Mental Detox Week

Adbusters has expanded their long-running TV Turn Off week into "Mental Detox Week".

The idea behind it is that TV isn't the only part of the problem, it's that our entire lives are so mediated by information technologies and electronic entertainment that we're increasingly cut off from real human interaction (not exactly a new theme, but one that bears repeating), and that it would be a worthwhile experiment to try and sever oneself from the electronic umbilicus for just a week. I feel challenged but also pretty damn inspired by the idea, so I'll be using the Internet just to check email, leaving my Ipod at home, not playing any video games, and continuing not to watch any TV.

It's supremely ironic to blog about this, of course, but I'll probably post a report after the week's over. I think it's great that Adbusters has done this, because I know for myself that having quit TV a few months ago, I've held to that pretty well but for the most part spend just as much (if not more) time in front of a screen, and can see some of the signs of Internet addiction taking hold. Maybe it's time for a fast!