For seven days I didn't have salt, meat or CNN. My mornings began without Morning Joe or Morning Edition; I saw sunrise on a mountain hike, not with a clicker in my hand. There's nothing like a little media fast to remind you how little it costs to be a bit out of it.

You can check whether Tim Tebow is Jewish (he's not), just like you can check whether Barack Obama was born in America (yup); or whether the earth is 6,000 years old (nope). Tim Tebow ain't Jewish, but journalism ain't stenography.

The breadth and depth of the information we're casually volunteering is fueling a burgeoning industry. But no one who's planning to make money off that data seems to be offering us equity in Big Brother, Inc. in exchange for X-raying our identities.