We just installed Windows10 on my computer. We removed almost all the applications that came with it.

I decided I didn’t need apps that allow me to automatically sort pix, give me media access to shows and movies (I’d rather watch them at the local theater with friends and neighbors), and keep my music list up to date. Also, I don’t need apps for instant weather reports and several live news feeds. Don’t forget Xbox and video game apps.

Each of us has our own list of what is helpful and what isn’t, but how do we cope with the massive demands for real time inclusion?

Consider access to news feeds. The news is bad enough when I read it at a time of my choosing. Unless a big news event is breaking, I usually check news once a day from The Seattle Times on my iPad and the headlines from a favored news service, plus one news correspondent on Twitter. I don’t need more real time depression raining on my day.

Sometimes I feel like a puppet with a million strings, each pulled by someone trying to sell me something, including ideas. Quiet time, meditation, thinking—we have to fight for these like we have to fight the currents of mass consumerism.

We can win back our precious time only through a conscious decision to avoid what is not useful.

We start from the positive: what do we want our lives to be? (Do add a few fun things for spice.) Then we delete all that don’t contribute.