Tanucoo

How many hours do you waste on the Internet a day?

When I was growing up my dad always asked me to study well and be the top student in the class. He wanted me to be very successful academically. His advice (or parental nagging as some would consider) was if you wasted your time now it will never come back. Hanging out with friends, going out to movies and other such activities do not help most of us in outstanding academic achievements. His constant reminders “Don’t waste time in the malls.” Or “Don’t watch that much TV”. Looking back at it now his advice is so profound.

Fast forward to the Internet age

Life is a lot different with Internet. It has changed people’s lives dramatically.

Upside of the Internet

There are a lot of benefits from having the Internet (like having some wine daily is good for your heart).

1. Educated and uneducated people can access information and resources readily.
   
2. The online businesses and resources are pretty much available 24X7.
   

I realized how important Internet was when I lived out in the country and needed to buy Christmas presents. The gifts were delivered right to the door step. That is a great convenience. I could sell my excess spring cleaning stuff on Internet as well.

Downside of the Internet

Now, let us see the dark side of the Internet use. I am not talking about cyber criminals, child pornography and other deviant activities on the Internet. I am talking about the excessive exposure to the Internet by the individual (like excessive drinking can increase your Triglycerides and can give you a heart attack). Let’s list a few of them:

1. Email addiction
   
2. Chat addiction
   
3. Addiction to specific social networking sites.
   
4. Video entertainment addiction
   
5. Web surfing addiction
   
6. Online gaming
   

The list keeps growing and growing. You are talking to an Internet addict or recovering disaster. I lived by the PC returning emails to colleagues/friends within a minute after I received it. Now what was the reward for such prompt/reliable response?

1. Wow. What a coworker/friend? He replied at 2 AM…
   
2. “He is very reliable worker.” Ex-Manager
   
3. Carpal Tunnel and out of job.
   

Some of these Internet people (coworker/friends) I have only interacted with them only online but now they are all gone.

Relieving yourself from the Internet addiction

I am sure all of us can live without the T1+ speed of information flowing into your head for 4+ hours a day. The best way is to first accept that you have this problem. Once you have accepted this problem then you work on remedy. The remedy is as simple as it was when I was growing up. Hang out with friends. Go to movies. Go to the mall or even go visit your weird relatives/friends and see how they are doing. When I use the term “weird” I am using it as a soft friendly way. There are a lot of people who are real (I mean they are not cyber organisms) and love to see you. It is a real treat.

Here is that simple list again:

1. Accept that you have an Internet addiction
   
2. Work on the remedy
   
3. Realize that Cyber friends are only temporary.
   

How do I know if I am still addicted?

When you come home from work or school you can use the Internet for about 2 hours at the most. Once you go beyond that stage you are still addicted. How did I come up with the 2 hours? Well, I used the drinking rule. Lot of the places I go to social functions/bars/restaurants recommends not drinking more than 2 glasses of wine or 2 bottles of beer. After that you run into the risk of getting a DUI while driving home. I used the same guidelines for Internet use as well. It is not any scientifically derived time.

Another guideline that I would recommend using is to meeting the same number of people as you exchange emails with during the week. If you are not an email junkie, then meet the same number of people as you were playing the online games with during the week. The same rule applies to # of videos watched or # of blogs/sites you visited.

The key point is to get off the Internet addiction. I am working on it myself. I need some motivation as well, from people like you that are successful in getting away from this dreaded addiction.

I don’t know where to start on this issue but I will give it a shot. Back in June 2007 I started looking for some good online banks that give competitive interest rates. From the several different web sites the one that stood out promising is FNBO Direct. FNBO Direct offers 6% on the money market accounts which is pretty good compared to ING Direct or Capital One (something like 4.5%).

I started slowly to test FNBO Direct and their services. First, you have to fill out the online application. Part of it is related to security (US Patriot Act requirement).

Once the account was created, I started noticing the slowness of transaction processing and annoying requests. I am listing them below:

• Link FNBO Direct account to the external account took forever (about 4 or 5 days).
• Made an initial deposit of $50, which took another 4 or 5 days.
• Request from FNBO for copy of external bank check to enable money transfer between both the banks. This request came after a month with FNBO Direct account opening. FNBO Direct email threatens to close my account if they did not receive this fax within 30 days.
• Transferred some money in July. It took 7 days before I saw the money in the account.
• Transferred some money in August. The online statement says the funds will be available in 7 days.
• Another email request in August 2007 from FNBO Direct with the title “Due Diligence 2nd Request” asking for “information regarding your current employer, occupation or position”. Once again, FNBO Direct threatens to close my account if they do not receive this information within 30 days.
  

With this request, I had it with these folks. Now I plan to close the account. My reasoning is that FNBO Direct takes 7 days to process a money transfer. You do not earn any interest in those 7 days on the money transferred, which makes the actual interest rate for these accounts in the 4% range.

I am listing a sanitized copy of the last email requests.

The following is my response to FNBO Direct

Response from FNBO Direct title “FNBO Direct Apology”

At this point all I can say is they tried and I have been patient enough. I would like deal with other banks that are I have dealt with in the past. Probably, FNBO Direct will improve in the future for which I really do not care at this point.

These were my gripes dealing with FNBO Direct (an online bank).

Hello again World!

This time it is from me and not the preprogrammed greeting. This is my 1st blog entry. I will try to share and learn as much as I can. I will write up an introduction in a little while again.

Peace and Love on earth.