You Spent Too Much Time Sat In Your Bedroom, On Your PC...

It's Sunday afternoon. Around midday. I've just returned home from a footballing weekend away that included a day trip to Whitby (I'll come back to that madness later!) and am in need of food and clean clothes. So what do I do?

Head straight to the laptop.

Around 10 years ago I never used the Internet. I only ever used the home computer to do school work. Yeah, alright, I used my trusted Amiga 600 (and later an Amiga 1200) night and day playing Worms, Syndicate and Sensible World of Soccer, but I got out of the house as well. I spent just as much time outside kicking a ball around or playing cricket, because that was the only way of keeping in touch with friends.

How things have changed. Now I spend most of my time at home connected to a computer. When I'm out, my mobile is constantly tune to Facebook and a couple of forums. Why? Because suddenly the only way to keep in touch with people, find out what's going on and what everyone's up to. Life is organised on the Internet, spend 6 days a week sat at a computer/peering at a phone organising things and then spend 1 day out with said friends.

Why has it come to this? Why is it so hard to just pick up the phone and talk to someone, to go around to their house and see them? Jesus, sometimes it's hard work to even text someone. An entire life contained on a computer and a phone - dates, addresses, phone numbers, organised events and so on. With no access to any of that, the world collapses, everything grinds to a halt. I find myself staying in the house and turning down the chance to go out just to speak to someone. Even purely on the off chance that the person I want to speak to comes online.

Not so much why, but how? How have I turned so reliant on technology? How has life become so hard to live away from a computer? Why am I asking all these questions when it's probably obvious? And it's not just me, thousands, nay millions of us lay slave to these machines. Facebook, MySpace (not for me, but there you go), Message Boards, Forums - people spend a lifetime on these things. And there's no need. Let's get out there, people, and start living away from machines. Otherwise we're all going to continue to be sad bastards spending too much time in our bedrooms...

Whitby. Lovely place, if a bit windy. And a bugger to get to. Two trains and a bus across the moors to get there, the same bus and thankfully only one train home. Not too sure about this Magpie Cafe's reputation, though, it was no different to any other chippy I've ever been to. Chips were crap, an'all. Shame the football was a tad on the poor side, but it was a good day out with a very early start to the drinking. You don't want to know - my excuse was it was Hursty's birthday. Blame it on him.

So between football and being a sad fucker it's no wonder I'm single. Mind you, not being able to get someone out of my head doesn't help... But that's another story for another time.

Time to leave t'internet behind, swallow my pride and admit my jealousy... To be predictable!