Fasting.
August 12th, 2012
It’s time for me to take in less and crank out more. To that end, I’m weaning myself off of media — at least to a degree — for a little while.
Given what I do for a living, I can’t go on a complete media fast. And I don’t mean to cut myself off from the world. But I’ve found that my ratio of output to intake has been poor. I need to clear my head so that I have more space to think about the work I really need to do — the things that only I can do. (This includes my own writing and my corporate duties.)
It’s also a good time for me to do it, given that the election season is heating up. The more media I consume, the more I have to deal with annoying commercials and tendentious opinions from all sides.
I’m still deciding what I will keep on the menu — and please rest assured that if you contact me (via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) I will respond quickly. But I won’t be doing all the free-range grazing that I usually do. It’s not sustainable, at least in this season of my life.
I’ll keep you posted on my results.
Do you ever go on a media fast? What do you cut out — or what would you?
August 13th, 2012 at 7:50 am
Tim, I’ve lately reached the conclusion that I’ve become a media glutton: consuming simply to consume rather than for nourishment, and using consumption as an excuse to not produce. I am challenging myself to produce first, and consume in a disciplined and directed fashion.
Most content is produced with some sort of agenda that may not match mine, just as most food is produced with primary agenda of being shelf-stable and sellable rather than nutritious. (Content Marketing may just be the Monsanto of media – yep, I’m talking about you and me). I’m trying to steer towards a more healthy diet in both food and media.
August 13th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I’ve been on a video game fast for more than two months, only breaking it a few days ago to play about half an hour of a “remastered” classic that I had recently bought (Ico). I had also, up until the Olympics, cut down my TV viewing (including streaming stuff) by about 80%. Both fasts will continue for the foreseeable future.
I could still stand to cut more out, especially online (esp. FB) grazing.
August 13th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Russ — Amen re “produce first.” Good thoughts.
Chris — Keep getting down to the real stuff, man.
August 18th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I’ve found that I need to set the limit point at “churn” or “grazing” as Chris calls it. When I am online churning and not actively researching, it’s time to shut it down. The interwebs are so distracting that I can find myself looking at 12 shiny objects off the path before I realize I took a detour and never completed my original goal. So now, I spend an hour or more each morning devouring news, content, social media, etc., but then I stop and get real stuff done.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Good points, Tiffany — setting clear boundaries is vital, I think.