Thanks to Tonic for pointing me towards Mark Malkoff’s unusual retreat from supposed Internet addiction: by spending 5 days offline, in the bathroom. Malkoff’s stunt was clearly more relevant as fodder for his online videos that as an insightful investigation into Internet compulsion. If anything, it left me even more convinced that this whole flurry of professed “Internet addiction” and “Internet fasting” is the wilding of our time: a phenomenon that exists primarily in the form of media. Except this time, the media flurry isn’t driven by print and broadcast: it’s driven by bloggers, tweeters and YouTubers who are happy to use the tales of addiction and recovery as their latest round of material.
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