Fasting from internet

I often feel like I'm not getting important things done. My reaction has generally been to stop doing whatever less-important thing was supposedly taking up my time. Reading novels, for instance. Or playing complex video games. Or reading blogs and message boards on the internet.

Inevitably, I take up some other interest, and the things I tell myself are important still don't get done. Novels and any game more challenging than solitaire are no longer any part of my routine. Reading content on the internet is my current perceived challenge to, say, cooking or doing household chores on a more regular basis.

Certainly my past experience with attempting to refocus myself has shown just leaving the computer off won't help me achieve my goals. And my recent four days/three nights without power were not any more productive than my normal days with computer. It does feel restful to deliberately have it off, though.

In the past, I've denied myself certain activities until some goalpost was reached. This was often weeks at a time, which led to those activities being dropped from my routine and replaced by other interests. To try to avoid this drop-replace cycle, for the next few weeks I'm going to try is leaving the computer off just on the Sabbath.

I'll use Saturday since I'm worshiping with a Jewish congregation. (Although I have seen it argued that Saturday is the Sabbath for Christians, too.) Giving up social interaction in favor of (hopefully) housework is not the traditional use of the Sabbath, but it's inspired by the idea of having a different routine on that day. I'll be curious to see how this turns out.