Swimming is the only time, while awake, that I’m not enslaved to the internet. At first the solitary confinement is unnerving, maddening. But after a few laps my mind becomes loose, and I’m able to think in free form. I turn over past conversations with my wife, think up ideas for cartoons and wonder if I should resume illegally downloading music. Recently, I approached some fellow swimmers who’d just pulled themselves out of the pool, and asked them to divulge the deep thoughts that ran through their minds as they swam.