Somewhere in my distant past I disavowed consumer culture. Pretty easy. I wasn’t into material things anyway.

Later, I left behind a lot of what passes for food today. Since our affinities for salt, sugar and fat are probably chemical, that’s been more difficult. But I’ve made friends with the occasional fall from grace.

Now, I’d like to close my ears and eyes to the 24-hour stock car race of today’s news. It’s too difficult to tease out serious journalism and opinion from the mind-numbing verbal and visual morass around them.

I’m finding it surprisingly difficult, maybe because I’ve long been a print news junkie: In the post-paper world, I had my iPad surgically attached to my hand. But now it seems a waste. An hour spent with today’s media is like newly-emptied bag of chips: “What was I thinking?”

And yet, like a bad car crash, I just can’t seem to look away.