Last night, I made the commitment to my house that I would take an Internet fast to be Web free. That meant that once I got home from work, there would be no email, RSS reader, wikipedia or even blogging. It was rough, but I managed.

What did I do instead of catching up on news?

• Walked around the neighborhood for 45 minutes, enjoying the night
• Chatted with my housemates while they cooked
• Watched TV (live and on a real television!) for the first time in…six weeks?
• Enjoyed my real life social network

Sometimes we Netizens and social media enthusiasts can get so involved in our online life, that we forget about the off-line one.

Moving forward, I resolve:

• I don’t have to know when my Facebook friends update their photos, leave wall comments or Superpoke each other; that’s what the newsfeed is for.
• I don’t have to read every RSS feed in my reader.
• Emails can wait until the next day.
• I can manage my Internet consumption and count my click-ories.
• I will take an Internet fast once every two weeks to unplug and cleanse myself of over-stimulation.
• Web 2.0 startups launch and get bought everyday. I don’t have to know the minute it happens. Same can be said about a Facebook user-privacy violation.
• I can spend as much time maintaining my real-life relations as I do blogger-relations.

What do you do when you are taking an Internet fast? How do you keep from being over-stimulated? What have you done lately to stick to a healthy Web consumption?

[Above photo by malias on flickr used under Creative Commons license.]

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