"The computer is electronic cocaine for people" says UCLA’s Peter Whybrow

However, while climbing a volcano or looking at a beautiful lake, suddenly everything shifted into a new perspective. It took that for me to realize that I don't need to be wired all the time. That I don't need to answer an email. That I don't need to dance to other people's conveniences. My life and moments should be my own, and I should still be productive when I sit down to work.

The answer I found was that due to the constant nature of today's communication (mobile, email, sms, skype, google hangouts, etc.) people will tend to encroach on your personal space as long as you let them, this isn't ill intentioned, but it just happens. You may be able to deal with this if it's just 1-2 people, but if there are more then you're going to get stuck answering emails/texts/etc. all day and night.

Now I found that the new Do not disturb feature on iOS 6 really helps me get some rest. I know that I don't want to see any notifications, see any bright screens, etc. at night. I still want to be reachable by phone call in case something happens but push notifications can wait.

Life is better.

I've been getting increasingly concerned about the amount of time I spend staring at screens and generally getting distracted by crap, so I've been taking steps to reduce it. I now use a feature phone, I've totally ditched the iPad in favour of the Kindle, and I'm trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on the computer (that one with mixed success). It's been absolutely fantastic. I've definitely realised that the problem doesn't lie with the gadgets, it lies with me, and the only way to control myself is to restrict my access.

It's definitely been occasionally difficult living without a smartphone, but not impossible. My end-game plan is to replace all my laptops with a single iMac, and to have that in some room that is not my bedroom or my living room, that shuts with a door. We'll see how that one goes. This move has also coincided with me being on a leave of absence which led to me quitting my job, so when I'm back in the real world it will be interesting to see if I really need any of it. I'm betting not, although it will occasionally probably be frustrating.

For a long time we've had the house rule of no laptops at home to keep some separation between free time and work. Recently I bought a Kindle Paperwhite so that I could enjoy my books and Instapaper articles without the distractions my Android tablet used to provide. There was always some interesting notification, be it email or a tweet I need to react to. With Kindle I get my content but nothing else.

At work, the Do not disturb mode that both GNOME3 and OS X have is a good start. I wish Android had something similar built-in.

It may not be good for you in the long term to handle a constant stream of information and get little sleep. But it certainly is expected in many jobs and for general "getting ahead" in life.

So I don't think stopping is simply an individual decision. It would have to be something like a society-wide decision.

"I’ve made a conscious decision to live a life that is not driven by someone else’s priority." Good for the author to willing and able to do that. Some others may indeed not be but other-others may not be able.

This is why we're building what we call a productivity reader at Skim.Me (http://skim.me).

Some people who can't (or think they can't) control themselves digitally have a need for an experience that nudges them towards a healthier, more sustainable relationship with their technology. Skim.Me gives you options to time your sessions and discourages you from spending time in our web app if there's not much content to batch process when you visit. Some other interesting things we're thinking about with aggregate browsing time per day, goal setting, prioritizing/filtering content in certain situations, and more.

Starting to release slowly to small groups in our closed beta (~2,500 signups) in a few weeks. Love to get feedback from some people here who might have a need for our product.

Even while talking to their tablemates, they are constantly distracted. They text, and repeatedly glance up at the wall-mounted TV screens.

Nowhere in that sentence do I see "computer", and yes, I heartily agree that TV in public spaces should be banned. While we're at it, we might want to reconsider billboards, blaring music, etc, etc. But computers? Some of my most relaxing and productive moments have involved them, and that's mostly because they are not locked down and I can choose what to run on them (here's a hint: IM clients are usually off, if installed at all; email's not even open).

http://www.slideshare.net/mingyeow/discovery-is-the-new-coca...

You get to watch three groups, addicts who like being addicted loving more and more who make fun of group2, addicts who consider inanimate and amoral (amoral as in no moral, not bad moral) tools to be worthy of preaching against, and the majority being nonaddicts who find both the interruptions annoying, the touts annoying, and the preachers annoying. A pox on all their houses. The insight is all three groups like to pretend they're the only group that exists.

I would advise that people with addictive personalities probably have a much higher quality of life if they stick to watching TV, pro sports, facebook, and texting, than meth heroin or alcohol. Addicts becoming addicted to texting is not a bug, its a feature... In that way I don't really see a problem. I would advise people with electronic addictions to recognize its a personality bug and shy away from temptations like alcohol ... if you're going to go thru life as an uncontrollable addict, better twitter than meth or better facebook than fortified wine.