The Rules of (Dis)engagement

at 11:19 pm on January 31, 2009 under Feb: Media Fast | 3 Comments

Whew, with one resolution out of the way, I’ve vowed for the month of February to carry on a Media Fast. I’ve polled several friends about how I can take this on, and they’ve all responded in kind. “How can you eliminate electronic media from your life?? No blogs? No podcasts? Hardly any internet? No YouTube?? You are so interesting! How will you find so many amazing and hilarious topics to share in conversation???”

I know. I am incredibly interesting. And I’ve depended on the web much too long to maintain that illusion.

Thus, for the shortest month of the year, I embark on a mission to rediscover the “static” life.

Electronic media is ingrained in all of our lives, mine own moreso than many since I work in media production. So, not unlike the Vatican, I’ve developed a massive cannon for determining what is and isn’t permissable during my abstention.

This is a work in progress, so please feel free to call me on the huge allowances I’ve allowed myself.

  1. General Web: No reading blogs, news, or casual browsing. No use of crucial web-based tools, such as moviefone, weather, or lolmish. I may rely on others who use the web, but may not on my own. General web is allowed in cases supporting work or creation. (E.g., music for the podcast I produce, looking up a speaker bio, tech help, purchasing, cooking, and of course this blog)
  2. Audio: No prerecorded music of my own. I may only listen to talk podcasts when engaged in cooking, driving, or commuting. Otherwise, it’s radio and live music all the way.
  3. Video/TV: No YouTube or web video, unless it is very specifically relevant to work. TV only if it is live or a first-run of a show (e.g., the Superbowl, SNL, non-reruns of the Office). DVDs if I have not watched them before, or if I am with more than one person. Movies in the theater are okay for now.
  4. Games: Video games are fine, but no computer games.
  5. Social Media: Email is totally fine. Twitter and Facebook only for output, unless someone sends me a vital message.

Obviously I’ve allowed myself a huge Get Out of Jail Free card with the caveats above. As punishment:

  1. I must chronicle every single use of the web that I engage in for work or otherwise – chronicle will appear here daily.
  2. I may only follow the blogs that are pertinent to work, so I must rely on you to keep me honest. If the blogs that appear in my Google Reader on the sidebar (or here) don’t appear pertinent, you may publicly flog me (metaphorically).

I live and breathe electronic media, so you’ll have to forgive me if I can’t come up with a good punishment for myself. If you have a better way of doing it, please, I’m all ears.

[del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [MySpace] [Reddit] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Email] More »

  • lokman said,

    what does “facebook and twitter only for output” mean? as in, you can only write but not read from it? but how can you tell whether a message is vital if you don’t read it?

  • dandennis said,

    I’m allowing myself to contribute to twitter, and facebook (status updates via twitter, as well as sharing notes). I’ve got my Facebook messages emailed to me, so I have a way of checking on those without getting into facebook. But twitter may be harder. Maybe I’ll just cut out twitter reading altogether. Maybe social web is harder to cut off from, because it’s inherently collaborative and based on call and response. Does that sound right?

  • Walden, this is not » Just a Month said,

    [...] increasingly I’ve begun to get the feeling that my caveat-filled list of rules is a little unfair. I’m replacing electronic media indulgences with other media indulgences [...]

Add A Comment

home top