Patched back into the world's mixing board

The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television. --Brian O'Blivion, Videodrome


In David Cronenberg's groundbreaking film Videodrome, Brian O'Blivion's Cathode Ray Mission allows homeless people the chance to watch lots of TV, which O'Blivion believes is just as crucial as providing food, clothing and shelter. By watching endless TV-blather, homeless persons relearn social-interactions and regain the necessary media-awareness and abilities they have lost by being disconnected.

Watching TV will help patch them back into the world's mixing board... Where else do we learn how to act in a socially acceptable way?-- Bianca O'Blivion, Videodrome

~*~

I didn't have internet service for 5 days. I would almost compare it to drug withdrawal. No doubt, it's as bad as television withdrawal. Brian and Bianca (see above) were right; I felt as if I had been disconnected from the world's mixing board. I took necessary refuge in my second drug of choice, Law and Order reruns.

After the third day (suitably biblical), I felt better, actually more at peace and thinking in whole chapters, rather than in sentences or paragraphs.

When is the last time you took an extended internet break? For how long? I've taken blog-breaks for sure, but few wholesale internet breaks, usually only for a weekend at a stretch. None for as long as 5 days! (I have often wondered if I COULD, frankly; this was totally without my consent, or I probably wouldn't have taken this one!)

What did you notice, whilst disconnected?