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  1. The New York Times CompanyEMILY COCHRANE2/4/185 min
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    The New York Times Company
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    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      5 years ago

      This morning I woke up energized at 5am. I took a long, hot bath before the sun came up and by the time the orange light started peeking up over the horizon I was bundled up and walking around the neighborhood, not looking for anything in particular, but just enjoying the sights and sounds and smells: parents and children piling into cars and trucks, off to school and work, pine, fir, burning wood and cold smoke, lots and lots of silence. By the water, birds. In the woods, squirrels. And, eventually, I in my heated-up camper, sipping coffee, writing poetry (on paper!) and preparing for my first of two or three internet sessions, which usually last about an hour or two and consist of 50% reallyread.it and 50% email.

      I’ve been on the “digital detox” train for years, longer than anyone I know, and I feel like it’s really starting - finally! - to pay off. My life is still full of stressors, large and small, but technology isn’t one of them. Now, even the darkest moments are just opportunities to face my own mortality and without the constant distractions of tech, I can confront it all head on.

      Loneliness is real. Facebook “connection” is not. For me, there’s some value in embracing isolation. It wakes up a part of the psyche I never knew existed.

      reallyread.it needs to exist. I have never known that more than I know now. Quotes like this fuel my fire:

      It sought to address what he described as a widespread complaint: There’s too much news. I need a break.

      #deletefacebook and #deletetwitter isn’t the final answer, but it’s an important and necessary start. Similarly, “unplug from everything” isn’t a realistic or wise solution for anybody. Upstarts like reallyread.it will pave the way forward. We don’t have all the answers, but we have better bones and better values than everything else that’s currently available.

      Reading thoughtfully and writing from the heart will never go out of style. And, sooner than most people realize, thoughtfulness will be rewarded on the web. In the earliest hours of the day, it’s impossible not to believe that everything is in order and everything gets better.