I just realized that I never provided a "final" update for the little "unplugging at home" experiment/bet - where Janice dared me to go a month without being online at home.
Well, it actually went pretty well. Overall, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be - initially, it was quite hard (withdrawal, shakes, bugs beneath my skin - well, no bugs, but you get the point) and then it was just... gone.
I did slip. Twice. When I was trying to do a bit of work from home. I finished up, and thought "hey, while I've got the laptop fired up, I'll just check my email. And maybe just a few feeds. And maybe Flickr. And maybe respond to a couple comments. and (an hour later) crap. close the laptop... Rob caught me once and helped pull be back from the brink (thanks, Rob ;-) ) but still, 2 days in 30 where I spent time online at home, that's not bad at all.
So, after the 30 day bet was up (on Dec. 12), I find that I'm spending some time online at home, mostly in moderation. I'm less likely to leave the laptop crunching RSS feeds 24/7 so it's ready when I want to check in (although lately I've been guilty of falling into old patterns - must work on that - things like the New Year's Eve Field Trip definitely help). I'm down to maybe an hour or 2 per day - some days less.
It's not quite to the level of requiring a support group, but it's also not completely in check. I think, in the larger scheme of things, there are far, far worse things to be addicted to, though. And, is it really any worse "checking in" as opposed to, say, watching Survivor or something? I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but one of the things I'm going to be trying to do is reduce/manage my online time so I'm more focussed and less distracted at home. I'll be trying to work out a more efficient "burst mode checkin" so I can still check my 495 496 feeds without losing the benefits of triangulating from multiple primary sources.