You could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it. If your heart is bleeding, make the best of it. There is heat in freezing, be a testament.”

Brain Pickings takes a different approach to the issue of connectedness. Their introduction to this video by Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman: "Modernity offers a curious paradox of connectedness and loneliness. Our perpetually networked selves cling to constant communication in an effort to avoid the deep-seeded sense of loneliness we so dread. Somewhere along the way, we forget — or maybe never even learn — how to be alone, how to stay contented in our own company."

Bits Blog readers responded to the challenge with some fairly entertaining self-produced videos. There are some sad truths in there—when one man stopped taking text messages and asked friends to call if anything was important, they instead started texting his wife and asking her to relay the message.

But stepping away from the immediate withdrawal, many saw a benefit to getting new perspective on how much information they take in every day. Going further, the Bits post recommends anyone feeling like they're similarly overwhelmed to log their data input like a diet. Write down when you check Twitter, how often you're on email, responding to texts—just like logging food and calories in a diet journal.

So you've probably seen the Times article about vacation, your brain and computers. I'm thinking this diet approach makes more sense than the cold turkey route. I also remember blogging On Vacation and Looking for Wi-Fi earlier this year.

Words, a fantastic new episode of WNYC’s always-excellent Radiolab, examines the importance of words by imagining a world without them. From a look at Shakespeare’s linguistic chemistry to a first-hand account of what it’s like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke (yep, we’re talking about Jill Bolte Taylor of blockbuster TED Talk fame) to a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life and revealed the worldview-changing insight that everything has a name, the hour-long program offers a profound perspective shift in this currency of our day-to-day that we take for granted.

This looks too good to miss.

Government's different now," said Ressler, who now runs GovLoop full time. "Why shouldn't citizens be able to report emergencies on Twitter? Or take a picture of a pothole on their cellphone?''

From a Washington Post article in the next generation of government employees. Trying to contact VDOT from your car is way more difficult than it needs to be (and most inquiries or complaints are ignored anyway). Have raised this exact issue with Fairfax County and gotten nowhere. Have mostly been told to take a number and sit down. We'll get to it when we can.