Not having a job is an odd experience. I’m luckier than most of course. The funds are holding out for now, and the freelance work, though limited, is steady. I have no health insurance of course, but I’m certainly not alone there.
No, for the most part I can’t really complain. In a way, I am living the life that most women lived for centuries – I spend most of my day, most of my time, in my home. I do laundry, wash dishes, clean. Without children to take care of, however, there’s only so much cleaning and puttering to be done. So, I watch a lot of daytime television. Read. Take the dog out. Let the dog in. And, if I’m feeling really spirited, I run an errand.
Sometimes, I find myself wandering around in a vague haze. There is no structure to my day. I have no reason to get up at any particular time, so I tend to sleep late. I have nowhere to go, so I lounge about in my pajamas. I have nothing to do, so I don’t do much of anything at all. Except one thing – Turn on my computer.
The first thing I do whenever I get up, is log on. I check my Facebook, Twitter, my bank accounts, the shipping status the latest book I ordered, both e-mails and my various instant messengers. My actual day might be distinctly lacking, but my virtual day is rich and exciting.
I check CNN, NPR and NYTimes incessantly and every time something peaks my interest, I post a comment and a link on Facebook.
I have several blogs that I follow and after reading them I generously offer my deep thoughts about what was written.
I comment on friends’ pictures, posts, statuses, links and even their lack of those things. (“You haven’t posted anything in days! Where did you go?”)
I troll Amazon for good deals, check out their latest recommendations for me. I order things at one sixteenth their actual-world cost and then brag about it to all my virtual friends.
Between my laptop, my cell phone and my remote control, I’m connected to the entire universe. Without the internet I would be going stir crazy in my house. (Of course, without it I might also be compelled to walk out into the bright light of day and find an actual life.)
But think about it: What makes a full life?
- A rich social life? Thanks to the internet, I speak to more
people on a daily basis than I ever could just walking around outside. And I’m only friends with people online that I know from real life. Some of those friends live hundreds or thousands of miles away. Some of them I would have to cross oceans to speak to in actual life. 
A fulfilling career? Currently, I work as a freelancer. I’m a writer. I used to work full time at a newspaper – one of the industries suffering the most in the current economic climate. There is nothing I did at my job that I cannot do from my laptop, in the comfort of my bedroom, lounging in my pjs. And, in fact, the freelance work I do now is the column and listings that were a large part of my full time job. And as to my co-workers – In the office all of us sit facing our computers, not looking at each other. I would carry on e-mail conversations with people who sat ten feet from me. I still do though now we’re miles apart.
A close and loving family life? I spend more time with my family than I ever did before. I take a break from editing listings to get a cup of tea from the kitchen and while I’m there I stop to talk to my dad. If my brother needs a ride somewhere, I’m there to give him one. And since I’m not fighting rush hour traffic to get home from work, I can cook a real dinner and we can sit down together and eat it. And the dog is certainly getting a lot more attention than he used to.
I, like most people, always used to talk about all of the things I would do if I didn’t have to spend eight hours out of five days out of every week at a job. First of all, I would look fabulous because I would finally be able to work out everyday. I’d finally get my first novel written. Read the classics. All the little things that I let slide before would be done.
My life would be polished, managed, perfect.
So maybe it’s not any of those things. But who’d want that anyway? Sounds boring to me. And 
maybe the trick to this routine-less life is to fill it, to find a routine, one of your own making, instead of one dictated by a company.
Maybe I spend most of my day in the virtual world, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile place in which to be. It’s a virtual life, well-lived.
You make some great observations. I think there is definitely something to be said for getting out and actually meeting with your friends face to face, but online socialization can be perfectly worthwhile too.