Leave the great indoorsnotes on the journey

There’s a famous quote by Guy Almes that I’m reminded of almost daily, because it describes me way too perfectly:

There are three kinds of death in this world. There’s heart death, there’s brain death, and there’s being off the network.

I read two articles yesterday that really brought the perils of this kind of information and network addiction home for me.  The first is an article entitled iPhone users are delusional, consultants say.  I didn’t even need to read the article to know that this describes me, but I went for it anyway.  Here are some excerpts:

Many people I know are frightfully attached to their iPhones. They treat them as if they were a peculiar and exotic lover, one they can hardly believe they have managed to seduce.  Apple has mugged millions of people with its beauty, dragged them off to a very dark cellar in some barren land, turned them into slightly bonkers Barbarellas, and then recruited them as soldiers for the cause.  In reality, the iPhone is surrounded by a multitude of people, media, and companies that are happy to bend the truth to defend the product they have purchased from Apple.

Yep, guilty as charged.  Totally addicted to my iPhone.  And not proud of it… Another recent quote I read goes even further about Apple’s seductive powers:

Unwrapping a new iPod is like undressing your girlfriend for the first time.  When you get a new iPod, you open up the packaging really slowly. Everything looks really nice. The packaging is perfect; so crisp. It makes you fall in love with the product before even using it.

By the way, if you’re interested in this topic, I also highly recommend the article How will psychologists describe the iPhone syndrome in the future?

The second piece I read was from a brilliant collection of essays by more than 60 thought leaders about where we are and where we’re going.  It’s called What Matters Now, and I recommend you download, print, and read it over the holidays.  It’s great stuff.  Anyway, one of the essays that really struck me was Enough by the always brilliant Merlin Mann.  I’m just going to quote the whole thing here:

Sometimes, I forget to eat lunch. So, 3:30 arrives, and I attack an infant-sized hillock of greasy takeout. I inhale it, scarcely breathing, a condemned man with minutes ‘til dawn.

Two minutes after stopping, yes; I feel like I’m going to die. Filled with regret and shrimp-induced torpor, I groan the empty promise of the glutton: “never again.”

What happened? How’d I miss when I’d had enough?

I wonder the same thing about folks who check for new email every 5 minutes, follow 5,000 people on Twitter, or try to do anything sane with 500 RSS feeds.

Some graze unlimited bowls of information by choice. Others claim it’s a necessity of remaining employed, landing sales, or “staying in the loop.” Could be. What about you?

How do you know when you’ve had “enough?”

Not everything, all the time, completely, forever. Just enough. Enough to start, finish, or simply maintain.

Unfortunately, foodbabies only appear after it’s too late. And, if your satiety’s gauged solely by whether the buffet’s still open, you’re screwed. Like the hypothalamus-damaged rat, you’ll eat until you die.

Before the next buffet trip, consider asking, “How do I know what I need to know — just for now?”

Then savor every bite.

And this is where I should stop, because I just can’t say it any better than that.  I’m guessing I’m not the only one with this weird information addiction, so let’s do this: Not to commit you to do something you don’t want to do, but I think our New Year’s Resolution should be to check our email less frequently, and maybe get our RSS feeds down to 50 or less.  Or does anyone have a better idea?  Small steps, right?