Would you be better off with a data diet?

I’m sure it would be good for me. I have been forced to do it before. It was hard but actually more manageable than I thought. Still, the thought of doing it again makes me antsy.

Good for you. I had a couple of days off from work, and frittered away a lot of it on the computer.

I’m planning to look into software to block web sites during certain hours.

It is going to kill you. Really. It is going to be very hard for you. Like stopping smoking. But totally doable.

I just did it a few months ago. But that was because Comcast is horrible and took two weeks to get the internet going when I moved.

It was right around the time Apple released Swift and I had downloaded everything I needed to learn for that.

So pick a project and go balls deep. You will live and when you come back you will notice how the interent hasn’t changed. We will still all be assholes. At least on Reddit.

I love the idea of ___ diets. I do this with lots of things. It’s a good way to really figure out which things in your life are pulling the strings the hardest.

A week seems reasonable, but you might find that a month is more reasonable. When cutting something big like this, the first week can be the toughest. Extending that time can bring some great insight into the complex relationship you have with that thing.

Many years ago I did a 30-day television fast. It turned into 12 years. And I’ve never really gone back. I take months off of caffeine occasionally, and I make 30-day promises to myself to rid myself of products and behaviors that I feel I’m too comfortable with. It’s a great exercise.

As for this particular diet (data – internet in particular), I would lose my job and my income. So, I’m unable to do this one. But I’d love to – not because I feel that it’s harmful to me or that it’s bad overall. I’m just so close to it all. If I could go on a month retreat, I think I would learn so much about its real effects on me – and be able to see ways in which I might alter my current behavior.

I didn’t cut back completely but I cut out my most poisonous websites (reddit, tumblr). I’m only two days in and feeling a little better already.

I had to involuntarily for about two weeks because the wifi was out here until my landlord got his computer fixed.

It was annoying but I survived.