Think about the demands for attention in the 21st century. The clamoring cacophony, if you will.

Television viewing - broadcast, cable and satellite - gets, on average, four hours of time from each U.S. citizen daily (*). If I average a week, I’d say two hours of each day finds me in front of the TV.

The scary part is someone’s making up for me.

But, let’s not forget time in front of the computer. Forty hours per week over seven days is about five hours and forty five minutes of screen time daily for work. Often, I spend a few hours on my laptop when I get home from work (writing, research, paying bills, etc.)

That means screen time makes up almost 10 of my waking hours daily. Since I admit to surfing the Web and the TV simultaneously at times, the real attention time may prove lower.

Lower number or not, I feel somehow dirty when I think about it.

I argue that I allot my mindshare well: I make a living, run my house and try to entertain myself. TV and the Web make these tasks easy. In fact, the ease of these pursuits entices, and one often grows enwrapped.

With that in mind, I remind myself and my two readers to back away from the screen - be it television or computer. Relax. Read a book. Break out that vinyl copy of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and bask in mellow with a cup of tea. Do some yoga.

But, whatever you do, come back soon to read the next post.