Dreams and the Internet Connection

Recently, I awoke from a dream in the middle of the night and had an experience that made me see a connection between my mind while dreaming and surfing the Internet.

I didn’t remember all the details of my dream but the phrase, “back when I could fly” stayed with me. Now unable to sleep, I went to my computer to clear my mind and I wondered about that phrase from the dream, so I looked it up on the computer.

This led me to a YouTube video of a man at a renaissance fair singing “Back When I Could Fly.” Seeing the original artist from videos on the side of the page, I searched a Wikipedia article about the band, which led me to clicking on a link within the article.

Then, I checked my Twitter feed, saw a tweet responder that I didn’t know, clicked on their profile, which led to their website, which led to… which led to… which led to…

Like many people, my dreams frequently start in one scenario, then—through some linking element within the dream—shift to another. It’s a series of shifting and shifting, with no way to stop it until I finally wake up.

After awhile on the Internet that night, I realized I was doing the same thing while browsing on the Internet. Going from one link to another, my mind drawn from one place to the next, without any sense of time, and no idea when I was going to stop.

Dream details that stay with me after waking, usually disappear from memory as the day goes on. Just like most of what I see when casually surfing the Internet does.

I may not be able to control my dreams or when they end, but maybe I can be more conscious about my time on the Internet. What else could I do instead during that time that would be more fulfilling?