot about clever students and professors. That is though without stories of pot smoking at University. Perhaps, you could become a student yourself if you wanted to improve your mind. You just have to enrol at a local college. Also, it needn't only be going to University that you can become a student.

As well, why don't you just get out your old school or college books or books you've read in the past and revise them or do some brain exercises? You could at least get back what you used to have. Or you could really get any book and read it and it would do you good. And almost any books if you read and made notes from them, they would give back to you. This is even if it was just a novel and nothing too weighty. Also, you could read a newspaper. And you can do the puzzle in it. As well, you could get a puzzle book if you'd prefer it. Or there are computer programs to do puzzles. To improve your memory, you can learn some facts off by heart, learn lists of things, write an essay or do creative art or you can record or write reviews of books and films. Also, you can play computer games that some find mentally stimulating.

Revision and doing some puzzles will improve your mind generally. And you might have fewer problems in many other areas of your life if you just did some revision. This is including using a computer to study or revise. Many things on paper or computers are anyway brain exercise. So if you use a computer or pens and paper, then you might be doing some already. People might not see this now, though. They don't as they overuse their computer. Or they just do one thing on them. Using a computer or making notes can also improve social skills. Do things that might help you. As well, you might know that they will help already. So then, you can just do them. But remember any games, computer puzzles or anything else you do on a computer means more sitting a desk and looking at the screen.

Write a Diary on a Computer and Print It

You can write a diary on your computer and then you can print it. Also, you can proofread by printing it first. But perhaps, for something like a diary when one entry might only be a page or a half page, you can just quickly check it through on the screen first. And then, you can either put up with mistakes you see after you've printed it or you can type back in the corrections and print again. Or you could check it didn't have any mistakes more thoroughly before printing the first time you did it.

Also, once you know that you have a final manuscript such as of a short story proofread and edited, then why don't you print it. You can read it again many times over. You might not realize how many times you do read it on your computer that you needn't have done. As well, you have plastic pockets and paper folders you can keep it in that are wipe-clean and mean you don't have to worry about the paper getting grubby. Possibly, you might see more mistakes reading it like this. You could as you are relaxed and concentrating better when you read it if you don't have to worry about screen radiation. Then, if you planned some time to publish it, it could be a valuable correction or more than one correction. But really, there is no good reason not to print stories you have written already that don't need any more editing.

Computers are good for editing and less good for reading if you are doing it from the screen. To read documents that are not on the screen would mean getting a printer. When you get a printer, you need to buy a few things other than just the printer. For example, it might not come with all the leads you need. As well, you might need a printer table if you haven't one already. Possibly, you could if you don't have a printer table put it on another table that will do instead but that is usually for something else. However, despite needing these extra efforts, many people find that the advantages of a printer are worth making the effort for. This is when they get so many advantages that they would like it.

Printing Is a Game Changer

A printer is a game changer. To many, it is a good half of any solution to any computer problems. It means you can see things on your computer without having to look at a screen. This is because the technology can put things that are on your computer onto a piece of paper that you can hold in your hand instead. It could be a word processor document, a spreadsheet, a photo or an artwork you print. To some at least, a printer helps them all they want and to avoid ways in which they previously had problems. A printer answers their need for using a computer for more than a few hours a day but that would be too much screen time. Some people want to use a computer for longer than would be healthy. This is so they can do all they'd like to and for which today you really need a computer. Yet, they have the problem that for reasons of health, they really shouldn't use a computer for that long. Still, this is only if they did not have a printer. With a printer, you don't have to 'use a computer to use a computer'. Now, when you have a printer, it is no problem. It isn't a problem with using a computer anymore when a printer means less screen time. As well, this is with no other major disadvantages if you just want to read things you have on your computer. And you can make corrections to text you are reading to improve it. You can do this by making a note of them on paper and then go back on your computer for a few minutes to type them in. It really doesn't need to take too long in front of a computer.

Yet, it would really be much easier in some ways if you could type corrections in when reading from the screen. Printing costs money. As well, people can't always read even their own handwriting. And you might have to learn to make proofreading marks to show adequately how you want the text changed. This is for all possible mistakes it could have in it. You could have none of these problems if you can just see the document on the screen as you type in the corrections. It would all be quicker if you did it just on your computer reading from the screen. But you can't do it this way. Nobody can either. You can't just because in front of a screen you can't concentrate properly. This is not even, it seems, that you can concentrate enough to remember even how to construct sentences or to punctuate. Really, it is a sobering thought. This is if you were to stop and dwell on it too much.

Walking During the Day

Go out walking during the day and not in the evening. It is less stressful in many ways not seeing drunkards, homeless people and aggressive beggars. Also, in the daylight, the temperature is normally warmer and you are less likely to catch a cold. As well, when it might get too cold later in the evening, then you really do have a reason to stay at your computer and not go out. It is pleasant inside and you won't catch a chill. Perhaps, you feel charitable as well to others even if you are unfit. So it makes you feel bad seeing homeless people and worrying about them. Don't worry by not going out late at night. Then, you don't worry as much when you are somebody who doesn't like worry generally.

Sayings

It is a well-known fact and one talked about many times over many years that writers and artists often produce their best work when they feel relaxed and happy. Still, they might produce good work if it is not their own worries they write about. Writing about your own worries is doubly bad usually. Though, some people find they can write about them and it helps them. But often, and particularly if you intend to show your work widely and publish it, it is a worry to many people to write bad things down.

Anything That Makes You Feel Good

Possibly, your goals could change. Don't feel it is strange if they do. It is really quite normal. Plans have to change when circumstances change. This is only common sense. Also, if your plans have succeeded, then this is just one more way that things that affect your plans might have changed.

For example, you can decide on a better exercise program or anything else that makes you feel good when it wouldn't have beforehand. You might decide on one that includes other muscle-building exercises you'd like to do. A reason you might do this is if when you first started doing exercise you were just worried about getting out of breath. But after you got your breath back more, then you wanted muscle as well. Or it could be any other way exercise or other plans change.

Rearrange Your Living Area

Somebody rearranged their living area to be more aesthetically pleasing, so they were more able to find things and it was more hygienic. You can add features you might like. Some people might have wanted to change something about their living area for some time but not got around to it. You can do many things to change your living space to make it better to live in. Perhaps, you can have a nook to read near your bookcase with a lamp to read by in it. Also, you could have a chair against a radiator to sit in when it was cold and with a table for books. Play around a bit.

Another example is that somebody removed his bedside cabinet as he'd had enough of cleaning tea and coffee stains from it. Also, it didn't look good where it was. And it took up too much space. As well, he noticed that the shelf underneath had become full of dust. This was with him not being aware of it and keeping the rest of his apartment clean. And there were too many things on it. There were electrical things. And he'd read as well recently that it was unhygienic to have a cup of tea at night. So he moved it all away. But then he missed the convenience. Now, he has a large coffee table near his bed with magazines, a clock radio and more space for tea and coffee but that is lower and a bit further away without looking bad aesthetically. It is though still accessible.

As well, he made other changes to his room such as making his bookcase also more accessible so he might by doing this read more books. Then, he divided his magazines up into two categories of lifestyle and health magazines as one category and hobby and interest as the other. And he put one pile on top of the coffee table and one on the shelf underneath it not used previously for anything.

Other Things He Did As Well

He made his box of old DVDs more accessible. And he has put his notebooks, paper pads and pens away on top of a bookcase.

Also, he cleaned his kitchen thoroughly for the first time in months. The shelves and drawers looked stained and needed a scrubbing. He made five shelves worth of space. This was from moving hot drink flasks to the surfaces as well as putting cereal in plastic containers on the surfaces. It also made space having it neater. He removed his mop into the bathroom, as he felt that it was more hygienic not to have it anywhere near food like when it was in the kitchen. Also, he removed some buckets from the kitchen as they were only for emergencies, they didn't need to be there if not in regular use and they took up much-needed kitchen space.

As well, he cleaned stuff out from under the bed. He did this when it was unhygienic. There was underwear from months ago if not years ago and piles of shoes covered with dust.

Doing all this, he discovered some things that he had forgotten because he could not see them amongst the mess. There was toothpaste and toothbrushes, bleach, deodorant, soap bars, detergent, window cleaner, tea towels, scrubbers, tablecloths, packets of soup, vinegar, salt and pepper cellars, mustard, packets of pasta, herbs and spices, keyboard wipes, paper plates, savoury crackers, jam he hadn't seen in months and a teapot he had completely forgotten about. Also, there was some out of date food, some of it over a year old.

His experiences will continue in his own words below.

He says,

At least I don't need to buy as many things that I thought I might need and so can now save this money. As well, I made plans to keep a budget again as I might need money when my girlfriend gets back from holiday. And I need some money for a move to another house. I'd like to keep a better record of my spending for the sake of reducing worry about where all the money goes. Or it is a worry wanting more when at the same time I feel that I am wasting some of it.

Then I moved my bedside cabinet back. I felt that the coffee table didn't look quite right where it was. And I saw as well a use for it in another position. With my magazines, I took them off the coffee table because I had not read any of them when they were there. I hadn't when the coffee table was a bit too low down to pick them up or it was too low down to thumb through them resting the pile on the table. Now I put my magazines in a space I had created in my bookcase.

I made more space on my bookcase by getting another bookcase that fitted into an area of my room not previously used. So I didn't feel the pressure to have so many books as I used to have on my bookcase in case I wanted to read them. In some compartments of my bookcase, I put my magazines. Then, I also put my art materials there. But I could see I really needed two compartments for art, one for paper sketchpads and one for pencils and other art materials. So I did not have as much room in my bookcase as I had wanted.

Recently, I had bought an old-fashioned paper diary as I felt this would be better than using a computer or mobile phone for appointments. As well, I had bought two, one for writing a paper journal in and one for a different type of paper journal. One journal was for one-off things and one for feelings and discussions of the day. I would make room in one of them to write appointments and rule off the page after I had done it. This I kept up for a time, but on some days, I had more news than on others. My printed-paper diaries began to look a mess and as well, I had not always been able to keep my handwriting neat. So I got out an old paper pad and wrote a day's diary on that.

As well, I used the paper pad for making plans and making other types of notes. Thinking that these might become grubby or germy if handled a lot, I put them in ring binders, one for diaries and one for plans. And I put these ring binders in the compartment of my bookcase together with my previous attempts at diaries that I had not rewritten and wanted to be able to refer to again. However, the cubbyholes were just a bit small and so I put these ring binders in a plastic open storage box on the other side of the room. They were just about accessible here but in an area not normally used much and a bit cold with a draft in it.

Other things that happened were that as I no longer had enough space on my bookcase, I made one compartment for all magazines. And I put all my pen boxes and other boxes of things on top of the bookcase or on the windowsill. I did paper art once or twice but really preferred to use a computer for art as it had tools that helped me learn when I was only a beginner. Also, I did read the magazines once or twice and just for a short time, but I felt still that it had encouraged me to read my magazines generally. I was pleased with this as I'd had still unread copies of magazines for some time.

I moved my mop and bucket back to the kitchen as there was not quite enough space for it where it was and I worried that it didn't look right for guests to see it if they needed to use my bathroom. In the kitchen, at least guests couldn't see it as much and it didn't look out of place either so much. As well, moving my buckets out of the kitchen and pushing my fridge around, I made some more space for them so that it now looked acceptable and normal where they were.

Still Other Changes

Some people might find all this stressful. But our Subject felt gratitude only that he had a large enough living area to be able to make any changes at all. And it did not matter it went back to how it had been beforehand in the end. It was not exactly the same as before and at least there had been minor improvements. Another way of seeing what he had done was that it had just given him something to do to pass the time. And it was interesting to reorder his furniture and reorder his life as well. It gave him some control. And though, he did not realize it to start with, it now felt a good way to have had some control back in his life. Also, after moving all this around, he knew that he really had often craved more control. This was even if he did not always see it beforehand.

#  Chapter 3, More Personal Experiences

Today, I watched a long documentary that was the only television and reading I did although I also listened to a talk radio show of people talking about their problems. As well, I did one hour's creative writing and one hour's art. I looked at some art slide shows for a long time but then switched them off. Eventually, I knew they'd bore me too much. It was taking too much of my time. And then I decided I'd do the cleaning. It really needed it as well. I have insect bites on my leg after sleeping in the bed. Also, I recorded a portable sound recorder diary and made some other notes. These took a long time. Then, instead, I switched on my computer and did the same thing in half an hour that had taken me several hours on my portable sound recorder. But I did not feel like switching my computer on until then. Writing it down on paper was not an option when health is my priority. So, at least, I remembered that.

In the future, I really want to do more exercise including cardiovascular exercise and exercises for my back and arm muscles as well as more walking. And I might do more walking as well by going out in the daytime. This is as I worry about disturbing the neighbours going out late at night. Also, it is too cold at night now to go for long walks.

Today, I looked up something in the newspapers about an artwork I had seen. This was the first time that I had looked up anything about art like this. So it was new to me. But the experience felt a good one. I could even try doing some art like this in the art software that I had.

Also, I've been talking about the art software I have and it seems that many other people have this program besides me and have been using it for their own art. All sorts of people I've met have said they use it. As well, there are many examples online of people who've posted works of art using the software. Really, this is the first time that I felt I have anything in common with people besides me who have a computer. It was as if I had experienced a sense of community. There were many exactly the same types of art on the Internet as I knew that I had done myself and in more than one search engine. Some of them were quite funny and I feel my own are quite funny. They have them on websites but some of it was from historical competitions such as when the software like that was released. Also, others are like clubs and societies that I don't want to join when I don't feel I'm good enough yet. And nor do I have good social skills about art right now. But looking it up gave me another sense of community. I felt that I had this if only because it was like contributing some work even if it was still only on my own computer.

Still, I have the option of making a slideshow video of the works I have done and then posting them on a video sharing website. But there are worries about this, not least that I should really have done art for a lot longer before I think of posting anything. In a few months or a few years, my works might be a lot better. And perhaps, I should bide my time until then gradually getting better until I know I would have an appreciative viewership.

I don't really want to do much online. This is when, for example, I've had enough of hearing about many websites having factually incorrect information that by now I've taken heed of these warnings. Also, there are people trying to sell you stuff that might or might not work such as fad diets. Or you have exercise programs that could give you a pulled muscle when you can't afford a lot of physio you might need. So forget it perhaps. You'll never have a body like that. This is when you can't possibly unless you were to be able to afford an exercise injury if you got one. And there is no good reason to die trying for the perfect body.

Also, for a lot of medical advice, you might just want to see a real doctor to have your questions answered. Looking it up online can make you a hypochondriac who thinks he has everything he reads about.

Still, the option is open to upload artworks. And, perhaps, after a time, I can quit whilst I'm still ahead. But then, I feel I have to spend more time just on my own computer doing it before I decide to share anything.

I have not read much about art or any of my other hobbies for quite some time now. In fact, it has been so long since I really read much about them, I feel that I should stop doing them and just go back and try to do some more reading. Still, I have developed quite a talent in some ways. I can see this now. And this is even if the software helped me to learn it and helped me a bit after as well. Otherwise, I'd not have been able to learn these skills.

When I have a blank canvas, it has nothing on it and I can paint anything. Really, it is quite addictive. But when in the end you realize that many of your works are not much good or only possible because of the help the art software gives you, you might just then read a book instead. Books did not seem as exciting. Or they were not interactive. On reflection, I achieved something of some kind. I learned a little about these creative arts and made some good works in the software. Still, now I can go back to reading more books.

Perhaps, I will do hobbies a bit less so they don't take up all my spare time. If I still do them, then I might just feel happy that I am making all the progress I can. This is when the software helps me so much that you can't really call yourself an 'artist'. Yet, there might really be no better way of doing it. And this is even if beforehand the endless supply of blank digital canvases and paint at no extra cost once you had your computer and software appealed to me. It made me practice more. And I could still practice more now. But today, I might do so just for an hour or two. Really, it is an achievement to learn anything. With creative arts, you can make something as well. And this is however slowly you did learn that it is still an achievement.

I could still learn a fair bit even in just an hour a day. This is with all I could do in an hour if I put my mind to it. My paintings are lacking in many ways right now. Still, I suppose if I started reading a bit more about art and I just kept up a little practice, then I could paint something a bit better in a reasonable time. I have tried watching some art documentaries online. Really, now I did, I remembered that I'd seen a lot of it before. Or at least I think I have, as I was not following it all. I didn't follow it all as I had things on my mind. But it was good that I did know more than I thought I did to start with. And so now I could look to see what I could learn that might help me with my digital art a bit more and that might work.

In a way, for centuries, there have been communities of artists or of art lovers. Yet, at times in history, they were different to now. It is because of digital art and because of the Internet that it has changed. Having a computer, I am part of this revolution in art. And all I did was go and buy a computer from a shop, get an Internet connection and 'go online'. Really, it is fantastic all I have been able to do and all I have been able to achieve. This is even if it was easy to start with or no matter how easy it still is. But then, how could I have done it if it was harder? I couldn't have. So it is something at least of some kind. And this thing, to use the expression that explains it, is that you 'go online'

One given in all of this is that it is not possible to not do any exercise, sleep poorly and not eat properly. Also, I have not always done all the cleaning and washing that I should do. Recently, when I got some quite bad insect bites, it was because I had not cleaned properly under my bed. For many months, I could not have ever cleaned under it. And if my lack of proper cleaning had been worse than that, I could have died. I really feel that lack of exercise and not following other physical health plans is all my problems. If I'd had more energy, then I could probably have kept up with all my cleaning.

It is not such a big deal to do hobbies all the time and neglect other interests. This is when if you did do more than about 2 to 3 hours reading and watching television, then you would not be able to talk about it all to your friends anyway. Your friends would probably only want to hear about one film you'd watched or one documentary or to hear about one book you'd read. And, if you only saw a friend of yours once a week, then that is only a very little time you need to spend on interests of reading and watching TV. Instead, you could give more time over to doing creative arts or other hobbies. Also, if you only did the same amount of reading and television as someone who worked long hours, had a stressful job or a long commute, then you would if you had more time have done the same amount of goals of reading or watching television and still have spare time left over. That would still leave many hours per month where you might as well do creative arts. Or you could spend the time on something else such as recreational study. But you can't really watch TV and read in all your spare time when it would not do you any good. Or it might do you harm in that you can't talk about books you had not recently read. People won't want to discuss them with you later. So, you would miss discussing famous books you'd only just read or books you'd really have liked to discuss with somebody.

But then, why would you want to do any creative arts for that long even if you had the spare time to do a lot of them. In the past, perhaps, when I had spent a lot of time on hobbies and creative arts, I felt bad for not having read or watched television enough during that time as well. So I couldn't be bothered to do any hobbies. And I just switched off my computer. Still, it only lasted for a few hours. After reading for a short time, I felt better about myself, thought my computer life was not so bad and switched it on again.

Today, I had a clear out of some of my files that I didn't think I would want to look at again. Before now, they were like old friends I still enjoyed seeing. Yet, I felt bored. And now I wanted to move onto more exciting and perhaps different things. I deleted files on my computer and videos from the television. It was only a gesture. Yet, I could change for the better. And this was from changing anything about my life to start with that it might help me make bigger changes later on. To start with, all I would do is to get more videos and books different from ones I had already.

I would need to spend some of my spare cash on new videos and books. But this I gladly did when I felt so optimistic about my projects. As well, once I'd some more videos and books, then I might not spend any more money for the time being. And I could take a break from going online. This was so I could build up my savings again.

Also, my Internet connection did not always work. And it had become burdensome fixing computer problems like this. So that would make for more relaxed computing if I had a computer just to do hobbies on that was not connected to the Internet. It might be good time management as well.

Today, lots happened. I have already given my house a clean in the kitchen and under the bed that it really needed. And I have my computer screen like a Smart TV so I'm further away from the screen. As well, I have a breaks app. And I have been using my computer to plan. It saves a lot of time. This is just as they say it would do so but I had not really tried it fully yet. Or rather, I had tried it, but I lost my files after my computer crashed and I didn't bother again until now. As well, my speech recognition is working almost perfectly. And it recognizes almost everything I say. I can easily dictate thousands of words in a short time. Really, it is very quick for how much I am able to do.

Also, today, I decided that I would never be any good at art. I feel that I've already done enough art that is my standard. And I have run out of creative ideas I am technically good enough to do. This is although I would like to be able to do them. But if I can't, then I can't. Still, what I have done is plenty. I've done quite a few nice paintings and drawings and so should be pleased. Yet, now I don't think I'm really getting much better and have nothing new to draw. I'm a bit bored with it. Later, though, I might occasionally still do art if I felt the creative bug bite. Or I could try something else other than art. Painting is quicker than dictation. And so it means less screen time. Perhaps then, I could still do one or two.

If I use my voice a lot or I sit at a desk for too long, then I am likely to start feeling listless. The solution is to use a computer a bit less. And particularly it is not to have the screen on. Also, I worry about my hands. It is very important to take breaks from the screen. Really, it is important as this helps at least with worries about radiation from the screen and over using a computer. Indeed, this may be all my problems as if I could concentrate better, then I'd work out how to use my hands less. That is along with having many things I can look up online if I felt genuinely bored with doing anything else on it. And it wasn't just that I couldn't concentrate that meant I did more typing and keying.

Using a computer should be a treat and not my main occupation. I might take breaks, clean the keyboard and not always go online. That could mean not having worries over health. And I could still read, listen to the radio, both talk and music radio and do other things to relax. Perhaps, if I downloaded longer videos to watch later or watch only when I had a good connection, then I might not do any hobbies. Or, I could go to the shop and get some newspapers and decent recent magazines.

I had been keeping up with cleaning and washing although not 100 per cent. Sometimes I forget to vacuum the room, mop it or to do any cleaning. But usually, I do most of it every two days at least if not every day. I just need to start sleeping a bit better, do more exercise and not skip meals. Today, I did my exercise machine and back exercises for the first time in months.

Perhaps, the reason for all this is feeling a bit closer to my girlfriend than I really had been with anyone beforehand. And because of that, I don't now see that she has to put up with people like me with poor conversation and in need of a wash. Also, I now realize that there are plenty of women like my girlfriend. They could be any woman for that matter. It is just not entertainment to do only ever your own thing for your own amusement when you are with other people who might care that you can do better things than you are doing now. Or rather, it is entertaining but only on quite a basic level.

I have been seeing my girlfriend quite often and we were thinking of living together, but really, I know that I need to have much more decent social skills and so have done some normal things to talk about. You can't talk about how you like watching music videos or anything with a pretty girl in it to girls, your girlfriend or really to anyone. So from this, it seems that girls as such give you about zero to say. This is even if there is a lot you see about them. But perhaps I'm missing something. It is even if you might think that there must be some kind of a conversational piece about it. Yet, it seems hard to find. You only assume many people might find it interesting or normal conversation.

Also, I have to worry about budgeting and paying for household expenses. It means that I can't afford to spend my money on recent movies, Internet access, new computer hardware and software and all the other commitments or requirements that come with looking up things in the media. This is all the time when you are interested in girls and romance and you have a girlfriend.

But today with my girlfriend asking me to do things such as for me to have a fitter body and do some exercise, for me to have better social skills and for her to be able to talk about me to her friends and family, then it is finally worth making just that little effort. For the first time, somebody else cares if I actually do or do not do all of these things. And this is even when nobody else did or everyone I knew just put up with it and didn't say anything. It is at least a new motivation to have a girlfriend that I care about and with whom I might possibly move in. This is when I value her at least that much to do something such as this for her even if I couldn't do it beforehand for myself. It is just that it is no longer only about me anymore, but it is also about someone else as well.

Somebody came to visit today. We went out for a nice walk but argued when we got back. This is because the person constantly interrupted me half sentence. And then they denied that they were doing it and I was deliberately talking over them for no good reason. Really, it had all been building up for some time.

Also, somebody else came to visit and we got on well. She asked me not to talk about girls being good looking that I could see in the media and seemed upset that I had done. So I must remember not to say anything about it in the future. Other than that, we got on well. Also, she said that I looked handsome and more attractive than she remembered normally and asked me how I had done it. I told her that it was cleaning, washing, doing a bit more exercise and sleeping better.

I'm using my computer again. This is because I need my computer for therapy. Also, it is worrying that I don't have much money in the bank. Really, I need a bit more money than I have as a cushion. As well, my computer is playing up and it is really quite old. So I might need a new one I can't afford. And it is the same for my television.

And I've stopped seeing this girl I knew that I gave money to for cigarettes and a coffee and a sandwich in a cafe on her way home completely because I don't trust her not to give me a disease. This is when she has now told me she is seeing other men at the same time as me. She hasn't called again. Really, it is a relief. There is nothing much that I can do for her. She doesn't particularly want to talk to me and I don't think that she is particularly attracted to me. Really, it had become quite a negative relationship.

The last couple of weeks I have really looked after my physical health a lot better as well as my mental well-being and it has begun to pay off. I have cleaned and washed better in the shower, done a few stomach and back exercises and gone for long walks, eaten bigger meals and had more of a bedtime routine so I go to sleep. And the other girl that I don't think does sleep around said I looked a lot better and quite handsome. I just told her again some of the same things saying that I've been doing more goals of mainly watching television and a bit of reading and talk radio. Also, I had started a novel, a paperback novel, for the first time in years. Though, I have read most of two non-fiction books that I started some time ago as well.

And my social skills have improved. This is by talking to a few more people and not just girls I might sleep with. Really, my social skills are a bit better than they have been for a long time. And this is with anyone. But now people have started to take the proverbial a bit. This is because I have some still quite poor conversation. I have tried not to see these people anymore. Still, some of them I don't have a choice about still seeing.

Often, with me, I know that there is a cycle of getting better and then having a setback. This cycle has happened many times before just the same. At times, I feel that people bullied or mistreated me. After this, my personal problems got worse again. This was reverting to how I was like as a teenager. Often the trigger for all of this is simply to stop what I'm doing and try something different. And often all I had decided to do was just to start doing a bit more reading and to watch some decent television. Instead of negative things, I would do some positive things. That is all I told myself. And these things were only to read a book and watch what is on television that was positive and not to try to analyse things too much that would be negative.

All things like this I have noted in my diary on many separate occasions over the years. Then, something negative happened or I met a negative person and I was back to being my bad self of years ago. Though, when it happened before I thought that there were people you might expect to behave badly, but other people you normally trusted acted badly as well. So I'm really quite apprehensive right now. A new person I met recently acted in an odd way. But somebody said that when your social skills are really so poor, then woman really don't like you or being around you. And that explains what they are doing and how they are behaving. The same person said this was all the explanations I needed. And they said that I should try to get better social skills. This was a good goal for me to have. As well, they said that I should do some exercise. My plans are to keep my home scrupulously clean, keep doing exercise and take the medicine that I got from the doctor for some physical ailments I have now. Also, I might try just to catch some sleep at a reasonable time.

Today, I treated myself to some delicious food and drink. It was really delicious, filling and satisfactory and I enjoyed it. Then I want to read a bit and watch television a bit. I can do this for at least 3 to 4 hours a day. Also, I need my computer for therapy. But I might still try to restrict it perhaps just to my diary and not much else that is not just like normal TV, radio or reading matter. And this is particularly with my intention to do more goals of reading, watching TV and talk radio and listening to music to relax.

I had a late night last night and an awful morning when I woke up. Still, I did really feel quite relaxed when I finally got up. And then, I had a good beer. After that, I decided I would go on my computer and I finished off a hobby arts project that I was doing. I didn't want to show it to anyone as it was about my personal problems. Really, it is easier if you don't show it. Or, at least, I think it is when sometimes I feel like saying something about it. I could say something like, 'Look, see what I've been doing. Appreciate all I've done to address my worries and things you've complained about. And give me feedback'. But other times, I'd rather not shout about it. The only real issue is why you don't just do what you know in the first place would probably work on its own. This is for everything that you've said is a problem to you and as well, it is what everyone says are problems and their solutions for many people today. What's stopping you? With all the productivity features that you have at home with any computer, then how comes you take so long on it? There is really no good reason.

Today, I finished another home computer project and put it in my folder of finished ones. I only have new projects to do now. To do these, I will research creative ideas by reading many books of one particular type or doing other research. Also, I could do some creative exercises and find my old books on it. Really, I generally want to improve on my hobbies and not just keep producing more and more creative works. I don't when it would not be much of a hobby unless there was some learning involved. And this learning should be a joy when I'm able to see an improvement in the work I have done. So I really should try to improve and not just do them to pass the time. This was if it were only something like that and nothing else. What I decided was that I have been working using hobby software too hard. So I will not do more and not polish what I have done. It is all about my personal problems as now I think of it. But I just never realized.

You can't really talk about computers too much conversationally. So what's the point? Perhaps, when I would like more friends, then there is none. Also, some of the personal experiences I used were almost unchanged from real life. People I know and things they have said are recognizable. Really, I don't think I can show some of my works to anyone at all. This is when my friends might see each other around and talk about it.

Also, I thought again that with all the productivity features of computers, then why take so long on it? There is really no good reason to do so. And this is particularly when you have done so little in such a long time. Really, you could have done 6 times as much if not 12 times as much if you had been more able to use the software better and you had learned any other tips such as to do with the real tasks you were doing. You could have done what you did do on your computer in a fraction of the time that you did take. And it is a bugbear with me to have unnecessarily spent so long. It was sometimes hours every day on it and it went on for years. That is unless your regard it that you could not have done it any other way. But perhaps you could have revised your lessons from your teachers a bit better. This is when some of your lessons were some time ago. And other lessons were only for beginners. As well, why would you not have done anything else but use a computer? It was that you didn't know how to do it. You could have solved your problems much sooner, if art or writing helps, just by knowing more about art and literature. It is a goal anyway to be a better writer or artist.

Still, a lot of it was just not having an ergonomic workstation. If I'd had a better one, then I might have been able to work more efficiently and productively. My hobby work would then have been a lot better and more appealing to me or to others. Instead of that, I struggled to make any decent progress. Knowing more about art and literature would have helped me to feel better about my hobbies and generally to raise my self-esteem. Also, my writing or art would have told me more about my life and my personal problems if I had been able to express myself better. And still it is just that I did not do things for myself that were in my own power. That is something that I really should regret.

I was awake most of the night again. And I can't even remember what I was doing. Really, in the morning, I was very tired and sick indeed. So I need to watch that! I got up only about 11 in the morning. And I've hardly had anything to eat all day long. It is no fun waking up and feeling sick. After a while of having late nights, you feel like you might die. So if anything changes at all in my health plan or I stick to anything a bit better, then it should be having earlier nights. If I can do this, then I at least avoid unpleasant feelings when waking in the morning if not getting seriously sick and ill or dying. So that is something I need to think about and to do something about it. Perhaps, I could just go to bed at a reasonable time and not bother with anything else.

Today, I wrote out some paper forms about healthy living using a pen and a ruler. This was as I was tired of opening and closing bound notebooks. Also, it was hard to know which ones were which. I had labelled them but the labels kept coming off too easily. Or the notebooks otherwise kept getting mixed up. So that is something I have done and that is as well on my desk that I can see. I just have to fill the forms in to get enough data on my problems and then I could really make a much better go of solving them. Or, at least, that was what I thought. But really, it was more time just wasted on spreadsheets. And the key to my health plan is only that I do some more exercise. Really, that is not so hard to remember. Yet, I didn't do it because I was on my computer and didn't feel like getting off it. And I did not actually need to remember anything. I only had to put my coat on and go out the door.

As I have said already, I have been having sleepless nights. So I have been practicing better sleep hygiene and I have removed lots of clutter from my bedroom. I have also stopped watching TV late at night or watching TV when I am in bed. And I thought I would also remove the clutter in my kitchen from the surfaces and in my living room as well.

Now, I often feel very bored. This is even if I used to think I was bored beforehand. I've seen so many music videos that I feel bored with them now. And it is the same for many TV shows. As well, they often have little to recommend them. That is other than them having pretty girls. Still, in an odd way, they can be pleasant to look at just to pass the time. I've even begun wondering if I should take an interest in woman's fashions. But this is when none of the women I know dresses fashionably. There are just a few things to remember about how to live healthily when you have already read so much about it online. And I won't bother with long complicated plans realizing this. As well, it is just that I can't remember a long task list that is over 30 items long. Nor will I try to change anything else that there may be a good reason I haven't been able to do to start with. Some of them I am reminded to do such as by seeing things I have in my room. For example, I have some bathroom scales now. Also, there are the forms on the table to fill in as well.

The things I need to write down are only about two or three items really that otherwise I might forget. Everything else I know already and do already. Also, I should keep health metrics as motivation. And I might now I could do things as much as possible that are healthy and that I really could do. This is without making excuses. I could go out for walks more often and do some other exercises. And really, I could do everything else just the same as I have been doing up to now as I already have a quite healthy lifestyle but for a few things still to do. This is whether by plan or by accident I have done this. But really, it was trying to do them that meant I did do them.

Last night, I slept completely normally. All I did was that I went to bed at 11 PM and said to myself that my day was finished. Now I can sleep at night and I have another full day to get up for tomorrow. I decided that I could toss and turn in my bed if I couldn't sleep. And I was not going to follow the kind of advice you get that you should read a book before bedtime or watch some television for an hour to relax. After doing this, I was fast asleep within 15 minutes and then I slept soundly all night long. It has been helped by the fact that recently I have finished most of what I wanted to do on my computer. Before, I thought this meant I was up late at night worrying about what to do creatively with my projects but really I could see there are plenty more projects that I could do and worry about later as well. So really, it might have all been due to a poor night's sleep that I worried to start with.

I am better at doing my creative arts in some ways and worse in other ways. The ways I am better are really in having some basic skills at last. I have learned them only at last that I should have done years ago. And the ways I am worse are that I don't have as much imagination and creativity as I used to do. I have solved many other problems with my computer as well. And I have decided on a few things that I really can do to make it easier to use my computer.

MAJOR EVENTS THAT HAPPENED RECENTLY

I might have to go to a smaller apartment or live with a family. This is a backward step and less good than my current accommodation. Still, as I don't have funds, then I may have no choice. I might have to share a kitchen and bathroom. Nor do I know if the new house will have a garden I can use. But then I've not been really using the garden here enough anyway. Perhaps, I should go out to use the garden more and not use my computer so much. And I can do this at least to enjoy my time more when I'm in my more luxurious apartment. Really, I should have been doing it for years beforehand when I could have done so. Now I only have a few months in which I can make use of it a bit better.

Also, I did a big problem-solving exercise as to how much I wanted to improve my social skills and not just do hobbies. And I found from experiment that by just doing 2 to 3 hours per day of interests, I was able to have good social skills. If I did more than that, I would have had a surplus of things to talk about. This is as I would not have enough time to talk about them and as well, other people don't really do more themselves. As for my art hobbies, I have said all I want to say really. And I would now like to see others' works. Also, my health is a priority. Until it got so bad that it had begun affecting me, I did not really make every improvement I could have. But I don't want that to be the pattern for the future.

Today, I did computer hobbies all day long and I watched some music videos. I recorded a diary with sound but then typed it up as well. So that's been all my computer use so far today. Now, I think I will watch a movie for the rest of the evening and read for an hour before bed. Also, I will go out for a walk and do some exercises in my room. I don't know if I should switch off my computer, but I might want to write a short addition to my diary on it.

It could be just like it was years ago when it happened before and I did nothing all day because there was nothing to do and nobody really that you could talk to. So there is a big worry the clock could turn back 20 years. I'm saving money on budgeting and I might be able to afford a new TV and a new computer. Also, when in the future, my friends stop coming around as they do now at any time of day or night I will have time to do the cleaning and to go out for a walk. Often, by the time they've gone it is midnight. And I need a chance to do a few things anyway before I go out. The next big thing is moving house. There may not be enough room for a TV or computer in my bedroom. Nor might I be able to watch television much. And I might have my property stolen. Anyway, in the meantime, I can do some more exercise and keep up with anything else that I have been doing.

A major decision I've taken is not to watch TV or video and only to use my computer for hobbies for now when I might not have room for a computer when I move house. Today, though, I was on my portable sound recorder and I decided to get on my computer again. This was as it was taking too long to record notes and they were not usable. So I could save time making notes by using my computer and as well, I would have more usable notes. I only did an hour of hobbies. This was all I wanted to do. And I can do this only without stuff in progress that I might not be able to finish in a reasonable time.

When I rearranged my furniture, a number of things inspired me. Someone I know has good social skills and she told me that she only watched television for 1 hour per day. And somebody else that I spoke to doesn't post things online but is quite a talented artist. I know as he showed me his work. It reminds me of the advantages that people had in the past. As well, I feel sick and tired of watching so much TV and am desperate to do some reading. So I need to change things.

The changes are,

Armchair nearer the television so I can see the television better but I will watch less television because of this.

Radio is in a better position. I can play it in bed or from my armchair.

Magazines under the coffee table are not on top of the bookcase where they were less accessible.

Have both bookcases in a more accessible position. And have one bookcase so I can see the titles of books from where I sit in my living room.

I can see my hat and gloves from the chair I normally sit in to encourage me to go out to the shops or for walks.

Also, I can see things on my windowsill more clearly that I might want to pick up and use such as diaries or mobile phones.

I have a clock on my coffee table that I can look at when the light is too poor to look at my watch.

My computer is in my 'hobby box' and so 'out of sight and out of mind'. It is not now a feature of my entertainment, TV or video viewing and only for hobbies.

I have my E-Reader within easy reach. And so I don't use my computer to read E-books. This is better for my health.

My storage boxes are out of the way and not near where I am sitting or in view of it.

When people visit, it is easier for them to find somewhere to sit and my apartment is clean and pleasant.

My bed is no longer against the wall.

I can see my kitchen from where I am sitting as well as my dining room table and it reminds you to clean it up, start a cookery hobby or think about what you are going to have for dinner.

My scales are out of the way and as well, they are not embarrassing for when people visit me such as when I offer them food and refreshment.

Also, I can see my front door from where I am sitting and it reminds me to be neighbourly and not do anything to upset my neighbours.

As well, I can see posters I've put up.

My other chair is in a position that reminds me that I might have company. So I need to keep to my goals.

It is easier to vacuum clean my room as there are bigger areas of floor and my vacuum cleaner is more accessible.

Well, that's a month up!

A list of all the things I have done or not done,

I have been sleeping better

Also, I have been keeping my apartment cleaner

My social skills have improved a bit and I don't always talk about computers

I don't see any girls when I can't afford to keep giving them the money they ask. They ask this of me to help them out. Also, I had poor social skills with them as I had run out of things I wanted to say to them. This was when I had known them for so long. As well, they did not really want to talk much anyway. And one said that I now don't have to keep giving her money, but she doesn't want to see me either. I went to her house but she didn't answer the door. So that means I have no female friends that come around. But then, at least nobody comes around who might be a problem. As well, I had my first normal date in a bar for years with the mousy-haired former student who was now out of work. I didn't have my phone on me and so I was not able to give her my phone number. Also, she wouldn't come all the way back here so I could get it. In the end, I gave her my address and she said that she might pop round but hasn't so far. So really, I have nobody except my family again and nobody else.

But I am hopeful that if I do some exercise, get a flat stomach and get better social skills and my other health doesn't get any worse or gets better, then I might be able to find a normal girlfriend. This is if I met one when my social skills and appearance are good enough that she could ever want a date with me. Possibly, doing some classes are the answer to meeting girls and many other problems. So I have some reason to feel optimistic and it is not as if I don't have any way at all of meeting them. Also, I could make some male friends if my social skills were better.

In the last couple of days, I have been going out for more walks. And I have been easily finding the time to do them. This is just by now not using my computer so much and as well, I am motivated to do exercise when my level of physical fitness is beyond a joke. Having exercise as part of my plan and then not doing it at all is also beyond a joke. In the past few months, I have been going for about 20 minutes walking a day. And now I hope to do up to 60 minutes a day. Also, I would like to do some back and stomach exercise as well.

The only things I have to do still on my plan are to do some more exercise, keep everything else up and perhaps do even more goals. I would like to go back to studying and revise my school and college work. And then perhaps I could study something new. I have already made a start looking stuff up online. And after long years, I am finally sleeping normally. So that is really an achievement! And I have had reasonably good social skills for the first time in a few years as well. However, there is some way to go yet.

MILESTONES

My next milestones will be getting a flat stomach, revision of all my old school work and college work, studying a new subject or subjects and having read some novels. Also, it will be controlling my computer time so my computer might not be a problem. I am due to move to a new home that I am worried about. In this new home, I will not have my own bathroom or kitchen. And that leads to worries over personal hygiene, feeling exhausted without refreshments and food being poisoned. But I will have to wait and see.

As well, I went to a social group. But my social skills were still embarrassingly bad. I don't know I annoyed people because of it. Most of the group was old men through with talking. Probably, this was after years of people only listening because they were young. So now, they want to say nothing to nobody and not even other old men. They would just like to sit with them knowing they've had the same experiences. Also, they are all quite flat-stomached and muscled. So they have obviously followed advice on doing more exercise. As well, they are broad browed. So they watch TV, read, do hobbies and otherwise keep active. That is if they do any hobbies at all after their youthful experience of people 'praising' not very good works of art done by them when they were sweaty young men.

I did a new hobby solidly for two days. But I had problems with the software. Still, it was refreshing to do something different. One reason it was refreshing is that it is really a little worry only when it is not yet anything like publishable until I have practiced a lot more. So it is no more than doodling on a piece of paper that can't possibly be stressful. I must remember to try to read a bit more as well. Though, I have started to find reading hard now. Still, I have started by reading a woman's magazine. This was in ½ an hour all the articles that I wanted. So keep reading! I have books I own that I have yet to read. That means that I have really plenty of reading I could be getting on with.

Today, I did whatever I liked and I used the Internet as much as I liked. And nor did I mind how long I'd spent watching videos. This was even when I watched all day long. Still, I managed as well to do the cleaning. I had some computer problems that took several hours to resolve. Also, I feel a lot less bad about watching television all day when I have managed to do some other things. This is such as to have decent meals. And I did watch quite a few things as well. In total, I watched 3 to 4 hours of either television or video. I watched a few films and saw, as well, some documentaries.

And that is really all I did do all day. This is when I don't have to leave my apartment, do any exercise or do any hobbies. Also, I weighed myself and I'd put on about 4 kg in a few days. This is just from eating normally when before I was on a diet. I worry now that I will not be able to get off watching TV. Or I'll go back to feeling stressed over goal setting if I say to myself only to watch a certain amount of TV per day. Perhaps, I could just get a listings magazine. And if I tried, I could then listen to a bit more radio. Also, if I read more, then I might watch less TV.

TIME USE/GIVENS

I can do no more than 4h/d TV and 3h/d of reading. Nor can I listen to the radio for that long either.

Also, I need some downtime. I would probably like to have some time where I just looked out the window and thought.

I need to cook my meals from fresh ingredients.

Don't skip meals.

And don't have snacks.

Plus, I should do some kind of exercises including cardiovascular exercise and muscle-building exercise.

Go to bed at a reasonable hour.

I can't use my computer all I'd like to do.

Clean and wash regularly and keep up with laundry. Do some cleaning every day. Washing and cleaning are a priority above any other activity.

I really can just go and tidy up but don't always feel like it when I have things out on my desk or on the coffee table that I have been reading and would have to put away before I could clean my room.

Today, I showed a friend a piece I had written. A few friends looked at it. They knew how important it was to me they saw it. As well, I tried to practice good social skills talking about my project. Also, I showed them a picture I had painted. It was an inspired idea and quite good. My friends seemed to appreciate my work. Perhaps, they were only pleased that I had done something different. But still, it goes around my head people will want to see the things I've done. If many people wanted to see my stuff, then I might do more. Perhaps, with my friends, it is just how they are feeling. And it is not all to do with me. This is if they want to see my work.

Somebody told me it is about whether anyone can talk reasonably about your work. This is to anyone else that it still makes for good conversation. But who thinks you have anything to say if you are an artist? Your best friends often don't. This is when they know you. Often, they just like to pass the time of day with you. So you are mainly limited to being online. Your friends will probably want to talk about anything but your works. They don't want much else than to just talk to you about the television. And you saying that you are on your computer all day will eventually put them off. This is being a writer, artist, music maker or video maker.

Perhaps, they think that you are having a go at them. They might think that you are having a go at them saying to do the same things themselves. And they might not do the same things themselves because they know they don't want to do them. This could be just because they are not as educated as you are that they can't use a computer. Have you ever asked them what books they've read? And if you did, did they answer properly? You might not realize that using a computer and doing art and writing requires high levels of education. So that might explain your friends' reactions. They may consume art, go to the movies or watch television but perhaps not read that much. And reading and writing skills are essential for doing almost anything on a computer. Did your friends say that they had a computer? Or did they say that they'd had one, but not used it? That would be because they didn't have the skills to use it and so abandoned it.

Really, they still knew what the skills were that everybody was talking about for using a computer. This was when they had none of them themselves and so could not even start to use one. But they couldn't just tell everyone that. Even if you just showed them your creative efforts, it involves you displaying them on a computer. And they don't like looking at a computer when they visit someone. This is because they don't like computer technology. Alternatively, it could be that they feel jealous. And it is even when you're their friend. They feel jealous because they would like to do it themselves. And they might think that you don't want to be their friend anymore if you brag too much. So you are having a go at them before you leave. As well, they might have previously had good educations but forgotten them. And that makes them feel more jealous than ever.

Perhaps, they didn't have the input still as adults from somebody who encouraged them to read. Also, they might have stopped reading because they felt a bit low or they did not think that they'd use it for a job. And if you really do have reading and writing skills, then you must be quite a competent person. So why are you saying you have problems. How could you not be a competent person? Reading makes you a competent person.

It does because you still have the skills that you learned when you were at school. So, you can look up the answers to anything. As well, reading gives people good social skills. And they are better than just the television. This is because everyone watches television but not everyone can read. So you make yourself more interesting if you also read. As well, you get the answers to lots of things in books that are more than you'd get on television or radio. So it is hard to see how you really have a problem or even how to start with you had one.

Now, it appears that you are criticizing your friends because they did not have the same help as you did, they did not meet the same people or have people that helped them. And you are just pretending that you have a problem with reading. But you don't realize that this is what you're saying to them. And this is when they offered you their genuine friendship.

Your friends often don't have the option of just reading a book about anything that they would like to and that might help them. If they wanted to get better social skills, then they'd have to put themselves on a long waiting list to do a course. So what are you doing on your computer? Aren't you reading on it and going online? That must be what you're doing. So what's your problem? You can't have one.

Perhaps, your friends, though, would tell you not to have a computer. And this is even if they couldn't use a computer themselves. Still, they can see that, for you, it really is a problem. And because computers are a problem to you when they are really such marvellous technology in other people's hands that makes you less attractive as a friend. Yet, there is no point in you having a computer anyway if you do find it a problem! This is whatever it is that does not seem to be working for you. And it is whatever else there is to say about computers. Also, it is whatever else other people are doing on them. This is when they don't all have a problem with it.

Other people would like a computer if there were genuinely nothing wrong with them. This is when by chance they are not all right. And if they had one, then they really would do the great things they say you can on them. But many people don't want one at all. This is when they have heard about them. Others can't use one. This is even if they went to a shop and bought everything you needed. So that leaves you wherever you are in the middle.

Perhaps, if you have a computer now, then just don't try too hard. It doesn't seem it will work out, does it? Or it won't work out for the best. At least, it won't get you anything that you'd normally want. So you could maybe just stop using one now, tidy up your files a bit perhaps, but generally stop using it.

Have a big think about how you do want to use one if you are going to keep using one. You can make notes about the problems, use planning and creative skills to help you or you could just start now using it a little less.

For example, somebody who was a computer addict did some problem solving like this.

He said that he had read advice that to be a good writer you must write every day. And he had tried it and it had indeed made him a more fluent writer. As well, his paintings, photographs and videos were better. He had taken more photos before now when he knew people who would let him photograph them for his hobby. This was with them posing in parks or by sea fronts. But when he had not taken any photos for a few months, his next batch of photos was very poor indeed.

Still, he calculated that if you just used your computer for one afternoon or one evening a week, then there might be no problem with too much screen time or overusing it. This was when a computer is often not much more radiation than a TV. And particularly this is true if you have a Smart TV or laptop connected to your normal TV. But you do though have to sit a bit closer to see the icons if you are going to use some computer programs. Really, as well, you could do quite a bit with a Smart TV even in a short time. Working like this for several hours a week only, you could produce several paintings, some short videos, a dozen or so good photographs or a short story in a month. You could if you knew all the productivity features of the software, you planned your work and you were good at your hobby.

The biggest time wasters were texts badly written to start with, forgetting how to use the software after a time away from it and poorly taken photos or videos you could do little with even if you had the best software. Badly written texts sometimes took months to correct. And a text that needed few if any corrections could be finished in a matter of hours.

So what can you do that will work? Somebody said that the problem is radiation. And it is a vicious circle cut if you don't use computers much. Also, you can use a printer, sit further away from the screen or have a smaller screen or one with less radiation.

When I had people over, I had better social skills having taken a break from my computer whilst thinking this and having heard this solution. Still, I only really talked about one film of anything I'd done recently. But it started the conversation off. Also, I feel that I really would be happier just reading and watching television. I would be able to talk about it at least when I can't that much any more about hobbies. Everyone has already heard about them and there is not much new to add. However, I feel that it is boring or a waste of time to watch something on TV that I've already seen. Many things are a bit similar to the things I have already seen even if they are not the exact same ones. Yet, I have forgotten a lot of it. Still, when I see it again, I can often remember a lot. Often, though, it feels really too familiar. So I find it boring and switch off. And nor do I want to talk about it to friends when I found it boring. They would not like it if I did as they could tell if I wasn't interested in it. So why would they want to hear about it? They couldn't want to hear it.

I can see that I really have to have forgotten a lot of it before it is interesting again. But I also feel bored if I watch something and I find that I don't really remember it afterward or I can't understand it when it is on. This is when it is, in fact, too different from anything I've seen beforehand. Yet, after doing hobbies so long, I might have forgotten quite a bit that I'd find TV and as well, books such as those I used to read interesting again. And I will be able to watch them or read them and enjoy them all over again by some trick of memory or of life. That might mean I am not so interested anymore in doing hobbies when I really do have something better that I could be getting on with. And it feels quite all right just to pick up a book again and switch on the TV in the evening and not go on my computer.

Today, I wrote pages and pages of handwritten notes and several hours of portable sound recordings in a last attempt to organize my life as it was beforehand. This was before I put the plan down on a computer a lot quicker using some of the software's planning tools. The plan said very little that was new and that I did not know already. Perhaps, writing plans like these had just been an excuse to use a computer and waste a bit of time I had nothing better to do in. And this is no matter how much I felt at the time that I had real problems that I wanted solutions for.

The plan said almost nothing different from what I already knew. This was having written it down thousands of times over. All it said was that I should go to the local shops so I didn't have to carry heavy bags back from the supermarket when my hands are hurting now, to get some mouthwash for fresh breath and to use speech recognition as much as possible when I had sometimes lapsed in this recently. For hobbies, it only said to concentrate on finishing just one project. This was a project that I had been doing for some time and was tiring of now. And this was after I'd been optimistic to start with that it would be an interesting diversion from my normal types of project. Yet, I had this tremendous plan for my life going around and around my head. I felt strongly about it and I had spent many hours often every day just thinking about it and using my computer on it. But really, it is quite pathetic if not actually tragic. It was a waste of time if nothing else. You really know what is in your plan already or most of it. And you have done for many years. It is just that you don't do any of it because you are on your computer. And you could get off your computer if you just found something more interesting you wanted to do. Finally, after spending so long on my computer, I really would just like to watch TV and read a book. And for physical health, I just need to go out for a walk for some exercise. Problem solved! It is just that before now I couldn't have done it.

Looking now at the files on my computer, I could see that I had a lot of them to do with planning and the others were mainly creative arts. Really, I had spent a lot of my time organizing my files and labelling them. I thought it had a lot to do with their practical use but might have really been to waste time. For example, I had files about my health, my hobbies, my goals of watching television and reading and files about files. As well, I had decided many times on file organization. I had many files on my computer for various things but only ever looked at very few of them. And some I hardly looked at much at all. I had also organized my paper files and had three or four ring binders of notes, plans and diaries.

#  Chapter 4, Computers

At the most basic level, screen time causes poor health. It causes frontal lobe damage, macular degeneration, a decrease in the size of the fovea and is unhygienic. Also, screen radiation means you can't concentrate properly, your level of any intellectual or problem-solving ability is a lot lower and but for easy to understand and accessible TV shows, you would have very poor social skills. As well, using a computer for planning is contradictory. The computer offers tools to make planning so much easier that it compensates for the fact that the rays from the screen are getting into the frontal lobes and making it more difficult to think anything or plan anything.

They say that you need to have a purpose for using a computer. But this is often just so you evaluate and you use it only for something you really want it for. Yet, it is repetitive and unimaginative not to do a variety of things on it and instead, do just one hobby or interest. And even with Smart TVs or screens 6 or 8 feet away, there is still a lot of radiation from the television. This is when it is not clear that flat screens have any less radiation than older CRTs. And this is particularly when you watch television just as much as you used to do and you do your hobbies for 2 to 3 hours a day as well.

You should not watch television for more than 2-4 hours per day in total to be safe. And this is without a doubt definitely that you will get ill in old age if you watch a lot. Though, this is assuming you live to an old age. And you should be watching from as far away as possible. But you are not doing this if you're using a computer at a desk. And this is even with it connected up as if a Smart TV. You have to sit nearer often than a TV to be able to see some of the icons and to read text from the screen. Really, you can't use a computer for very long at all, as it is too much screen time together with a television. Perhaps, you can use it for about one hour a day at most. Alternatively, you can do it for one afternoon a week. However, once you start doing something, you can often see what more needs doing and so you keep going. Nor do you feel like doing anything else when you've been on your computer a long time already.

Somebody's personal experience was,

The thing I had tried to do is to use a computer for one evening a week to do hobbies. And I'd watch videos on other days. The best day I thought of for this would be Wednesday without it being the start of the week that I am overambitious or the end of the week when I might look towards the next week. Still, I felt that my hobbies were all time consuming and I didn't know if this would be enough time to do them in. Or it is even because I am a bit better at them now that they take so much time. I kept this up for a month or two but then decided I'd use it for 2 evenings a week. After that, I went back to doing it every day.

They say that to be an artist, writer, photographer or video maker, you need to check out the competition by going online. Yet, this just adds to the amount of screen time that you have in total. As well, don't you want to watch the latest movie online as well or on your cable or satellite package? You probably do. But then, you are wary of it taking more screen time. It's all just the common culture. And it is what people talk about. It is like the art you do but better than that as other people are better artists and can do things you can't.

In a way, problem areas are that people don't already know how to do creative arts and are using their computers as learning tools to do creative arts before they've learned it on paper. As well, there is a suggestion that to be a writer you need to write every day and you can't do something like write a short story in an afternoon and type it up the next morning once a month. So there is a suggestion that you can't just take up your writing tools at any time. This is as you would be rusty if you didn't write regularly. In fact, if you do write every day, then how can you read other peoples' works when writing also involves reading? And so you overuse your eyes to do both.

Does A Solution Suggest Itself?

Really, I have to have less screen radiation than I do now. And that screen radiation should not be more than 3 hours a day.

Point Number One, There Are Too Many Demands for Screen Time

I cannot watch as much normal TV and video as I would like even in as much as 3 hours per day. And this is all the time allotted for health reasons. As well, I would quite like to watch some music videos and that means more screen time. And really, I have no time to do any hobbies on my computer if I'm going to watch any normal TV, Internet video or anything like that. Nor do I have time to check out loads of art online either.

Point Number Two, There Are Other Alternative Technologies

Television

For stories, you can still read paper books such as novels, short novels and short stories.

With documentaries, you have instead newspapers, paper magazines and non-fiction books.

I do not watch a soap and nor regularly watch any comedy shows or dramas. So theoretically, I could replace all my TV viewing with reading. But I would like to watch some films to see the cinematography. I could go to the cinema that would save perhaps 1½ to 5 hours per week screen time.

For music, you can have normal radio still. Or you can connect speakers to your computer and play either music videos or sound recordings. You can have the screen turned away from you or you could even use a smaller computer with a much smaller screen with less electricity going through it and less screen radiation.

Hobbies of Art, Video Making, Creative Writing and Photography

For art, you can still do it on paper with pencils, pastels or anything else you want to buy. As well, you can print photographs from the Internet that you want to copy.

But video making is something that you can only do on a computer. Or you would have to use a computer 80% of the time.

With creative writing, you could write in a paper notebook using a cartridge or fountain pen. And then you could type it up if it was worth keeping. After that, you could do a bit of editing. This is also a good discipline to plan your work first and to write without needing many corrections later.

For photography, you could try to take photographs that did not have things in the background, dirty cups or plates in the picture or anything like that. Then, they would not need so much photo editing.

You can have paper notebooks and pens including cartridge or fountain pens for creative writing. And for art, you have sketchpads, pencils and pastels.

MOTIVATION

You might have a psychological need to do a hobby. It is therapeutic to be creative. But it could be an Internet addiction. Or you could just be extremely vain. Also, anyone might like to do some art. When you have time on your hands, you might want to occupy it doing something moderately useful. And you really might feel it is not so much of an effort to use a computer. So why not do it? As well, you might think of all the amazing things computers can do and the wonderful opportunities you have online. Then, you want to be part of the Internet phenomena you can see. As well, doing some art is completely normal. Also, everyone needs to keep mentally and physically active such as by penning a story or painting a picture if bored.

A motivation to write, make a video or do art is just that you know a lot about a subject. It might reduce to what your teachers told you: you are good at this sort of thing and can do it. Perhaps, your teachers were right. Or you could still not do it.

An idea is that art has a high value generally to lots of people. But you don't really have to do it yourself. Having, though, a hobby or interest is something that is normal and as well, it is often thought of as better than just looking at art. You do and don't just read about it. This has value. Art in society generally has a high value. Writing or being an artist also has a high value. It is something people value and respect. This is both carrying out the societal role and for being able to produce something beautiful in a work of art.

Still, doing anything on a computer may just be a gimmick to get you started again. This is when you were behind in doing your reading. Clicking on buttons and links or 'interactivity' is attractive to bored people.

Perhaps, write down motivational quotes you hear. They could be funny, sad, poignant or otherwise just downright motivational. Then, print this folder so you can refer to it later. You may have quotes from famous poets, famous novelists or something more recent. Or they can come from many other sources. Find ones that mean something to you personally and you will want to look at again. Look at them when you feel down or if you start slacking.

A simple plan is more likely to succeed. As well, use your computer to help you plan. And learn any computer and other skills you need. Also, you can sometimes organize your thoughts a bit better by doing art. Art could be about things you have seen around you. Prioritize some goals over others. The most important goal is physical health. Perhaps, as well, you might have a goal of not doing just one thing. Instead, have a variety of things to do. You would be better off doing new creative works and not polishing old ones. Once you are a good artist, though, then you could really do so much art. And it might take too long.

To use a computer well, you have to follow all health advice, learn the software and understand the real tasks. In a word processor, you have tools to format and editing tools and you can print. And you can go online. Also, you can keep files about your files, plans for all kinds of things and tips you find helpful. This all helps you to feel more organized. And you can design files that have a better look and feel so that you'd want to read them again.

For making decisions in your life, you need information about things that you need to know. To get this information, you must keep notes or figures. For example, a health plan might be under the headings of diet, exercise, hygiene and sleep. Some find seeing progress is motivating. Plans and notes can also remind you to do things.

Many people place a high value on being able to do creative arts. But some find that they are a good hobby only after a time worrying about them to start with. Stress, though, can sometimes be a good stress. Think it is a 'challenge' instead. You might have heard research that says challenges are good for people and can even improve their health despite another definition being that they are stressful.

Just follow these pieces of advice that will solve many problems,

Don't work too hard or not take breaks. It will make your concentration better and you'll be more productive. This is over any period, short-term, long-term or in-between.

Have an app to help you take breaks or make a note of when you started on a paper pad or computer program such as a WP or spreadsheet.

As well, follow good advice such as about ergonomics and having a better posture.

Use a printer so you don't spend too long reading from the screen.

Have less work you are doing at any one time.

Use the productivity features of your software.

Look after your physical health and keep mentally active.

You want to have some spare time if only to watch a bit of TV.

It is probably a waste of time to have files on both computer and paper. Files on a computer are often more useful than paper files. This is particularly if you need to update them frequently.

Organizing your folders well is important. Take some time to label them correctly. For paper files, choosing what type you want for your own filing needs is often the most important decision you'll make for filing.

MANAGE YOUR LIFE

There are literally thousands of books on self-help. They cover health, budgeting, goal setting, social skills and other subjects. The other alternative is to think that none of it really matters. It doesn't when everyone must already know how to live his or her life without having to think about it still. This is if only just because they are here today.

Using a computer can make people feel better. And often it is a physical thing that they find it relaxing. As well, interactivity gives people some control. And you have a sense of achievement for having done something like composing a story. People with low self-esteem might sit for too long in front of a computer as they don't care right then about their health. They can't take the trouble to do things as well that will help if they feel tired. An example of this is changing the computer's default settings to make it faster and easier for you to work. Or you can't be bothered to take some time off from creating things and other self-esteem boosters to learn boring but useful software features. Also, people with low self-esteem don't organize their files properly when this takes a little care and thought. Nor do they back them up properly. This is despite doing many other more time-consuming activities on their computers. Another example is reducing the amount of work you have to do with something such as formatting a document. It does not then seem such a complicated and nor such an interesting task if you do it quickly. But this is not what some people do with their computers. Things like this will save on screen, keying and dictation time.

Indeed, any savings in time you make might mean other computer use is relaxed, you concentrate better and get more work done in the same time and you feel better afterward. This is if you didn't spend too long on it and what you did was productive. Computers are an effort and physically distracting if you are not doing it right.

End the love affair you have with computers and instead, you can see them just as being tools to do things that you would do anyway. Really, you'll solve many problems this way and not feel so stressed or have such low self-esteem. Understanding computers can reduce stress using them. You can do things quickly and easily if you take the time to learn the features to help you. Then, you might just have better computing experiences. When you make a proper effort to appreciate what the software does, then you can sometimes better see why you might want it.

Something that might help is to read some business books or books on information technology and office work to see how these books analyse the job done by office workers working for businesses and in other organizations. After reading these books, your own labour at your computer might not seem so complicated and nor so important. And you might see that it is just a hobby or something to pass the time. Also, you probably got your computer for just something like this. But then, you found it complicated and lost track of what you originally had in mind. This was from not knowing to start with what all the buttons and menus did. Also, you may have had more files than you thought you'd have when you began using it.

Do you feel stressed over using speech recognition when it doesn't always work? For example, it is stressful if it doesn't work for file navigation or possibly, it doesn't work when you want to format something. So frustrated, you use the keys and don't use speech recognition. If you are like this, then perhaps feel a little less stressed if you have used speech recognition as much as possible. Over time, it could mean you spend less long in front of your computer if you do feel less stressed. As well, with practice, you might see how to use speech recognition better and even more easily.

Some people feel stressed when using a computer rather than paper. This is because they feel pressurized in some way when a computer is more of an advance in technology. Instead, think that a computer is just a very good typewriter. Just thinking computers are not complicated might solve all your problems. And you can try thinking this as an experiment so you break away from your usual worries.

As well, computers really are better than a typewriter or pen and paper. A computer doesn't have carriage returns or paper you have to feed in for every sheet. Nor do you have fiddly carbon paper. All this was bad for health. The reductions in these worries about health and the increase in convenience should mean people have better writing experiences. This is as well when in the past there were no very good solutions as to how you could do it better except to employ a secretary. Another worry many people had was over losing their only copy of a manuscript or their one copy becoming grubby. You can edit with a WP and you can print. As well, with a computer, you can scan things in you have on paper.

If you have a creative hobby, you do not have to use all the ideas that come into your head. And nor do all your notes need to be typed up and corrected in full. Often, you can think through ideas first best in your head. If you only used your best ideas, then it will likely save much screen time and some other effort. You might write a lot more if you didn't have writer's block or worries about using your computer. So once you have gotten over writer's block, then you need to choose between ideas and use only the best ones.

Getting a work ready for publication is often many more times over the time and effort than if you didn't publish. And so you might want to give your work more thought at an earlier stage if you intend to publish that it is going to be publishable. This will save time. When it is just a hobby or for practice to start with, then often, it is no trouble. You can also often work quickly and with ease if you don't have any worries about publication. But if it is for publication, then a work needs lots of working on and thinking about. Anything you do to prepare a work to be published that you wouldn't otherwise do is extra time and effort. Also, just by common sense, anyone can see publication is likely to be extra work, stressful and more screen time.

Almost nobody wants to read dozens of books by the same author. Nor do they want to see art all by the same artist or watch videos all from the same filmmaker. Once you have done a lot, people often only want to see your best or most recent works. Knowing this, you might think that it is probably a waste of time and effort to do too much of any creative arts even if you were published. Particularly, it is a waste to try too hard to get a lot of work done when that is bad for your health.

Still, the market might change in a few years. And you might no longer be published. Still, it might not change. And if not published, then would you care? You'd still care about your health. But writing might have been just a pastime. However, if you stopped writing right now, then people will forget you sooner. Perhaps, though, you really would enjoy something else just as much. And this is when you only have the same chances as everyone else to keep your health and to live longer.

Different people find different computer programs easier. For example, you may find word processors easier because you chat a lot. Spreadsheets are easy when you liked math at school. You can try to improve your English or math to help you use these programs. Or if you don't want to, then at least you have an explanation why you might find computers and these programs a bit too hard, too time-consuming or too much screen time.

As well, a computer is often just a gimmick or it is only really a toy. It, though, could really help you plan or to do hobbies and creative arts. But then, if it were not as well just a good toy, then you probably wouldn't use a computer for anything at all. Often, the only thing wrong in peoples' lives is just that they don't feel like getting up from a warm comfortable chair, going out and doing some exercise. And instead, they'd prefer to watch TV and make no effort. But today, they also don't want to get up from their computers.

Computer software companies originally designed powerful WP and spreadsheet software for Business Users but repackaged it for Home Users. Businesses use word processors for writing letters and reports. Spreadsheets are mainly for accounts. At home, the use of the software is different. You can use a word processor for writing short stories or poetry. Spreadsheets are for budgets, other figures or for lists. And you can use either of these programs for any notes you want to make as well. Think that you control how much you use a computer in your home and there is no good reason to have poor health over it. You don't when it is in your power to use it less or to get a better or more ergonomic computer.

Today, you can use a computer to produce professional high standard work at home. And computers are really much more than just a gimmick or a toy. Perhaps, treat some of it a bit like work and apply the same principles you would if it was work. This might help you. If you still want to write or do another hobby, then if it really was just a hobby, it might be no problem. But posting work online, you might think is not just a hobby. Also, whilst there is really no necessity to post stuff online, you might like to, wouldn't you? Many people would want the chance to be published. You can still do many hobbies on paper even now, but often they are not as good on paper. Some people might want a computer to do hobbies better but not to publish their efforts.

It seems you can't win.

'The only way you could win is if you already knew that anything to do with computers was not right now a problem to you. Or it wouldn't be in the near future'.

Perhaps, try just not to use a computer all of your spare time as your one goal that you can have. Instead, you can do something else you'd enjoy. Or you can just do nothing and not feel you always have to be doing something. You are not a mouse on a lab wheel or a rat in a maze. Stop, just have a snack from your kitchen, relax and look out the window. There really is nothing wrong with doing nothing either. It is relaxing and healthy. And it is healthier than trying to do things all the time.

'If nothing else, then forget the idea you got from somewhere that you always have to be occupied and doing something useful'.

Also, another idea like this is that you have to be successful at something more than just your private life when you are an ordinary person with no special qualifications. People sometimes feel that this is in lots of self-help books. But it is an erroneous impression. These books actually often try to help people get out of such ideas because the authors know they are so damaging. But some readers miss the point. If you just did not feel you were so important, that everyone wants to hear all your views or to see any art you do, then that may be the only help you need. Or if you just stopped thinking you somehow owed it to anyone or to yourself to be rich or you just stopped thinking you'd like to be a major name in the arts on everybody's lips, then that might as well be all the help you needed. And if you are not still a teenager and not successful already, then why aren't you? You would know early on, wouldn't you? Or, at least, you'd know when you started your first job. Who'd want to be a success later? Nobody would. What were they wasting their time doing beforehand? It doesn't make sense. So don't try too hard. You don't have to try too hard when there is no good reason to do so. And keep to the rule only to use your computer for a maximum usually of 2 hours a day. This is when you probably know everything else already.

Think that if your circumstances changed, then you might not be able still to use a computer at all. This could be if you moved to somewhere that was too small to fit in a computer desk, you did not have a phone line or good reception or you could not afford to replace anymore your computer hardware or software. You, at least then wouldn't have screen radiation. That is if you didn't just start watching TV all day instead. Appreciating your computer now a bit better thinking you might not have it in the future can mean you use it less and not more like you might think.

Computer software offers tools that help people learning creative arts. And they improve the hobbyist's standard of work. Even if a gimmick, it might help enormously. Yet there is often more to creative art software than it only being a gimmick. Thinking that a computer has helped you just like millions of other art students and art hobbyists can put your better standard of work you have achieved into perspective. And what you have done is not really so great today. Millions of others with the same hardware and software have done it already or will do it in a few short years. This is even if there was anything to worry about producing great works of art on your computer just because you had a computer to help you that was a bit of a cheat. Improving your memory by playing a few memory games, trying to remember lists and other things like that can make using your computer easier and less effort. Remember what folders you have on your computer, the files you have been working on and the progress you have made with them. Then, you won't switch on your computer unnecessarily or waste money on printing. For spreadsheets, a big saving is if you try to remember some of your figures. You don't then have to keep looking them up. Also, work out what figures you usually want to see. And keep to these. As well, just try to feel a little less worried even if you can't remember them. Worry on its own is bad for your memory. Instead, think that you can see them later and you don't need them now.

It can also just be low self-esteem that you keep checking such as if you might check your files only because you think somebody else will ask you about them and you might not know the answer. Or you feel there would be some mischance later and you'd lose your data. Perhaps, you can do all you can to adequately back up your files. Then, this worry may get less.

Using computers and sitting at desks is often unhygienic from dust and radiation. Also, when stressed, you sweat more. The best advice is often just to take breaks. As well, you can use keyboard wipes. They might really help you keep away germs. But the best policy is often still just to keep any computer use short.

'No matter how much work you have to do, just think that you'll enjoy it and, as well, you'll eventually get it all done'.

'Think as you stroll'.

A big saver in computer time is if you just think things through first in your head. Also, you probably do not need to write down some things or record them at all. And possibly other things could be a lot briefer. Saying anything that you want to say, but in a shorter way, saves lots of effort and time. This saving is possible just from taking some time to think before you commit words to the page. It is also when having a blank page on their computer screen means that some people feel compelled to write. Also, it saves time when you can think in your head when on a journey you would otherwise have nothing to do on. Or it is some other time like that.

Instead of using a computer, you can go out for an enjoyable walk. You might like to think about what you have to do on your computer for when you get back from your trip. Perhaps, you could do some of what you had thought of on your stroll even as soon as you get back in from it. By walking, you at least get some fresh air and exercise. As well, you may solve many of your problems on these strolls including computer problems. Also, you could just go and lie back down in bed and put the radio on. Or you can have the TV on in the background. Perhaps, as well, you can watch it from bed. But don't do this too often as it can be a lot of screen time. Alternatively, you could just sit in a comfortable chair and look out the window with the TV off.

You can do other things to reduce computer time. Try working quicker. It will often pay off. There are all the productivity features of your software to help you. Then there is having a more ergonomic desk and office furniture. And lastly, there is taking adequate breaks, keeping your work environment clean and free from clutter and having adequate lighting.

Is using a computer really just like writing a diary? You might record personal data on your computer day-to-day a bit like a diary. So do you really want to keep a personal journal? Perhaps, you can make notes on the different topics you've thought about that day, write poems, make jottings and generate figures about your activities.

'Study broadens the mind' as they say. And studying anything improves self-esteem. So your computer if you use it to study can improve your self-esteem. As well, the worried person will worry less if he addresses his worries and concerns and doesn't just ignore them. Once you have addressed any worries, you might not get them back again. So you will not still need your computer for problem solving. You can look up anything online about worries. And you can read, watch a video about them or look at art about it. A computer is a valuable tool for learning. Worrying about anything really isn't the right way to learn. So in a computer, you have a tool to help you. Also, you could just watch TV and learn. To study again if you feel you would like to do some more, you can make notes and write essays on a WP. Perhaps, you could learn about subjects that you didn't do much of at school once you have revised what you did do.

You can do some recreational study to improve your hobbies and interests by being better at them, to get a better general knowledge and to broaden your mind. Also, if you were to improve your mind, you'd be more able to solve problems. And these are problems everyone has and not just big problems that others usually will do something about. You can revise your school or college work as you will be able to remember things you studied in the past quicker than learning any new facts. Some end up resenting too much random learning. So this is a solution. An art or writing class might really be all the help you need with a creative art or writing hobby. As well, doing art and attending a class can make you feel better generally. Also, you can read about writing or being an artist to see if it is something that you'd like to do. This is when sitting at a computer desk is not always attractive. Read how famous authors organized their time and thought about their work. It is in fact very good advice for 'writers' on computers today. Nobody wants to toil needlessly. Yet some still do. The right advice means that you will likely save time. Also, you'll feel happier about your computer. And you'll feel happier more generally as well.

You may know how to write already. And if you wrote just as your creative writing or English teacher taught you and didn't try harder, then you could probably produce a passable or even a very good work. You can revise or learn again how to do spelling and grammar. Also, you can see how you might develop a better style. And with a computer, you can practice all you like. Also, you waste less time because of editing tools. If you know how to write or do art, then a computer is likely to improve any work you do.

#  Chapter 5, A Solution is a Solution

'You have a solution. And a solution is a solution'.

To succeed, you must have a plan. And you must keep to your plan. Things needed generally to make and keep to a plan so it is successful are that you exercise, cook, clean, wash, eat and sleep regularly. As well, you do something like puzzles or other mental workouts. This could be learning lists of facts off by heart, composing essays or short stories or trying something new. Also, get some fresh air. You need to know how to do things that are things in real life. And they are not just things you do only on a computer. Or you need to be willing to learn. Techniques for making artworks are in the lessons you get in art, writing or photography classes. Anything more than how to do it technically such as cultural significance is talked about in the media. As well, you need to follow all health advice about using a computer such as to have an ergonomic desk and office chair and to take breaks.

Plan all of your time and not just your hobbies. When you have a spare moment, make notes on paper or with a portable sound recorder. This is as well a good way of taking breaks from your computer screen. Think what you need to know to help you make a plan, to help you keep to your plan and that will make anything you do easy and fast. You can also walk and think.

When you are keen to improve your art output, then you can only do so if you are able to concentrate. And that means you have to take breaks. This is when if you have an ambitious project, you will actually need plenty of breaks. Also, you will need some time just to reflect. Otherwise, you are likely to feel hurried or frustrated. It is impossible to succeed without taking breaks. When you don't take breaks, then you are likely to get poor social skills, physical ills and pains and worry over nothing. And you could feel stressed and ill only because you'd had poor sleep.

Take some time to think about ways you could learn to relax a bit better. Perhaps, you could think of quite a few ways to relax if you put your mind to it. You can do any of the ways you have thought of when you want to take a break from your computer. Also, it is refreshing to do different tasks and not just do the same hobby, puzzle or pastime too much. At least, don't spend all your spare time on doing just one task.

Perhaps, you would just enjoy listening to the radio whilst lying on the bed. Or you might enjoy watching the rain run down the windowpane on a stormy day. Alternatively, you could enjoy looking at the view from your window and seeing it in all weathers, at all times of day and in all seasons. Also, you might enjoy an interesting recent documentary that you can watch online. Or you might like an old-fashioned paper newspaper that you can lay out on your dining room table and flick through for an hour or two and as well read all the colour supplements. Also, you could very much like making a favourite hot snack and then eating it with your favourite sauce. Or you might enjoy just lying in bed and then listen to the silence or to the sound of the traffic outside the window of your home.

Keep a budget when you are trying to 'change your life'. Any change such as a new hobby or doing a hobby better or a change in your lifestyle can as well change what you spend your money on. Overall spending levels can increase and so keep an eye on what you spend.

What is quick advice for people doing a hobby on their computer? You can see how to do it other than on a computer. As well, you can see all there is around it. This will help you with worry and stress. Then, you might not overuse your computer. Also, you don't have to learn two things at once such as how to use your computer and as well, how to do a hobby. Nor do you do something well without understanding what the cultural references are to it.

When doing a creative art, consider your first dozen or two dozen efforts to be just practice. And nor post anything online that you are not satisfied is publishable. Try out different software to see what you like and which is better. Have an ergonomic desk and office chair. Read things about artists or writers whenever you see them in the media. And feel relaxed about doing a creative arts hobby and using a computer. This is if even just for the sake of it. Good reasons to do a hobby are for a bit of fun, to pass the time, to keep up skills you already have, to keep physically or mentally active, to make friends or to have something you do. Also, you do something and you don't just read. Usually, bad reasons to do a hobby are to try to get fame, fortune or a place in history.

Writing your story or non-fiction piece need not be all you do as your hobby. It can be fun to do research. And it is a mental challenge. Also, this research can be recycled so you have better social skills. By doing research, you might take an interest in something you would not have done otherwise. And you would not have done it unless you planned to write a book on it. So writing is motivational as well. This is when it means you might read more.

Also, think that the people who might read your book are completely normal people with normal lives. And think as well that they have other things to do if they weren't reading your book. Or they could read other writers' books just as much as they could yours. That might make you consider if you and your work are really that important or not. Then, once you feel you know the answer to this question, you can concentrate on what you can do well and not bother with what you can't do that well or that easily. What you can do often is just to write a decent and perfectly competent piece that has no mistakes or flaws in it. Also, it shows that as a writer you have learned the tricks of the trade. And all of this means that readers might be interested in your work.

As well, imagine that you as a writer are just the same as your readers and no better. You have a completely normal life as they do. Perhaps, you and they have just normal social skills. And nor is it a problem for you or people like your readers to cope with a computer. Then, thinking this, you might become a competent writer. And it might not be a problem anymore if you just didn't worry or give yourself unreasonable expectations. Leave your old incompetent self behind! You can by just being normal.

Back your work up so that if you happen to lose a manuscript or your notes, then you can find your backup copy. You will not have wasted much time if you have a recent backup copy. Nor will you have lost forever any creative ideas. And all that should be a piece of mind worth having. So if you have backup copies, then you have less that might stress you.

For the sake of your health at home on a computer, you need to not use it that much. And nor should you watch your TV a lot as well. This is when using a computer even a bit. That would be too much screen time. Today, a computer is really anyway often just the same as a TV.

You have an excellent tool to help plan your computer time and to plan how long you spend in front of the screen. You can always use it. But then, what is it? It is your computer! Make notes, generate figures and analyse them. It is all you need often to help you with your own particular problems.

Also, look after your health generally. But particularly pay attention to any computer health advice if you use a computer a lot. Good health means you can concentrate better on anything. You might then not get longer-term health problems.

One last tip is to turn down the brightness on your TV or computer. This can halve the radiation from it. And don't have your computer or TV on all day if you are not using or watching it. Radiation comes out the whole time and will get into the room. Nor have it on standby but switch if off at the plug. At least do this at night.

And you can find out all the computer, hobby, how-to-plan, social skills or other tips there are that mean you do things quickly and easily and feel relaxed and happy about them.

Lastly, don't feel bad that you do your hobbies on your computer and really, you should do more of interests such as TV, reading or listening to the radio. Chances are that if you overuse a computer, then you are bored with other people's books, have seen lots of art, watched many films and seen every documentary there is to see. This might have been from earlier time management or social skills projects that have left you feeling bored. Or it could be because you had a lot of spare time on your hands that before you didn't have. Alternatively, in the past, you might just have gone back to lie in bed if you had nothing to do or you were bored. This was before you'd heard all the time management ideas you got recently. Don't do it to yourself that you feel bad now. But seek solutions.

You did excellently before just going back to lie in bed. And you don't want to worry now about just going back to doing the same thing and instead, trying to think of anything different. There isn't any more to it. You have too much to do but often it's not worth it. When you actually do have something that you're doing that is useful and productive, you will know it is such by how it feels. And you will do it just because it is useful and productive. This is if using your computer to produce your own creative works and learning how to do creative arts and other hobbies will only take a little time and not be a problem.

Perhaps, just find something that is interesting to say to your friends about your computer hobbies. You can try your hand at other creative arts and not do only one. As well, you can display works on your walls for people to see when they come in. Or you can make them into DVDs. If you can do all this, you are likely to use less computer time. As well, your creative output and your social skills will be better. This is because you'll be happier about using your computer when low self-esteem is a big reason to overuse it. You'll be happier as you're using it properly. And you can still do other things that have alternative technologies such as paper. As well, you'll probably be more likely to use your computer healthily.

To emphasize once again, the only real solution is to find ways not to use your computer that much. This book as well has made many other suggestions that you can use. You can use a computer less by being more productive when you do use it. If you are physically fit and not tired or stressed or you don't have low self-esteem, then you can concentrate better and you'll more likely use all the productivity features. As well, you would more likely want to learn about how to write or do art and the cultural references to it. Then, you will have better skills to do it and to talk about it. This is because other people will be able to see that you are a good artist or writer and so want to talk to you. The things you say will make sense coming from you if you don't have problems with it yourself and you're not a bad artist. Otherwise, nobody might listen to you at all. And this is often the cause to start with of people's problems with poor social skills and time management. People just don't want to listen to you if you are not a good artist talking about art. And it has nothing to do with people who use computers supposedly all being called computer bores just because they have a computer.

Learning the features of the software, planning your creative work and planning more generally also saves a massive amount of time on its own. Time spent planning is never wasted they say. But this is only if you know how to use the features of a word processor and other software that help you to plan and you learn any other planning techniques.

'If you were to use your computer less now, later you will still be able to use one. This is for all the even more marvellous things you hear that the computers of the future will do'.

Try to see what you want to achieve. Alternatively, you can regard it as an ongoing process to occupy your time, be mentally stimulating and creative and not regard you have any particular milestones or deadlines to meet. Other things than using a computer or TV are just as enjoyable. Really, you might like other things better than sitting typing at a desk in front of a hot screen all day. So why not do other things? And don't feel bad because you're not doing something on your computer. This is even if you have a keyboard on a desk in your living room and you are 2 or 3 meters away from a Smart TV and you have computer icons on your television. Nobody really likes using a computer when using it too much. And people don't like it often if it takes too much of their spare time. But it is something somebody often would like if it were not everything. As well, they would have no problems with it or worry about it if it had no effect at all on their health. Still, some people find it hard to stop using their computers too much. Perhaps, only when they have done all the hobbies and creative arts they want will they find other things more interesting again. And then they can stop. But they can only then.

It really is addictive to create things and to feel you have an online audience, viewership or readership appreciative of your work. And it is only when people feel that they have seen it all and done it all can they stop and do something more mundane. Yet, their having posted two or three works online is not a cut-off point for some people. Somebody might only stop if feeling it is at last finished. This is seeing all there is to see, what computers can do and all that the Internet has to offer. And it is as well only when they have talked all they liked about creative arts. This is their own or others' ones. Only after that will they just say what they saw on television last night. Now, they can get back to their friendships and their earlier lives. But sometimes, it is only when a normal life and their real friends and not cyber communities are more attractive that it will it stop.

Yet, people might now know how to use a computer. And so they might still want to use one occasionally. It is unlikely as well that after so much practice that they will forget it. Today, they might use it but not just waste all of their time on it. They won't waste time when they are able to use computers well and they have a plan for what they want to do. Some people, though, might not just bother with it. This is at all. It was too much hassle in the past. And they don't have enough good memories of it. Others will use computers still today. This is when now they are able to use them all right. It is just a hobby. And it does not take any more time than they'd like it to do.

Thank you for reading this book!

If the present small volume has helped you the reader with a computer addiction, then it will have served its purpose. Also, you could have read it just out of general interest. Perhaps, for you, it might have speeded up the process of getting off a computer. And you can now do something else. So life has returned to normal. Also, it might have encouraged people who have just got a computer home and taken it out the box to avoid a bit the problems of addicts. This is just by seeing what things computers do and how they can become a problem that they can avoid problems themselves

It might as well reduce some peoples' worries about overusing computers to know that Internet Addiction is often only temporary. Once you've written down all you want that was on your mind, you could stop and not write anymore. But, until then, you can just a bit more assiduously try to use the hardware and software safely, correctly and productively.

And if you did your hobbies or ambitions better, faster and more safely, then you may be over your addiction sooner. Also, once you are over your addiction, you'll have better memories. Nor is there any good reason to make yourself sicker and nor take more time on an addiction than you have to. This is even if it is an addiction and you are not just very vain, don't have many real friends anyway, time to spend on a computer or you are not just so completely bored you need something to do at least some of the time.

Take seriously the warnings you will need to follow all health advice when using computers. This is particularly if you use them a lot each day or for more than a year or two. As well, the productivity features really do work to reduce your workload. And they are worth the time taken to learn them in the time saved later. Again, this is particularly if you use computers a lot. You avoid spending too much time and effort if you can save on any unnecessary work. Also, planning your work saves time as does learning other ways of doing a hobby better. Producing better work is more satisfying and you may then feel satisfied you could do other things other than that. Also, use all the features of hobby software, word processors or spreadsheets that might improve your artistic output or computer work.

Use your computer well and for things that are interesting, have benefits and are not so bad for social skills. Try to use your computer a little less, watch video or read on it and do not do just one thing on them or only hobbies that is boring. Also, you are motivated to do other things or will have the money for them if you use a spreadsheet to keep a budget. Changing how you use a computer can also cause budgeting problems if you don't look out for them. As well, you can use your computer for a health diary or exercise chart that is motivating and is not just something solely on your computer or that you can print out.

A few other pointers might help some readers and quite considerably at that. These are about the body. And it is how it interacts with the technology.

Some health advice to Computer Users does not give these two tips. And if people have heard about it before, they may have forgotten about it. Alternatively, they have not been able to do it until now not having their own computer or one they just did hobbies on at home.

These two tips are,

You can lower the screen brightness. This can halve the radiation you get from any screen at a turn of dial or push of a button.

Also, clench and unclench your hands a few times. This is as you might have just got a case of writer's cramp but instead with a keyboard or stylus instead of a quill, pen or paintbrush.

Again, one last point needs to be made here that has been made before but some people still don't do.

Take breaks when using a computer!

Not taking breaks is often the entire reason some people can't concentrate on anything they do on a computer properly. So they take too long over it whilst producing poor unpublishable work that wastes theirs and everyone else's time. Also, it is often the entire reason many people who complain about being computer addicts really have this complaint. They can't concentrate on anything after using a computer and nor do anything else but use a computer. This is when not taking a proper break from the VDU with its radiation and nor, as well, from their desk that is airless above it.

Thank you again for reading!

THE END

