The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Lost in the net-and happy By Deborah Taylor-Hollis The use of and access to my home computer has opened up new worlds for me. I no longer have to go hunting at the library for a quote. I can check on current events, get free software games for my family to play, write, copy and even send my columns instantaneously to my editor. I can also send him notes at 2 a.m. when I think of something. He's not really there, but I can make the contact the moment I think of it. This is a good thing for night owls like me. Especially impatient night owls. The problem is my AADD. That's Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. It's not a medical term, but a disease of the intelligence that I get whenever I turn this thing on. AADD brings on a lack of concentration on the Net. I get on there, and I find so many wonderful things I didn't even know existed that I tend to detour from my appointed path. Detours that last hours. Detours that take up days. In layman's terms, it's like leaving to take a three-day drive across the country to visit a sick aunt, and spending three years driving the back roads and byways, stopping at every roadside rock shop that has a two-headed snake in a bottle. I'm a sucker for that. I really need those two-headed snakes. Here's a case in point. I got online once to get an email address. I didn't have much information, but this person is a well known political personality. So, I started looking for search engines that could find him for me. One thing led to another, and I found this list of address sites of almost 3,000 places with information about other places. And some of the names looked sooo enticing. Highway 61 found me starting points worldwide. That was ... interesting. The Net Search database found me 30 items about my intended mail buddy--so I printed those out on my way down the yellow cyberbrick road. I found the NASA database of automatic systems--very cool. And celebrity autographs. Mensa. I found a neat place to get screenplays. Then, I found People Search, and although I did not get an email address for my target, I got his home phone number and home address--complete with nine-digit ZIP code. They even offered to give me a map of how to get there. Now if that isn't way too much info to give the potential stalkers of the world, I don't know what is! Then I found this great reporters' network, where I can get free downloads on all kinds of columnist information, get a free email site and connect with other writers around the country. This, for a professional, was a coup! And to think, I didn't even know it existed when I sat down--just four hours earlier. I didn't find the email for my potential employer (I do a lot of freelance), but I know I can find him if I just keep at it. But that's the problem. Going online is, for me, the equivalent of stepping into a version of Tiffany's jewelers, where everything is free if you only put in enough time looking though a lot of murky display cases until you figure out what's inside. No one, not even Mrs. Bill Gates, should be tempted like this. Too many two-headed snakes. I don't know how, or why, people spend so much time online at sex sites--there is so much else going on out there. I will probably never get to everything I really want--and when I do decide where I want to go, I'll just get sidetracked on Egyptology, Sherlock Holmes, free chess games, cemeteries of the infamous, children's literature, gardening or who-knows-what-else. There are bulls having red flags waved in their faces who are less distractible than I am, once online. It's so pathetic. I just hope my family doesn't begin to think I will keep in contact by email with them. It's entirely possible that I will write whole letters to them, but before I get a chance to hit "Send," I'll be pulled bodily into Web sites concerning haunted houses of California, antiques for sale (I'm always looking for mother-of-pearl-handled serving pieces--call me if you've got any), genealogy searches for my family, clubs for train buffs, and lord only knows what else. I'm like some dog that has found a whole mess of good things in the garbage can, and knocked it over, but can't decide what to stop pawing and start eating first. My attention wanders like a channel surfer with her hand clamped on the remote. I may never actually find what I want. But the list of stuff I didn't know I wanted is a mounting pile of printed text all over the table here. And I'm wallowing in the glory of it all. Don't contact me via sjmetro.com. I'm way too busy cruising at slow speeds so I don't run over any neat snakes. Debrorah Taylor-Hollis is a frequent contributor to The Sun. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 13, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.