Low-Tech Cyborg Go Beep Boop
Jun. 10th, 2026 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeRogan: I haven’t been using the Internet (except for work purposes) much lately, for one temporary reason and two permanent.
The temporary reason: it’s hot, and my desktop is a furnace. Booting it up better damn well be worth it. Why guzzle down power for desktop AND AC and deny myself cat company to do so? I can just do my writing and art on BSOD, my twenty-year-old laptop (much cooler) and then port it over and upload it all at once on a cooler day.
The chronic reasons are my shoulder (which y’all been hearing about on this blog for years now) and my migraines (which y’all haven’t). For newer blog folks: if I use the computer too much (ESPECIALLY if I get emotionally worked up doing so), I get painful muscle spasms in my shoulder, neck, and back (pain usually a 5, topping out at a 7). I mostly have those under control with physical therapy every work hour and twice-weekly electrozappery, but it also required massively changing how I use the computer. Hack103 is the only computer game I can play now, and I had to remove most of my recreational Internet stuff. (I also had to learn how to get the news without ragebait.)
My migraines... well, we’ve had these headaches as long as we can remember, but it wasn’t til fairly recently that we found out they’re apparently migraines, because they aren’t super painful (like a 4 on a 1-10 scale), they just last for DAYS and apparently that isn’t normal. We get them roughly once a month; it could be hormonal, it could be post-concussion sequelae, who knows. They’re also super influenced by light. Strobing, flickering, or pulsing lights are the worst offenders (like that construction worker wearing a blazing strobing headlamp at night—sir, WHY?) but these days, everything is just too damn bright, especially once ~9 pm hits: headlights, streetlights, my friend’s dining room lamp, my other friends’ HORRIBLE GLOWING COMPUTER GUTS (why why why) and damn near anything with a screen. Our migraines may not be bad, we can work through them, but they make all new TV, phone, and computer screens without intense dimmer software into Quadrangles of Torment. (BSOD, being twenty years old, is much dimmer and far more manageable. We love you, BSOD. Please remain immortal.)
All of this means that the Internet has become harder and harder for me to use. And since my job REQUIRES computer use, everything else gets cut.
These days, my recreational Internet is you guys on Dreamwidth, my email, and my RSS feed. Anything attention-sucky, I just cannot do. Even reading EBOOKS is difficult if they’re more than ten, twenty pages; I’ve taken to printing the damn things out, because otherwise, I can’t focus for the ticking time bomb of my shoulder and headaches!
I am currently writing this post using a very old Smartphone that can basically handle Dreamwidth, my email, and sites whose design hasn’t updated in fifteen years. (It cannot access my RSS feed, and that’s okay. It’s RSS; it’ll be there when I get back.) To me, that is a feature, not a bug; it makes it a lot harder to get sucked in. It covers my most necessary basics and nothing else.
All of this is to say: if you want to talk to me, Dreamwidth, email, or phone is your best bet. Yes, I have started CALLING people, with my voice, like an antique, since COVID rona-ed the planet. I’m having to do more and more in person, because online has gotten harder and harder on my body. And sometimes, weirdly? I’m grateful for that. It’s hard to argue when your body just keeps saying NO.
The temporary reason: it’s hot, and my desktop is a furnace. Booting it up better damn well be worth it. Why guzzle down power for desktop AND AC and deny myself cat company to do so? I can just do my writing and art on BSOD, my twenty-year-old laptop (much cooler) and then port it over and upload it all at once on a cooler day.
The chronic reasons are my shoulder (which y’all been hearing about on this blog for years now) and my migraines (which y’all haven’t). For newer blog folks: if I use the computer too much (ESPECIALLY if I get emotionally worked up doing so), I get painful muscle spasms in my shoulder, neck, and back (pain usually a 5, topping out at a 7). I mostly have those under control with physical therapy every work hour and twice-weekly electrozappery, but it also required massively changing how I use the computer. Hack103 is the only computer game I can play now, and I had to remove most of my recreational Internet stuff. (I also had to learn how to get the news without ragebait.)
My migraines... well, we’ve had these headaches as long as we can remember, but it wasn’t til fairly recently that we found out they’re apparently migraines, because they aren’t super painful (like a 4 on a 1-10 scale), they just last for DAYS and apparently that isn’t normal. We get them roughly once a month; it could be hormonal, it could be post-concussion sequelae, who knows. They’re also super influenced by light. Strobing, flickering, or pulsing lights are the worst offenders (like that construction worker wearing a blazing strobing headlamp at night—sir, WHY?) but these days, everything is just too damn bright, especially once ~9 pm hits: headlights, streetlights, my friend’s dining room lamp, my other friends’ HORRIBLE GLOWING COMPUTER GUTS (why why why) and damn near anything with a screen. Our migraines may not be bad, we can work through them, but they make all new TV, phone, and computer screens without intense dimmer software into Quadrangles of Torment. (BSOD, being twenty years old, is much dimmer and far more manageable. We love you, BSOD. Please remain immortal.)
All of this means that the Internet has become harder and harder for me to use. And since my job REQUIRES computer use, everything else gets cut.
These days, my recreational Internet is you guys on Dreamwidth, my email, and my RSS feed. Anything attention-sucky, I just cannot do. Even reading EBOOKS is difficult if they’re more than ten, twenty pages; I’ve taken to printing the damn things out, because otherwise, I can’t focus for the ticking time bomb of my shoulder and headaches!
I am currently writing this post using a very old Smartphone that can basically handle Dreamwidth, my email, and sites whose design hasn’t updated in fifteen years. (It cannot access my RSS feed, and that’s okay. It’s RSS; it’ll be there when I get back.) To me, that is a feature, not a bug; it makes it a lot harder to get sucked in. It covers my most necessary basics and nothing else.
All of this is to say: if you want to talk to me, Dreamwidth, email, or phone is your best bet. Yes, I have started CALLING people, with my voice, like an antique, since COVID rona-ed the planet. I’m having to do more and more in person, because online has gotten harder and harder on my body. And sometimes, weirdly? I’m grateful for that. It’s hard to argue when your body just keeps saying NO.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-10 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-10 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-10 08:28 pm (UTC)I thought I had horrible headaches as a kid because I was stressed. Then perimenopause started. Nope, they stopped because of hormones and now they are back.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-10 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-10 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-11 12:31 am (UTC)That sounds healthy, including for people who don't have your particular health issues. The ragebaity part of the internet is terrible for humanity TT
no subject
Date: 2026-06-11 05:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-11 06:31 am (UTC)