Don’t quit life. Quit checking.

A story about checking. E-mails, Social Media, News, Blogs, Offers.It’s not their fault. It’s ours.

7.00 am. Wake up. Reach for my smartphone. How many e-mails did I miss while sleeping? I make coffee and read through those looking either interesting or important (the 2nd rarely is the case this early in the morning but anyway) and then open Feedly. I sit down and pour some milk on my granola. Eyes still on my smartphone. Someone just liked a post I made on Instagram a couple of days ago. Oh, let’s check what’s going on there. Maybe some friend of mine posted photos from yesterday night’s drinks. I miss going for drinks on weekdays…

…but then again, there is a lot to check.

Ready to go. Double-check I didn’t forget anything. Lock the door, wait for the elevator. I can’t just wait doing nothing, so I take my phone out of my pocket. Haven’t checked Twitter yet, let’s see what my timeline is talking about. I walk towards the tube station, still scrolling down tweets. I really wonder how I make it to the station safe and sound everyday. I ‘ve made a promise to myself that, one of these days, I am going to just walk to the station, no phone in my hand for a change. Only me and my morning thoughts. How long has it been since I last did that?

…but then again, there is a lot to check.

6.00 pm. Ready to go back home. I log off, get my things and rush to the tube. Thank God (or Virgin) there’s Wi-Fi in the stations: I haven’t checked anything apart from my work e-mail for the last 6 hours, it was quite hectic at the office. A bit of Facebook, 2 friend requests, some comments on a photo, who’s that girl and how does she know my boyfriend? Switch to Twitter. There talking about a story on the news, I don’t really get what they ‘re saying, I search for the link, there it is. Read the article. Want to check some more on what’s going on around the world. So, Feedly it is. Again. Someone is reading a book next to me. I have 2 books at home waiting for me to pick them up. I should take one of them with me and start reading in the tube everyday…

…but then again, there is a lot to check.

I need to do some groceries, there is nothing left in the fridge. Wandering down the aisles of the super market, I continue reading news articles when I suddenly get an e-mail with offers from Amazon. Some look really interesting, I click on the links to check the price. I forget what I am looking for and what things I need to buy to cook dinner. It always takes me so long in the super market, maybe I should leave my smartphone in my handbag from now on. I go back home, quickly make dinner, sit down and check some blogs with tech stuff, the latest on art & design, events going on this week, blogs of friends, blogs on how to be more productive, healthy, happy. I need to start going to the gym again. But maybe some other time, there so much new stuff I haven’t checked out yet and I need to read as much as I can before I fall asleep on the couch embracing my laptop as usual. Actually, I miss watching a movie before bedtime…

…but then again, there is a lot to check.

11.00 pm. Exhausted. I take a warm bath and after a cup of my favourite sleap-easy tea, I can no longer keep my eyes open. I didn’t even buy those things I saw on Amazon earlier, totally forgot about it. A friend sent me a couple of e-mails with some interesting stuff an hour ago, didn’t read a line. And I’ve also put a dozen of articles on Pocket that I still haven’t had the chance to look through.But it’s so late, and I am so tired…

…nevermind. I ‘ll definitely do some serious “checking” tomorrow. Promise.