I’ve been thinking of a small life experiment. It is brought on by a combination of things.
First, I’ve spending a lot of time lurking at dKos and BMT, becoming as informed as I think I have ever been in my life. I might best be described as a lab rat punching the refresh button in order to get my next fix of instant access information.
Second, the price tag for gaining this information has become something of a burden. I feel kind of isolated from regular people, because most of them are not accessing the information. They are still drinking the Kool Aid, and blissfully ignorant, and just don’t want to hear about it all.
Third, my alienation has me thinking about two iconic cultural ideas, one old and one new. The first is Walden – the idea of getting back to the basics to examine one’s life. And, the second is from the movie Super-Size Me – the idea of experimentally immersing oneself into the culture.
And these thoughts, have led me to my little life experiment.
Starting Monday morning, I’m chucking my daily routine of scouring the Internet for news. For the rest of the summer (to August 31) no more reading the truly informative stuff on dKos and BMT. Or anywhere else on the Internet. No T.V. news. I’m going to get all my information from the NYT.
No more interactive conversations analyzing the news. Just read the Times. Get the same information that is available through the MSM – about twenty-four hours later than those of you who are so well informed on these sites.
My goals are two. One, clear my head and re-connect to the folks who have not been unplugged from the Matrix, while spending less overall time pursuing the news. And two, write a series of diaries giving some insight into what people out there in the world, who are not connected to the blog world are hearing and thinking. (I know – how can you give up blogging and still write diaries? I’ll squint my eyes so as not to read the headlines – scout’s honor.)
