How I Kicked My Digg Addiction

For some time now, I've been going to digg regularly. Okay, religiously. I read the stories and comments every chance I got. I didn't think anything would ever stop me from reading digg. But now, against the odds, I am free. It happened this way:

My family and I went back to Malaysia about 3 weeks ago for a vacation. 3 weeks without my broadband. I really thought I could do it at the time. What a fool I was. I started having the shakes after about 2 days. 'There is an option', a friend advised. 'Prepaid internet be thy salvation'. So I went out and purchased a prepaid dial up account from TM Net. RM30 for 60 hours, the packaging proclaimed. Thank heavens I brought my laptop...

'Never did I expect that I would resort to dial up to fulfill my internet needs', I thought as I read the instructions. I scratch the card and use temporary account to dial in as instructed. I go to the registration page and fill in my details. Submit!

'Wait, what's this...? my verification code is wrong?' I read the card again. 'Could it be that one or both the lowercase L in the code is actually the number 1? That WOULD explain the free 30 minutes for registration purposes.'

Fortunately, I cannot be daunted by digital traps which are so simple. It wasn't long before I got the right code and had registered myself. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I dialed in with my new account and was connected without further problems. Quickly I started my browser. Loading. Loading. Google! My default page! Glory be! I enter 'digg.com'. Loading. Loading. Loading. Whoopee! I click on a story and wait again. Wait. Wait. Kill mosquito. Wait.
'Hmm, even dial up can't be this slow', I thought to myself. I disconnected manually and tried to connect again.

'Error: The remote computer did not respond in a timely fashion bla bla bla'. My hopes were dashed...

To be fair, I did get to read some stories that night, but I spent most of the night re-connecting. All the time, mosquitoes buzzed about, mocking me. I finally gave up and spent my time with my iPod instead. 'It will be a long 2 weeks', I thought gloomily.

Somehow, I pulled through. I spent time with my family. I spent quiet time reading. And I enjoyed myself. My pace slowed and I slipped into my role as a pig, letting family and friends feed me. I looked through my old things and reminisced about things like 5.25 inch disks.



Now I'm back in the grind and I have to switch gears again very quickly. There's work to be done! Surprisingly I didn't jump in my chair and bring up digg the moment I got home. It's been 3 days and I have no craving for it yet. It's only just begun to sink in for me... the fact that I am free of my addiction.

Well, maybe it would be nice to visit digg just to see if anything has changed. Just a quick look after I post this... shouldn't be a problem for me now...