The other morning I sat down at my computer with one goal in mind: To respond to a friend’s email buried somewhere way down in my inbox. I read it while we were boarding a plane and couldn’t respond just then. The problem was, before I could start searching for that email, I had to read my new emails in bright red at the top. (Who can resist clearing that little “unread email” flag?) And one of them reminded me that I was in the middle of doing some online research that I never finished, so since I’m feeling productive, why don’t I just switch over and finish that up real quick? As my internet browser loads with 9 tabs of unfinished business, I see a little flag on the Facebook tab showing a notification of some kind, so of course I must click on that and see what’s going on. Oh look at that – someone posted a video of cute kittens! I must check this out. This video leads me to another one, and another, then I remember there was a video I wanted to watch but couldn’t from our remote post in Africa… so let me just search for that real quick. My search leads me through a few unrelated-but-interesting-nonetheless videos before I’ve long forgotten what video I was searching for to begin with.

An hour later, I shake myself out of YouTube and Facebook’s grip and think, “Where was I?” Oh! Yes. I was doing some online research regarding the infamous McDonalds-hot-coffee frivolous court case. (Turns out it’s a fascinating case, and not so frivolous after all. But if you click on that link don’t forget to come back to me!)

While I’ve got my browser up, why don’t I just finish up this order of Snorgtees I was working on yesterday? But I can’t decide if my favorite is “Dear Math. I’m not a therapist. Solve your own problems.” or “Hedgehogs: Why don’t they just share the hedge?” So this I will have to sleep on. But speaking of orders, I’ve got another one going with Amazon, so why don’t I just finish this while I’m at it? Oops – I’m waiting on input from someone before I can finish this order. Where’s that email? Let me go check…

Which leads me back to my inbox, and my laser-like focus to find an answer to the Amazon question is immediately abandoned as I’m distracted by the “still new email” flags at the top. What? I’ve been at my computer for two hours now and I’ve only cleared the top unread email?

Wow, I don’t know how you people do it with internet access like this every day. I used to live like this too, I guess, but I don’t remember how. Life slowed down a lot when we moved to Africa 17 months ago. I complain a lot about how slow the internet is, and how certain things are inaccessible, but at least it keeps me ADD-free!

Until I get back there, this may have to be the Snorgtee for me: