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Back in the Atkins/Food Combining/South Beach fad diet battles there was a guy...
He had a big white beard and had not finished Medical School and wrote a book on healthy living/eating. One of his interesting chapters was about doing an "Information Fast".
His assertion is that TV, newspapers, magazines, the internet, music, etc., was all designed to stimulate you, to rile you up, to gain your attention. Weeks, months of this constant stimulation can over-whelm you, silently.
His suggestion was that for a weekend you turn off the TV, don't read magazines or newspapers or use the computer. You can listen to ... classical or jazz music but that's it. Just take the 2 days to cook, exercise, do something with a spouse or kids, garden, paint a room, etc.
I did this one weekend, and it was hard. But on Monday I actually enjoyed going to work and plugging back in. I did not miss anything important.
I remember having to turn off the cable box at my house during the week because the daughters were rushing through their homework to watch TV (and doing a crappy job). They had gotten into the 'tv habit'. I forced them to pick the 2-3 shows we all liked each night, we recorded them and sat down on Friday evening to watch the shows.
So I suspect we have all gotten into the 'information habit'. A lot of the stuff we do on-line - is not really all that important. But it has crept up on us and we have become quietly addicted.
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