paulmignard

So the trend in my circle of friends and family on facebook seems to be the idea of going on a detox. I’ve seen all kinds: fruit and veggie, water, snapple, clam and mushroom, boars head cheese and salami, etc. Apparently the idea is that by staying away from all of the delicious foods that we…well, I…consume everyday that they’ll emerge with more control, less weight, and ready to begin a new life free and devoid of the vices that got them there. Sounds great, not something I would be ready for…or would I? See, I’ve been having problems lately with data. Blogs, books, articles, magazines, newspapers, handouts – you name it – I consume it. I have so much advice across so many disciplines come across my eyeballs everyday that it’s almost ludicrous. I get up early to empty my blog reader, I use my lunch break to read email newsletters, I use the drive to and from work to listen to podcasts and I spend about an hour a night tearing through facebook, checking digg and reddit, and making my nightly pass around the blog reader, and I usually spend some time each night reading some sort of non-fiction book. As I type this out I think I’m actually getting a little nauseous…

So, I’m thinking it’s time for an information detox. I need to lay off the continuous stream that seems to be clouding my life and instead opt for things that bring results and satisfaction. So, starting now until March 1st, I’m going to abide by the following rules:

1. No blog reader. If I’m searching for info that’s one thing, but to sit down and read everything that spills out of there is really quite the chore. When I’m done, I feel like I need to trim that thing down…

2. Podcasts are ok – but the list needs to be trimmed.

3. No digg, reddit, popurls, failblog, or other junk media sites. I don’t think I’m going to miss these – I can’t remember more than one of the things I saw on there today despite having just spent 20 minutes checking them all out.

4. Sitting down at the computer needs to require a plan and a purpose. No idle surfing because there’s nothing better to do.

5. Facebook is ok, but only once a day.

6. Books are ok too, but try to read something fun and not necessarily educational.

This has been a long time coming – I’ll post some updates to let you know how it goes. I’m off to delete some often used bookmarks…