Internet Down? It's an Opportunity, Not an Annoyance

Do you gnash your teeth and pull your hair when your Internet connection goes out? I suspect that most of us -- at least those of us who rely on the Internet for work purposes -- do. I've been known to leave my home office with my laptop, in desperate search for a wireless hotspot, rather than wait out any downtime.

But there's a flip side to the enforced disconnect, as Celine Roque noted when she wrote about Internet-free zones in Web Worker Daily (and thanks to Lifehacker for linking to the post). Roque points out that you can actually use the unexpected "break" to improve your productivity -- if you look at it as an opportunity for increased focus.

After all, if you're not being distracted by the pinging of your e-mail, or the lure of Facebook or the latest movie reviews, chances are you'll do a better job of prioritizing your to-do list and actually singletasking for a while.

In fact, Roque advocates creating no-Internet zones (for her, these include the dining table and her bedroom) to reduce the distractions surfing the Web provides. You can also create windows of time during your day or week where you voluntarily pull the plug on your Internet to pump up your productivity, or pay closer attention to the other things in your life that matter, like family and recreation.

For more insights, read Roque's entire post. And share any experiences you've had with consciously disconnecting from the Internet in the comments section.