Do you reach a sense of disembodiment while surfing the Net?

Yeah! I totally love it!!!

I loose the sense of time it flies faster than anything other I do, it should be called time warp or time stealer than the net.

I can certainly lose track of time when I’m on the Internet and that works especially well for me when I’m at work and online because it makes the night go by very fast sometimes.

I call it “living in the present.”

oh, yes. i think i’m on for a minute and hours later I’m still there.
During the day it’s better cause I’m at work and go back and forth. At home, I’m usually watching tv at the same time…sometimes I miss the whole show Yay for TIVO!

I am the Net.

And the Net is I.

Far too often.

Oh man, i was supposed to go to bed two hours ago!

I’m working on becoming more mindfull, and an article I read spoke of “flow.” Flow is a state like the one some of you describe: where you lost track of time, and are totally involved in what you are doing. Flow, apparently, is mindfullness.

I, too, have found myself using the Internet as therapy—as a way of getting me into the flow, and out of my head. It works sometimes, and then other times I get upset at the unreality of it. What I really want is to be doing something like fluther, only in person.

@gail – Interesting response. I agree that with regards to time, I am “living in the present”. That’s why it’s so easy to spend hours on end at the computer. However, I don’t feel that I’m “living in the present” in the classical sense because my thoughts are wholly dedicated to objects that don’t exist right before my senses.

I have a friend who recently started living “in the moment” (to quote him) and he told me that it’s made him happier than ever. He is extremely aware of what’s going on around him, and finds a new ability to connect abstract thoughts to his surroundings. To me, this is very different than my experiences online – how often do I completely ignore my family when I’m right in the thick of a Fluther quip? It seems that my mind gets caught up on subjects beyond my environment, beyond “the present”.

@daloon – Agreed! I’d love to Fluther IRL. Or Google IRL. Or Wikipedia IRL. Not sure if “Wikipedia” is a verb yet, but it’s bound to become one. I wonder how that would work.

@daloon- pick up Way of the Peaceful Warrior if you have a chance. it’s a good story and deals with developing a sense of mindfulness. it’s term is a state of wakeful meditation.

Fluther in real life would be a dream come true. I very rarely find an individual capable of such thoughtful and intelligent discussion, let alone an entire group of people!

I enjoy going to fireside discussions hosted by Bahai’s. They usually have something to read and then follow it up with questions and answers about the text or anything else that comes up.

It’s more spiritual in nature than Fluther, but quite similar levels of discourse. Of course, i do enjoy having the whole internet at my fingertips and I don’t have a cell phone plan that would allow me to do that during a face to face conversation.

@fireside – Is that where your username comes from? “Fireside discussions”?

@shadling – yep, just recently became a Baha’i

I think that is why I do it, to forget.

I’ll bet it has a similar effect on the brain as some drugs do.