Experimental Haiatus from ATS!!

In my quest to forever remain objective about all things, I thought to myself that maybe getting all of my news and information from this site was getting in the way. With that in mind, I conducted an experiment to see what would happen if I went just a week without logging into this site.

Day 1-3: Massive withdrawals. I didn't even want to get on the computer because the allure would have been to great. I still had that bubbling anger inside that comes from knowing that everything in the world around you is wrong. I wanted to spread the word and do my best to wake up the sheeple. I filled my time by working out a little more and watching more TV.

Day 4-5: I found myself beginning to forget about my passions as I was watching more TV. I still did not watch the news, but did watch more sports and regular programming. Every once in a while a topic would pop up that would stoke the flames inside me again up they quickly subsided after the spot was over. I noticed I was becoming more selfish and only caring about what happened to me and not to my neighbors and country.

Day 6-7: I felt almost normal again. Its sad really that the selfish, uncaring feeling felt normal. To be back in among the sleeping, it was almost like going back and taking the "blue pill." My thoughts occasionally floated back to this site and what kinds of crazy and scary things I might find. I started to think that the people on here were the crazy ones with all of the half-baked ideas that they come up with. I had forgotten that while some ARE crazy on here, most are looking for the truth and work had to find it and provide that truth to others.

Conclusion 1: Tired of all the doom and gloom? Can't take the suspense any more? Take a week or two off and then decide if you really want to come back. I found that it is possible to rejoin society and the sleeping masses quite easily. Not everyone can handle everything that they find on here and it can be exhausting. The power of TV and societal norms are deafening and all you must do is tune in and listen to them again.

Conclusion 2: TV is full of s***. People that fill their minds with it are filled with the same s***. ATS is a better news source by far because it is unfiltered. You must still decide what is true and what is not but you get everything along with opinions on every conceivable topic. It is my opinion that the average ATS member is more informed than 95% of the country.

Question: Has anyone else ever done this? What were the results? Will anyone else give this a shot?

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


I tried it with similar results. I am back now though.... It is hard to be away right now. Especially when you consider how much craziness is going on in the world. The fleecing of the taxpayers, I mean the 700 billion dollar bail out, the election, CERN, crazy Somali pirates, Iran, banks collapsing.... etc. I just have to make sure that I am not the only one that is a little worked up about the state of the world.

It seems that my choice now is to either stay away from ATS and suffer alone or come here and take comfort in the fact that there are other people out there that are as crazy as I am. It seems to be a safer alternative to actually being put in an asylum.

reply to post by Karlhungis


Yeah, it is a very scary time to not be informed. I also take comfort in knowing that I am not the most paranoid person on the planet and that there are others like me in this community that think the same way.

Metaphorically, aren't most of the people today in an asylum? Actions strictly monitored or possibly influenced? Allowed to act however they please until some authority figure says they cant?

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel

Metaphorically, aren't most of the people today in an asylum? Actions strictly monitored or possibly influenced? Allowed to act however they please until some authority figure says they cant?

Yes, much like your Avatar. All under the watchful eye.

Originally posted by SuperSecretSquirrelQuestion: Has anyone else ever done this? What were the results? Will anyone else give this a shot?

Yep. Multiple year hiatus.
Results: Spent less time in front of the computer, got married, career change, became a parent, less stress, stopped being afraid every time I looked over my shoulder. Everything on TV is indeed poo. I've gotten my news online for years now and I continue to do so.
I thought things would be different here after several years but amusingly enough not much has changed. Sure, there are plenty of new names and new ideas, new forums, new features, but overall it's still the same ATS. That's not a bad thing for the most part. It's amusing how little some people have changed. *grins*
I came back because I needed a more open-minded audience to bounce ideas off of with the economic crisis. My usual online haunt is a little too sarcastic and brash to get the finer points out into open discussion.

As to looking over my shoulder...I guess at this point I should be afraid, what with the world going to hell in a handbasket, huh?

I was about to make a post similar to this, but I was going to ask the question of weather or not people thought ATS made them more paranoid and, perhaps, adds a tinge of alarmism to the reader.

It is true that if you "unplug", you notice your worries start to fade. That is what I call normal and not necessarily "sleeping". I wouldn't spend any time worrying about the national debt on a camping trip, but I wouldn't say that makes me ignorant so much as, eh, preoccupied with more important things like making a fire, roasting marshmallows and fighting grizzly bears. Yeah.

I stopped watching TV with any regularity a long time ago and what I do watch online tends to be information of my choosing and I still heavily filter what is being "cast" at me.

I am always wary of being manipulated by adverts and social pressures, but feel I am far from being in anyone's crosshairs due to my unimportantness.

Lately, though, ATS is the ticket man. Where else can you get a smattering of everything? Sure, it gets posted with the conspirational twist added by said poster, but you can get pretty much all of the important national headlines along with, well, everything else and I happen to find most of it interesting and at least worth a peak.

I don't really care what people say about the 3 amigos sellin out. We all know that time is limited and the best things don't tend to last long enough, but I just take that as a hint that we're not supposed to stagnate.
I always seem to show up to parties just as they are ending anyways, so I wouldn't expect this case to be any different if ATS is on the decline like some have said.
I am sure when I finally get around to hitting up Burning Man, there'll be a starbucks on the playa. I don't see this as being my fault as much as an indication of other people being hasty and impatient.

Keep on husslin. I'll catch up eventually.

I think that I am going to coin the phrase 'ATSOL" or Above Top Secret Overload if it hasn't been done already. All of you doomsdayers out there might be suffering from this and should consider trying the experiment above.