As an on-line etiquette consultant, I monitor my site 24/7.  First thing in the morning, I answer questions from those who wrote me late at night or who live in other time zones.  Going out the door for dinner, I often find a question that I have to answer, even if it means that I’ll be more than fashionably late. Checking my Web site is the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing that I do before turning off the light.

Some questions take only a couple of minutes to answer, others can take three hours to properly cover all the bases. No day is ever the same. One question will inspire a new chapter for my book.  Another will change my whole take on a tricky etiquette dilemma.  

Having a Web site as a research tool is one of the best things I’ve ever done.  All thanks to my brilliant agent, Esmond Harmsworth, who recently inspired a new entry on canine dinner party etiquette for my book on manners in our time.  

Last week, Esmond e-mailed "A very low-key invitation" for a grilled lamb barbecue mentioning that canines would be welcome.  As it turned out, the celebration was in honor of Eloise’s fifth birthday.  The party for the beloved yellow Lab was a huge success despite the fact that a couple of rowdy guests had to be sent home or taken out to the car.  Some guests were on leashes.  The more mature, relaxed guests knew how to behave and freely roamed the house and grounds.  The French Poodles seemed to have the most difficulty socializing.  

Needless to say, writing the on-line thank-you note was a challenge for this etiquette consultant. 

Like anything else these days, I think the time spent on-line should be in moderation. I spend all day in front of my PC. (office manager) only a part of that is on-line.

I have actually known marriages and lives ruined by the Internet. It can be very addictive, especially the social networking sites. The personal sites doesn’t help any either.

The Internet is a good thing for a lot of reasons, then again, it can be bad for a lot of reasons too.

I tend to spend a LOT of time online. I don’t have TV, so I watch some programs online; I have a small business that I run online; my courses that I teach all have an online component where I need to add content and notes and communicate with my students; I keep in touch through Facebook with friends; I do most of my research at online data sources; pay bills online; check my favorite blog-sites; read my newspapers and magazines … holy moly! I live online!

I bought my first computer in 1998 and I have been online ever since, well, except when I go on vacations, during dinner, etc.

America is a nation of moving people. The ones that stay in the same place are few, I fear. Because of the internet I am in contact with people I have known 38 years ago. I have friends all over the world: England, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, China, Australia, Greece, California, Texas, Alaska, New York, Georgia, and South Carolina. Imagine the opportunities for vacations that I have and I do. I design web sites for my friends and family, and myself. I have a very real interest in the life that goes on within the internet and I do consider it an important part of my life experience. Especially now that my mother has passed away and my children are grown with families of their own. 

It’s way too easy to hack into e-mail accounts—only a misdemeanor if caught and a low priority item for the FBI.  Here’s more info on this:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/09/07/E-mail-passwords-easy-prey-for-hackers/UPI-58031252328455/ 

i have been online since april of 97. first it started out with webtv. i couldn’t afford a pc, but still wanted to be online. it really was a great way to spend when i had my radical hysterectomy not soon after i hooked up with the net. yes, it was pretty exciting even tho i was so limited on webtv. then in 98 we got a used computer and stopped using the webtv. wow, what a world opened up for me and my family. the pc did so much more that the webtv did. you could go to more than one page at a time and you could chat in color. lol!

myself and my two adult children would take turns being online. it was great. they were able to reconnect with their father and his family. they were also able to reconnect with childhood friends lost (we moved a lot when they were young) and forgotten. my son has been able to sell his art online also and even got some pictures published in a RPG (role playing game book). it has opened up a whole new world for us. 

i would say we are online sometimes day and night. when you live on a fixed income (or no income like myself at this time) because you are retired it helps to keep you abreast of the world and your friends. i save tons of money IMing friends from all over the country and the world. i send pics to family and friends taken instantly on my cell phone. 

since we now have 3 used pcs to play with we no longer have to share the computer so we can go on or not anytime we want. my grandson is so used to seeing me at the kitchen table typing away, that when he is in trouble and i’m about to converge on him, he will try to push me to the table and sit me down in the chair saying, "NANA, BUTT NOW!" and point to my comfortable pc chair at the kitchen table. (it’s so cute, but of course i cannot laugh because then he will think he is getting away with something. usually i say, "NO, nana butt!" and dole out whatever punishment is needed at the time. 

i also save cute videos on my desktop just for him to see. he has his favorites. one is of a cat that is messing around with a copy machine and eventually falls completely off the cabinet next to it. he loves it, it’s "bad keke!" to him. his favorite button is the escape button on my daughters PC. he waits until she is right in the middle or at the end of a letter she is writing and he will push escape and then run. (he is a brat!). 

even tho i’m on it so much, i still find time to watch a little tv, clean house, play games and stuff with my grandson and cook meals. so yes, i’m hooked on the internet and couldn’t do without it. i still get out of the house and meet friends in person. i have also met at least 30 ppl face to face that i have talked to online. so it’s not just a bunch of ppl in chat, many have really become good friends.

also i have found groups like freecycle (www.freecycle.org) to keep our landfills free by posting things that i don’t want so other ppl can use them. then there is Craigslist for giving away or selling stuff online. both have opened up new worlds for me in the form of helping others get what they need. i will peruse the posts of both. sometimes ppl give away brand new items. i have gotten some really nice stuff for free. also sometimes somebody will need something and i will have it. so i will email them about picking it up. it makes me feel like i have really helped somebody and myself.

i also listen to music from sites such as youtube and dailymotion. i love the old music videos of the 80’s and 90’s and will dance around the kitchen to them (that’s my exercise. lol). i also get great recipes for anything i want to cook. 

i do belong to facebook and now am accepted by my own ex brothers in laws and their kids (it helped when we needed to round everybody up for a visit to california to show off the grandson). i LOVE the internet and see nothing wrong with spending the majority of my time on it. as long as i still spend time with family and friends. that i do!!!

How much time spent online depends upon the nature of the research project underway. It’s easy to spend hours with online resources like the National Archives, Library of Congress, university libraries, historical societies, various museums, Google Books, genealogical document sites, etc. along with query e-mails and other correspondence.

For purely personal usage I check in periodically throughout the day - email, news, forums,etc. - maybe two hours cumulative.