I hate admitting this, but the thing I missed most during my time away from home over the Christmas break was the Internet. I didn't log in for more than a week during one particularly painful stretch, and once I did finally get on, it was for less than an hour to enter my final semester grades.

The strangest part about it all, however, is that I learned to live without it. I watched a lot more TV. I played a lot more board games with family. I even got out of the house and went sledding with my son and brother in law, and I had a really good time (Thanks Robbie!) By the end, I almost didn't even miss it. We've been home almost a week now, and I think I've only logged in four or five times. I'm sure once classes start again, I'll be back to checking my e-mail three times an hour, but I'm glad for the respite because it has made me realize what I really need - and it's certainly not more time online.

I used to ask myself a similar question as I struggled with daily newspaper deadlines. Would our readers really miss much if we didn't come out with a newspaper one day? I was almost positive they especially wouldn't notice on Monday, where we ran 16 almost ad-free pages. They probably wouldn't notice on Tuesday and Wednesday either because they were most likely waiting for the buildup of movie ads Thursday and car ads Friday and Saturday.

But I never had the guts to find out, and the more research I do on online news and the profit/loss structures needed to make online news pay for itself, I wish I had. I don't have to wish anymore. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News announced that in May they will only print papers on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Some people, including the Detroit Examiner, are upset, and I can understand why. It might look like this move is another cost-cutting effort that will dilute the news product and deprive readers of the news they need to be free and self-governing. It might signal the end of the print paper era, especially if the Detroit papers turn a profit and other Gannett papers follow suit.

However, I can't be as pessimistic, because as much as I like reading a printed newspaper, especially in a nice little sandwich shop during lunch, I know I can learn to live without it, and I think other habitual news readers can too.

NPR's coverage of the Detroit cutbacks features an interview with Kate Knight, a stay-at-home mom, who said home delivery is a big part of her family's routine.

"I grew up fighting for the Free Press with my three siblings, and my kids fight over it too, so it's a great tradition," Knight says as she sits at the kitchen table with her 4-year-old daughter, the newspaper sprawled out in front of them. "In fact, whoever goes and gets the Free Press in the morning out of the driveway can pick the section they want to read first."

You know Kate, I fought for the paper too, but not with my siblings. I fought with my father, a Swiss-born immigrant who spent almost an hour with the Deseret News every day. He and mother even claim they learned English from the daily newspaper. But as nostalgic as remembering that makes me, I still can't see what advantage daily delivery has.

News is a universal need - that cannot be disputed. Some researchers claims its hardwired into our brains because as cave men we learned that the more we knew about threats, the more likely we were to avoid being eaten by dinosaurs. But knowing the dangers at a specific time and in a specific format each day is NOT part of the need. In fact, if the Internet has taught us anything, it is that this information need is something best fulfilled immediately when we need it.

As Kate describes her newspaper habit and I reflect on my own, I realize it has little to do with news. It's mostly about routine. I never got all the information I needed from the time I spent with the paper. Especially when something was breaking, such as when I passed a dozen police cars parked on the freeway, I turned to other more immediate sources. I even flipped on the TV every once in a while.

That's why I think Gannett's experiment in Detroit could work and might even provide better news coverage. Printing three days a week will give the papers the advertising appeal they need. It will also provide visibility for a news organization that the Internet can't. It might also give the talented writers and editors at both papers a showcase for their best work, the kind of stories and photos that I might actually want to spend an hour or so reading, not the kind I just flip through because it's habit.

Focusing on the Internet the rest of the time will allow the Detroit papers to do what they do best in the best format for readers. They can cover breaking news as it happens without having to wait for a basically arbitrary press deadline to publish it.

Just as I learned to break my Internet addiction over the holiday break, I know others can learn to live with a newspaper every day, and like me, they might find they are a bit better off because they've learned to use their time wisely.