Online obsession

I feel like an alcoholic - you know, first you have to admit there's a problem. I'm not an alcoholic, I don't drink but I do live virtually online. After my daughter said to me that I didn't need any more chat rooms, I sat down and worked out how many online networking groups I'm in - and it's a bit scary. From the simple intention to get a better handle on the web, I started signing up for things so I could learn how to use sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

Now I'm a member of twitter, digg, Scribd, Flicker, Facebook, Ancestry, Twittermoms, Linked in, eBay, YouTube, blogger and Orkut. Then there's all the utility sites: I participate in Blackboard for university, my online banking (they've started messaging me now), Picasa for my web albums, Paypal for eBay payments, iGoogle to keep track of it all, a Google Reader to feed my obsession. And then there's stuff like tiny url so that links you post in feeds don't break and bigfoot, which reroutes my old school stuff like email. Then there's Friends Reunited (believe it or not, I use it for research at work) and Google alerts so that I can see when people I know get in the news.

In twitter, I've started following people and they've started following me - I think that means I've become a cyber stalker and I'm being stalked by the Prime Minister of Australia - and I signed up for this?

My virtual life is getting out of hand

My daughter just said to me: "Mum you don't need to be in any more chat rooms". "Sure I do," I replied, "I like to be linked in". "But it just isn't cool to be in so many," she asserts, "it's not cool". "I'm cool", "no, you're not. When did a child last tell you you were cool?" "I don't need a child to tell me I'm cool, I know I am". She's gone off in disgust and I'm joining yet another online network.

So far I'm in Ancestry.com, Facebook, Twitter, digg, Scribd, Flicker, LinkedIn, some technology group I've even forgotten the name of, eBay, blogger (of course), YouTube, Orkut, internet banking and being old school I also respond to emails and text messages on my phone.

It's harmless, right? I'm not obsessed by technology am I?