When I set my mind to a project and give myself strict parameters I am very disciplined. I look at it all as a game. If you break the rules you lose. So at the end of Day 1 I am winning. But not easily.
You see this diet is a great deal more difficult than I had anticipated. I knew I was spending a lot of time wandering cyberspace but had not realized how much until I told myself I couldn’t. And checking email only 4x a day! Well that was something I threw in for fun at the last minute and am finding the most difficult of all.
But I knew I was onto something right with this idea when I got into the elevator in my building last night. A man who lives here walked on, looked at me as if I was intruding on his private space, pressed the button for 12 and then made a call on his cell phone. I had to stop myself from asking if the call was the answer to cleaning up the oil in the Gulf and that was why it couldn’t wait the three minutes until he walked into his apartment.
I read two newspapers cover to cover and flipped through last week’s New York Mag yesterday.
I learned Best Buy is giving away a cell phone application that would allow audiences to use their cell phones during a movie. That’s what we need. More encouragement to not just be with one thing or person at a time.
I’ve decided the Wall Street Journal’s new Greater New York section seems more repurposed articles from the NY Post than the quality that I expect from WSJ journalism. I also found out that one of the most distracted, over booked and self involved doctors I ever went to in New York got himself on the list of Best Doctors 2010. Go figure.
The most interesting part for me is the feeling of separation I am getting as I limit my cyber news intake and read only what I choose. I have an anxiety that I must quell that there might be something going on out there that I won’t know about, some important something that I need to know. Then I remember being in my twenties when I had to go out every Friday night and meet my friends. No matter how I felt or whether I wanted to, I went because I thought I might miss something. That might be the night the next great love of my life was waiting to meet me. But I never missed anything and the loves, well, I always seemed to meet them somewhere else.
It makes me wonder if this new obsession we all have to be constantly in touch and connected is more of an addiction than anything else. Something that is keeping us from ourselves. And as in most addictions to food, or alcohol or sex, can be a good thing when consumed in moderation but can be detrimental to our health when in overdose.
The folks at AA might want to get ready. This could be the new 12 step recovery program for the 21st Century.
So true! We spend so much time not wanting to be left out. Where is the time to look within? I love your tech detox diet!
Hello – I love exercises like this. I did a creative course years ago and one of the weekly tasks was to avoid reading for a week. I nearly went out of my mind. I left my job and went back to painting for a long time. It was a great experience and I do not regret. It’s always about peeling back layers of distraction – good luck.