Just a Month

Timelope is my Existence’s Bane

dandennis — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:49:29 +0000

…or at least exposes said Bane.

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?

Alas, I cannot check @GrammarGirl to find out.

My Browsing Habits Are Visual

dandennis — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:53:31 +0000

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!

Radical Transparency

dandennis — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:28:07 +0000

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.

In the meantime, give me a look.

Not Quite Kosher

dandennis — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:23:19 +0000

Maybe it’s only now that I’ve taken on a monthly resolution, but I am noticing a lot more people attempting month-long challenges to build their health and try their will. Even as I languish in my own ill-fated media fast this month, it is inspiring to see this secular-Lent-of-sorts as people try to break old habits and build new ones. One friend at work is abstaining from beer for the month. Another friend is trying their own version of a media fast by ignoring email and news.

However, perhaps the least healthy month-long challenge I’ve seen is Mike Nelson’s bacon fest, in which he will only consume bacon, water, and alcohol all February. Check him out, and offer him some moral support, and maybe some recipes to make bacon more interesting.

I am SO ready for the next resolution

dandennis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:22:30 +0000

Not Quite Giving Up Completely

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.

I Have Set Myself Up For Failure

dandennis — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:07:41 +0000

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 – 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.

Walden, this is not

dandennis — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:06:21 +0000

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?

I Miss Music

dandennis — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:32:25 +0000

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.

I am now addicted to Claire

dandennis — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:07:30 +0000

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.

Do you love the caveats?

So, You Like Donuts Eh? Part II

dandennis — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:38:34 +0000

One aspect of my resolution last month was harder than almost any other: avoiding refined sugar. While high fructose corn syrup is almost ubiquitous in highly refined foods, it can be avoided with some vigilance. And animal products take only a peripheral attention to avoid. But refined sugar is in almost everything. From Cheerios, to jam, to sauces and dressings, to fruit juice.

My experience last month taught me that avoiding refined sugar can have some really good impacts on your tastebuds and waistline. I lost about 5 pounds last month, and gained an appreciation for new flavors. I also had a lot more lasting energy.

In spite of that, as soon as February hit, I fell off the wagon hard. I ate an entire box of raspberry paczki in twelve hours, and went to town on the Cheerios. I realized it was harder to kick refined sugar in the real world.

But why specifically is refined sugar bad for you? Yes, it is nutritionless – but that doesn’t make it inherently bad.

It IS nutrient zapping, however. Sugar just gobbles up the nutrients. Where the complex sugars in an apple or a beet are naturally complemented by some vitamins and minerals, refined sugar has no nutritional companions and leaches onto the body’s other stores of nutrients to process it into what it eventually becomes – fat. It was this deficiency that led one doctor in the 1950s to classify refined sugar as a poison.

My SO suggested that when we have kids that we should not let them eat refined sugar until they are ten so their palettes won’t get used to the sweetness. I’m all for it. But that also means a lifestyle change for us now so that we are not keeping all that crap around the house.

Goodbye sweet paczkis.