Daniel Sieberg - The Digital Diet: The 4-step plan to break your tech addiction and regain balance in your life

Copyright 2011 by Daniel Sieberg

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

THREE RIVERS PRESS and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

eISBN: 978-0-307-88739-9

Cover design by Jim Massey

v3.1

For my darlings, Shanon and Kylie,
and everyone who helps
me untangle the wires

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3.

Alice Kahn, author of
Multiple Sarcasm

Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic.

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey

B race yourself, for this is the wired world in which we live: for only $29.95 (plus shipping and handling) you can be the proud owner of the Wrist Cell Phone Carrier. What is the Wrist Cell Phone Carrier, you ask? I can best describe it thus: imagine gluing a wooden Popsicle stick to the back of your cell phone, so that the top half of the stick is attached to the phone and the bottom half of the stick is exposed. Like a cell-phone Popsicle. Then, while cradling the device in your hand as though you might make a call, use pink duct tape to strap the remaining stick portion to your wrist. There may be some Velcro involved, too, but thats pretty much it. This state-of-the-art accessory is designed to help you carry your cell phone everywhere you go and ease the strain on your arm and hand as you hold it next to your ear for prolonged periods.

Although this sounds like a story from the Onion, I assure you this is a very real product; Ive seen it in the pages of a SkyMall catalog. Its for sale. People buy it.

Lets face it: the Wrist Cell Phone Carrier is indicative of our larger problem with technology dependenceweve become so attached to so many products and services that we need crutches to help us soldier on. Its all made us disconnected and disoriented. Its time to hit the reset button.

Before you stand on your soapbox (made of old video-game consoles or VCRs) and shake your fist in the air, please know that Im not trying to stand in the way of the American dream of spontaneous consumption. I love technology and I always will. From Internet memes to video games. Ive covered all things digital for more than a dozen years as a reporter for ABC News, CBS News, and CNN, to name a few, and I consider myself a proud geek at heart. But Ive come to recognize that sometime in the last decade weve transitioned from being a culture that uses technology to being one that is completely absorbed by it. The sheer volume began to overwhelm us, and the swelling flood of gadgets and Web sites and doodads started to align into a force that invaded our lives.

The force hit, not like a nuclear explosion, but like the slow invasion of an ant colony. Ive watched massive colonies of millions of army ants come to life at night in the jungles of Costa Rica. There is no noise, no perceived aggression, and not even a hostile undertone. They simply push forward and devour whatever is in their path. Now, is technology killing us like a wave of army ants? With a few exceptions, like distracted driving and mind-sucking YouTube videos, not literally. But it may be systematically, silently, and imperceptibly destroying parts of our lives that we hold dear.

Its time to look more deeply at our actions, to pull back for a time and then reshuffle our reliance on technology to make it work for us instead of the other way around. Theres no turning backthe rate at which technology is infused into our lives will only accelerate. We need to accept that premise. Think of it like having to eat but empowering yourself to choose the best foods and mealtimes and following a steady exercise plan. The same goes for technology. The Digital Diet will help you turn yourself into a high-powered, high-efficiency communicator.

This book contains a plan for slimming down the use of everything from gadgets to social networks to video games in the hope of making yourself healthier, happier, and whole in the twenty-first century. To accomplish this goal, we will explore better tech management, examine ways to streamline use of everyday devices like your smart phone, and heighten awareness of how technology affects our (real) lives and those around us.

Through a step-by-step, dietary-style approach, the Digital Diet will help improve your connections with the world around you and the people you love. Its about being present in the momentthe moments that matterand having the tools to maintain that mind-set for a lifetime. Youll learn how an overdose of devices and services has harmed our overall health: physically, mentally, and emotionally. To combat those effects, Ill introduce gadgets and applications that can enhance our lives. Its about embracing the stuff that works and shedding the stuff that doesnt. Think of it as computing POWER, being aware of what all this technology is doing to you and your family and having the tools to make smart choices and manage your digital intake in the future.

Believe me, its not too late to change course. And if you know the problem is larger than just you, then the Digital Diet can easily be expanded to include your children or your spouse or other family members, too. There is strength in numbers.

Will there be days when the Digital Diet falls apart? Of course. It happens to me and it will happen to you. There are days when I cant stand trying to limit my indulgence. And there are days when all my gadgets get the best of me. Were not cyborgs (yet). But just as you can eat that whole bag of sour creamandonion potato chips one night and opt for a chicken salad with pine nuts for lunch the next day, the same is true of the Digital Diet, since you can return to it after a lapse. Its a cumulative effect. A marathon, not a sprint.

Its possible that youre reading this book about refining your high-tech appetite through electronic means, like a Kindle or Nook or Sony eReader or iPad. You may have heard about it through a social network or a blog or an e-mail list. So you may be wondering if theres a contradiction in a message about streamlining technology joining forces with todays new media. Not as I see it. Remember that the Digital Diet is about moderation, not elimination; technology should liberate you, not inundate you. The purpose of this book is to reach as many people as possible and share ideas and revelations that Ive gathered and refined. This guidance will naturally migrate online as you share your experiences and in turn help others and offer further suggestions and tips. A book about taming technology can therefore harness its breadth to spread a message (in other words, reading it on your Kindle or Nook is completely acceptable). In computer terminology, this book is not meant as a closed loop. Im starting the chain reaction by writing, but the message should be shaped and molded and fine-tuned over time with the aid of the community at large, including online. Much like us, its meant as a work in progress.