Ignore the fact that I just spent ten minutes on twitter tracking Michael Ian Black’s and Levar Burton’s geektastic tweet war. I am seriously trying to abstain from media this time, but twitter draws me in. A little dose of twitter now and then during a media fast is like a little dose of meth dipped in barbecue sauce – a little won’t kill you, but it sure tastes good as the addiction works its magic.
And, yes, I know that the phrase is usually “the Bane of my Existence”. But I’ve been practicing verbal concision. And, after all, if the bane is “of” said “existence”, wouldn’t “existence’s bane” be grammatically correct?
My SO just informed me that according to my Timelope stream I’ve browsed nearly 300 pages since last Friday when I started it up. I am a horrible media faster. Yes, I did have to pay bills yesterday. But did I really need to visit rottentomatoes, or the Ted blog? Probably not. Note to self: Self? You’re on notice!
Part of this month of media fasting has been about reducing my bad habit of sitting behind the computer for hours on end. But since my job involves about 6 hours behind a computer a day minimum, I end up taking my breaks behind the computer as well. Which often last about six hours, cumulative.
I knew when I started this that I could never truly quit, for the joy of strolling the web is too much of a temptation, especially when I am right in front of the computer for so long.
I was curious – if I could open up my web surfing habit to public scrutiny, would that change my habits? The only way I knew to do so would be to log every website I look at and for how long, and then share it on this blog. Or just share my viewed links constantly in a link sharer, like del.ic.ious, which would be obnoxious.
But a friend from Timelope just opened up an account for me. Timelope is stalled in its Alpha stage, but their site is still chugging along amazingly, with their snarky yet attractive interface, and, more importantly, their radical transparency-inducing behavior of sharing pure, unbiased information about habits – what sites do you visit, when, and for how long?
Thus, a plugin in Firefox records my surfing constantly, and my entire web history is now viewable in a beautiful twitter-like interface.
Now that folks can view my surfing live, do you think this will this change my habits at all? Do people even care that I cheated on my media fast by reading Dr. McNinja for a few minutes this afternoon, really? We’ll see.
Trying to find a way to salvage my electronic media fast, I decided maybe I could make myself accountable through transparency. Transparency in the form of exposing my digital activity through this blog – which would hopefully help me police myself.
For example, I could have all my web browsing activity displayed as a widget on my sidebar.
My browsing history today consisted of me, well… essentially searching for ways to display my browsing history. Yielding only two results – Hooeey and the recently shuttered Timelope. For a society obsessed with oversharing, there are few easy options for truly opening your life to the public.
Not giving up on this month completely. But I am looking forward to next month.
Will you help me decide what to do next month? I am looking at three resolutions:
HEALTH & BODY – Live like a bodybuilder – that means eating, drinking, sleeping, and going to the gym like I’m training for a bodybuilding competition. This will be hard because I do not currently go to the gym more than twice a week at best, but I need to treat my body better.
HEALTH & BODY – C,C,&P – Cut out caffeine, chemicals, and preservatives from my diet. This will be hard because I currently consume at least 5 servings of caffeine a day, but I would like to see what life improvements occur when I cut this stuff out though.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE – Suit – Wear a suit every single day. This will be hard because I do not currently own one, but I would like to see if dressing more professional, like my college professors advised me, will make me ACT more professional.
So those are the options. Voting is open in the sidebar.
Not even ten days in and I’m ready to chalk this month’s resolution up to an ambitious, yet overly-optimistic self-deluded attempt.
Simply put, the demons of procrastination have won over my idealistic desire to purge unnecessary electronic media influences.
I have watched TV (a LOT more than I did before), listened to podcasts, and goofed around on the web – Â to the edge and beyond of what I forbade.
I’ve even treaded into the most forbidden YouTube territory – maliciously hidden in one of the professional blogs I allowed myself for work, I ended up being drawn into this meme of a boy recovering from anesthesia:
Must resist. Must return to the electronic hermitage I swore to uphold.
My media fast is crawling to a media slow. And I’m looking for some help to revise my rules.
I decided this fast would be important because I was indulging in too much media. In fact six specific vices were causing more distraction than benefit in the ways I was using them:
Too much googling
Too much youtubing
Too much blog reading via Google reader
Too much twitter reading
Too much facebook trolling
Too much listening to iTunes, pandora, and last.fm’ing
Seeing as a computer and the web is central to my worklife, I determined an electronic media diet was in order to temper the impacts of media habits. I also cavalierly suggested that perhaps I would learn something from rediscovering the “static” life, or “pre-web” life, and find out what role electronic media really plays in mine.
And while in the first couple days I definitely was able to read and work with more focus, I began to cheat:
To the point where today, when my co-worker forwarded me this MUST READ article about a woman who accidentally gave birth on the metro, I went ahead and clicked it. (Hey, it was sent by someone at work, right?).
Although I expressly banned web-based tools, I used google maps on my iPhone yesterday to find a thrift store to buy a prop for a work project.
I’ve been sort of watching The Office, ‘24′ and Gilmore Girls with my SO (we’ve both been sick this week, so it’s what’s on, okay?).
I tap my email refresh button like a new amputee hits the button for morphine.
And 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 that distract just as much.
This guy was pretty good at media fasting
And, interestingly, I’m getting a ton of conflicting interpretations of what a media fast should encompass. To some, podcasts and radio (NPR-only) are okay since those are often more signal than noise when it comes to providing useful information inputs. Some say going to see films in the theater should be restricted since it is an electronic medium – though others say the social aspect of going to the cinema is more important than the movie itself. To others, even magazines and newspapers should be off limits, since these might taint some of the meditative objectives of a true fast. And blogging my media fast causes the most cognitive dissonance.
All of this goes to the question of what the point of a media fast.
Anyone have suggestions on how to make a more effective media fast? Obviously, I have to depend on the input of people who are not fasting on media – since there is no social network of tip-sharing electronics hermits out there on the web. So, thoughts? What should I really be avoiding and why? And what should I be using to replace media? What is bad media? And what is good media?
So far, since cutting out iTunes, Pandora, and other personal music accountrements, I have found myself whistling earworms of artists I haven’t really been into since the late 90’s: Pavement, Mike Watt, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.
Not listening to music makes me listen to more music in my head though. I always try to remember the lyrics and chord progressions of songs that I really like. Because, just in case I go back in time someday I want to be able to try to recreate the songs from memory and pretend I wrote them. I wonder what people would think if it was 1955 and I played “99 Problems”.
Also, I miss using web-based tools. For instance, I don’t know if I used the word accountrements appropriately up there, but I can’t use an online dictionary, and I sold my last hard copy dictionary two years ago on Amazon.com.
How’s my fast going? Not well. My co-worker asked me today, and here’s our thread:
Me:
Media Fast not going extremely well. Difficult to avoid lots of media. It’s more of a temperance movement really. I’m really just avoiding twitter, facebook, random googling, and reading blogs. I’m noticing myself being a little bit more productive, but feeling a lot less connected to others. And watching a lot more TV because technically TV isn’t something I indulged in very heavily before. I actually watched Heros last night. Heros. WTF?
Him:
i enjoy feeling disconnected from others
it’s not really that hard to read only work-related blogs, i’m finding this week (experiencing a similar fast).
i expect it’s more difficult the closer your personal interests are to your prof. interests.
i’ve also ghettoized my online life into a number of distinct function areas (i.e. one email address for news only), so it’s easy to, for example, stop reading the news: there’s just one email address i stop checking
So one suggestion we have about handling electronic media in our lives is to manage the interaction. I’ve chosen, instead, to try to eliminate the option.
My SuperPower is Depleting Your Attention Span
So far I am noticing some benefits in terms of productivity and output – I am more responsive to emails, I have blogged more, I can focus on tasks, and I think a lot more during dead moments. My attention span is recovering as well – I can actually focus on longer form articles in magazines, and I’m not distracted by the pings from twitter and email, or other posts and articles I need to read, and the desire to switch to another track in iTunes.
But at the same time, I have this tendency to WANT to veg out. So I’ve replaced the web with TV. Which I hadn’t indulged in before this week, but now I’m feeling mildly addicted to Heros after one terribly annoying episode.
So, now I’m introducing a new limitation: no TV at all (except for new episodes of the Office and SNL, and certain key live events like the Superbowl) unless someone is there to enjoy it with me, or it is a DVD I have never watched before.
The Media Fast begins. Tough. I’ve already read through most of my old unread copies of Rolling Stone (great article on prescription psychotropics), Wired (great article on GPS), and Conde Naste’ Portfolio (great article on that pervert Dov Charney from American Apparel). And I’ve been a little lenient on myself with the web access. Here’s a list of what I did between yesterday and today with electronic media, and my rationalization for it:
Checked twitter 20 times to see if I had any replies. I only GLANCED at my friend tweets, I swear.
Listened to some podcasts while I cleaned the kitchen. No music.
Ordered iLife from apple.com. It was only because the window was already open.
Paid some bills. Hey, I didn’t say I wouldn’t use the web to pay bills online.
*Briefly* checked netflix to make sure I had the next DVD of State of Play coming tomorrow.
Watched the last half of Season 1 of Arrested Development – yes I’ve seen it before, but technically Amy was watching it with me. We were both sick in bed yesterday.
Watched the Super Bowl and the Office thereafter. Brand new, and live, so it’s safe.
Added two friends on Facebook.
Listened to WMUK radio via iTunes (it’s okay cuz it’s radio).
Checked my email a few dozen times. Hey, I have to – it’s for work.
So far I’ve WANTED to:
Use the web to read up on Studs Terkel.
Use the web to order an Apple TV on ebay.
Use WebMD to see what the heck sickness my symptoms say I might have.
I gave myself a pass today. As detox, I get to sift through my already open Firefox windows I’ve been meaning to scan. I can’t just go cold turkey. I’ve already checked my email like 5 times, and played around with this blog.
Here’s a YouTube video I had open on a Firefox page from yesterday. “Look Around You” the BBC faux-science show from 2002 that is now making its way to Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. This will be my last YouTube video for a while, and I couldn’t have picked a better one.
3 bowls of granola with honey = $60
1 serving of bread with honey = $20
1 serving of ketchup (maybe) = $20
1 bad night at Chinese New Year = $100
1 gulp of Gatorade before I noticed = $20
Running Total: $220
Crazy talk show host calls DC hostagetaker "the Warmabomber," says Obama is the same. Ick. To ignore or not to ignore? http://bit.ly/d0WcRl
about 17 hours ago from web
Wind Power causes Higher Workplace Deaths, says Heritage Study http://bit.ly/bVyADa Also, Foxes are best henhouse guards says study by foxes
about 22 hours ago from web
@Aitlincay I started off pretty slow myself. I'm only now beginning to actually use it for blogging.
about 23 hours ago from web
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Not even ten days in and I’m ready to chalk this month’s resolution up to an ambitious, yet overly-optimistic self-deluded attempt.
The Media Fast begins. Tough. I’ve already read through most of my old unread copies of Rolling Stone (great article on prescription psychotropics), Wired (great article on GPS), and Conde Naste’ Portfolio (great article on that pervert Dov Charney from American Apparel). And I’ve been a little lenient on myself with the web access. Here’s a list of what I did between yesterday and today with electronic media, and my rationalization for it:
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