It's 8 a.m. Do You Know Where Your Children's Laptops Are?

I am not a first-thing-in-the-morning person. The minutes—OK, sometimes hours—between the moment my alarm clock goes off and the time my feet hit the floor are among the most unbearable of my day. Back when I clocked in at an office, the thought of having to shamefacedly skulk past my boss's door was usually enough to propel me out bed. But now that I'm a freelancer who sets her own schedule, what's to keep me from hitting the snooze button till 11 a.m.? My iPhone, that's what.

The New York Times reports today on how early morning rituals are being changed by technology, describing parents who crack open laptops at the breakfast table and kids who start texting friends before bothering to wipe away their eye crusties. Analysts explain how online and wireless traffic patterns are spiking in the hours between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.

I'm the first to admit I have a bad case of Internet creep: My boyfriend has threatened to break up with me if I keep whipping out my iPhone to look up random facts about celebrities when we're out to dinner. But in the morning, checking my Twitter and Facebook feeds or reading an article or two from the Times helps jog my brain just enough to face my day. And on any given morning, at least three of my friends have already posted updates about how cranky they are about having had to get up, which always makes me feel better: Morning misery loves company.

Are you a morning texter/tweeter/e-mail checker? Does the habit fill you with shame and your family with rage? Or is it a necessary beacon in the morning fog?

Photograph by Stockbyte/Getty Images.

Tags: family, internet, morning

Nina Shen Rastogi California native, theater and comics fan, Slate "Green Lantern" columnist

Comments

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Only Because I Have To

By: MLO | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 16:21

Since I manage servers for a living...and those servers are the kind that, when they are not working, people notice...I am an early checker. But when I come home from work, the only reason I want to touch anything with a keyboard is if I'm typing hulu.com, or editing photos.

Those of us addicted to our screens

By: Nina Rastogi | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 13:23

... might find some comfort (or, at least, company) in this essay by the book critic of the LA Times:


The lost art of reading

The relentless cacophony that is life in the 21st century can make settling in with a book difficult even for lifelong readers and those who are paid to do it.

By David L. Ulin 
August 9, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-reading9-2009aug09,0,4905017.story

How easy it becomes habit

By: mustireallyweighin | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:18

Five years ago, I had a desktop in my bedroom. Never ever considered turning it on before getting home from work. Now, I can barely watch tv without the damn thing on and connected to the internet. My attention span decreases daily.

So...the morning is the last vestige of non-technology I have left. Other than the morning show while I eat brekky, no pc/iphone etc...for me.

www.therantguy.com

Dinner habits

By: Nina Rastogi | Mon, 08/10/2009 - 12:57

To be fair, when I check my iPhone during meal times it's for instant, conversation-related research: e.g., BF asks, "Dude, remember that minor celebrity in Movie X from 1988? What was his name?" And I say, "Let's check IMDB!"

I used to sleep with my computer

By: Samantha Henig | Mon, 08/10/2009 - 11:46

I'm not above sleeping with my computer next to me, and opening it to check my e-mail before I've ever put my feet on the ground in the morning. It's part of my morning ritual to check e-mail and a few other key sites. But, like my well-calibrated cereal mixture, it's a private ritual. I still strongly oppose the constant iPhone checking it sounds like you engage in, Nina. What you do in your pre-shower hours at home is one thing, but I still think it's rude to be on the Internet when your boyfriend's sitting across the table from you, poking his chicken.

iPod

By: misslkodell | Mon, 08/10/2009 - 11:05

Growing up with out a tv/pc in my room all I had was my radio and cd player. I went to college and had to learn to boogie my way through my morning routine without waking up sleepy roommates. Ever since I've been more of a iPod person, I have it by my bed and when the cats and my blackberry finally manage to wake me for the day (and food for the cats, before they destroy the blackberry by walking all over it) in go the ear buds till the shower/blowdry (really I blowdry my hair in the room as far away from the bedroom so I don't wake up my boo), then back in till I get in the car on my way to work. I can't even think about the internet till I get to work and need to distract myself from work!