Dear LPG,

I retired at the turn of the century.  It sounds as if that was forever ago and I have to agree that the last twenty years seem to have just disappeared.  So now we have well and truly reached the third decade of this 21^st century and I count myself lucky to have arrived here at this stage of my life. 

Now in my seventies and with the freedom to do what I like with my time, I am relatively satisfied with what I have managed to achieve since it began.    I have done many things but perhaps I have most surprised myself by managing to bring myself up to date with my mastery of technology.  I think that I can say, with a little confidence, that my computer skills are on the up and, after some ten years of struggling with the whole computerised world, I found that if you stick with it the basics come eventually. I have spent the last seven years honing my craft to the point where I can send emails, write using my word processing skills and even do a bit of online shopping, but now I find myself with another little problem.

It does not matter where I start, especially if I am planning to do something which involves the internet, I end up finding some silly bit of information which catches my attention and, while there is always some fascinating nugget to trigger my internet taste buds, I have a habit of getting lost there for hours without having done what I planned to do in the first place.  I think it is even worse now because temptation is always just popping up which can be a true time-waster, and the advertisers involved have got the cookie thing down to a fine art, you only have to click on something and you are bombarded with messages and offers about that very thing for days afterwards.

I think that the secret is working out what goal you are aiming for before you start because nearly every time I decide on making the time to indulge in a little electronic session, I end up aimlessly looking around. 

I am very proud of what many may call a minor achievement which I know that many others of my age have also accomplished, and I have more than a suspicion that there are many others who find themselves spending lots of time using the computer rather like a magazine as they meander through the pages while valuable time passes by. 

I have always believed that where there is a problem there has to be a solution and I think that there are two alternatives here. 

I know that it has been said before on your pages but making a time-table before you start and sticking to it is the approach I take; and every now and then I factor in time to just have a surfing session.  The other way of looking at it is, ‘What the heck, I am past the stage where I have to worry about being on time every second of the day’. 

But then I ask if I really have all the time in the world just because I don’t go to work every day.  I am still trying to work out the answer to that question.

EW, Brockley Cross

We hope that these links may be of help but warn that there might be a need to get someone who really knows what they are doing to help before you get started.  Although we agree that nothing is going to eliminate every online distraction, LPG found a few possible alternatives and offers a few links below…

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