In the age of the Internet, two minutes of doing nothing can feel like forever. Just try it with www.donothingfor2minutes.com , the brainchild of Alex Tew. If you move your mouse or hit a key, you fail.

He calls this “Detox from information overload”. His argument is that technology has taken away something from us. It would be cool to let technology give us that back. that thing being a moment of calm.

Information craving behaviour can easily become addictive and beyond control as it is a chemical process and affects our body as any drug. Every time we find something new, we are getting fuelled by tiny kicks of dopamine, one of the brain’s pleasure chemicals. 

For anybody who doesn’t dare this radical method of doing nothing for two minutes use the softer version from the Dutch life coaching institute lsltn (stands for the word “loslaten” what means “let go”). In a booklet you can write your personal list of “Things NOT To Do”, and at the end of the day just tick the boxes next to every not-done-activity. Promises to give you also some pleasure and quality time.

As we are continuously encouraged to do more and to have more, it became difficult to say stop. Multi-tasking is promoted as the ultimate must, every gadget has multiple functions, and advertisements are offering us three units for the price of two. That makes us brainwashed that more has to be our daily mantra. Till we noticed that the human mind needs some time out if you want to avoid a burn-out. 

Nowadays there are rehab programs for all types of addictions and information craving is just the latest one. Meditation courses are booming as well as workshops to declutter your life or extreme holidays where one has to survive on nothing. 

NOTHING became a product itself. It sounds paradox to make such a big business with nothing but if it improves the quality of live, why not?