Media fast, anyone?

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Started 7 months ago by Ella
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Ella
Member

The thread on Uncluttering Your Mind has got me wondering...
Does anybody here do a regular media fast? I'm thinking of shutting off my electronic media one day per week, probably on Sunday. Has anybody here tried this?

I'm thinking no email, no forums, no Facebook, no online at all, just keep the lid on the laptop shut for a day. Also no phone, no movies, no TV, no DVDs. Music and reading would be allowed. I want to avoid advertising, but I might allow magazines and/or the Sunday newspaper. Or maybe not. I just want one quiet unplugged day per week instead of automatically flipping open the laptop every single morning.

Advice, anyone?

Posted 7 months ago #
juliapenguin
Member

This is a great idea, and something I've been thinking about for a while. One thing I do which seems to be working well is to turn off the laptop before the evening meal and not switch either it or the TV on again until the next day. I do agree, however, that a whole day a week would be even better. Sunday is a good idea.

Posted 7 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

i have just finished reading an article about this!
http://the99percent.com/articles/6947/What-Happened-to-Downtime-The-Extinction-of-Deep-Thinking-Sacred-Space
i think this is why i closed down my fb, twitter and g+ accounts, and quit a few forums....i needed some space, away from the din.
i rarely watch the news. i don't read much news online. i don't buy newspapers.
i read the economist and a bunch of blogs, and that is current enough for me.
i have started turning off my phone from time to time. it feels pretty good!

Posted 7 months ago #
juliapenguin
Member

That's a great article, bandicoot, and I also like the idea of the Sabbath movement. Technology is so amazing but it's so easy to go overboard and lose all the wonderful things we had before.

Posted 7 months ago #
themusiclivez
Member

This sounds amazing. I had started the Uncluttering Your Mind thread because I am feeling frazzled by technology and distractions. A media fast would be fantastic. I would turn off the cell phone and keep the laptop off. I like to watch TV on DVD so that's something I'd still be okay with. I would just cut out the Facebook, Twitter, email, text messages, and phone calls. (When you think about it, isn't it overwhelming just reading that list?) I don't think human beings are "wired" to be able to handle all of these distractions and interuptions all the time!

This past weekend I spent an entire afternoon/evening outside with family. No cell phone, no internet, just nature. I hadn't felt that relaxed in months.

Posted 7 months ago #
Shoshana
Member

I do this every Friday night/Saturday. Usually we don't get back on until Sunday morning.
No internet or computers turned on at all. No movies (we don't have TV).
We also do not answer the phone unless it is an emergency (loved ones know to leave a message explaining it is an emergency).
It is a wonderful, delightful ISLAND of media-free time.

I highly recommend it!

Posted 7 months ago #
mskris
Member

I generally don't use the computer after work, unless the kids want to show me something. I don't answer the home phone (and never use my cell to chat) after 6 p.m. unless it's family. I rarely watch tv, and only listen to radio in the car (and sometimes I turn that off). So, I love the idea of a media-free Sunday. The only exception would be certain sections of the local newspaper (which we only get on Sundays), and an occasional magazine (I do subscribe to 3 mags that I read) I might read in the afternoon.

Posted 7 months ago #
Rosa
Member

I do it about 1 weekend a month, whenever we go out of town or camping. A week at a time in the summer for camping.

And now I'm not going to be working on the computer all day, which will make it even easier.

I do leave the radio on, though, if I can. I hate visiting family (nobody in our families follows the news at all.) and coming out after a week and finding out something happened and I missed it. I missed Obama winning the Democratic primary that way.

Posted 7 months ago #
JuliaJayne
Member

Great article, Bandicoot. I forwarded it on to my son, who, IMO, desperately needs to unplug.

Ella, it's a great idea. While I can't shut off my phone, and have greatly reduced the amount of internet distractions, I still have an issue with wanting to keep up with current events and learning new things. This can cut into the time I have for hobbies. I hadn't thought about it before, but I do have those a-ha moments when I'm sewing.

Posted 7 months ago #
Anita
Member

I don't really understand the need for a media fast, but I support anyone who feels the need for it. Does that make any sense?

To me, media and technology are tools - I keep them on when I use them, I turn them off when I don't. I don't see them as forces or entities in my life, the way some people seem to. So in that sense, depriving myself of a tool seems senseless - would it make any sense for a carpenter to deprive himself of a hammer, because he feels he's growing dependent on it and he finds himself reaching for a hammer every time he has a nail to drive in? ... if not, then why would it make sense for me to deprive myself of the Internet for research? or of a phone for communication? or of a newspaper for news?

Once again, I support anyone who genuinely feels the need to disconnect and have some time away from media overload, I just don't understand or support it as a practice for its own sake.

Posted 7 months ago #
chacha1
Member

I'm one of those who is on the computer and basically online for the entirety of every workday, so I try pretty hard to NOT be online at home.

But I am really looking forward to a week in the Sierra later this month ... the cell phones probably won't work, we probably won't have Internet, we're going to spend seven days mostly just driving through beautiful countryside to various hiking spots and wineries. We'll turn on the TV for Dancing with the Stars and maybe watch a movie or two.

Aaaahhh!

Posted 7 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

the carpenter/hammer analogy isn't working for me.
even a carpenter puts his hammer down when it is time to rest.
but the problem for a growing number of people (to judge by the increasing blogging and discussion about it) is that they are not in control of how and when they are online.
humans are infovores, it is hardwired in.
so, the internet is like endless mind candy and it is easy and enjoyable to lose hours and days wandering the superhighway.
easy and enjoyable, but possibly not all good.
the argument is that we need quiet space to do actual creative thinking of our own.
when we are online, we aren't creating....we are consuming.

a carpenter who carried his hammer in his car....had it on the table during dinner.....had it in his pocket after work hours.....and on his bedside table at night.....he is the guy that we are worried about becoming!
ten years ago, i hadn't bought my first computer.
today my business and home are very dependent on the computer.
there is instant, constant entertainment and information available and it's all very seductive.
we don't want to put the hammer down! we walk about, looking for nails to bang in!

Posted 7 months ago #
mili
Member

Oh god, I can't believe we're back to this. The other thread barely even died! And at least the OP in that one turned out to have had a legitimate reason for why she was in that mess. THIS is just borderline moral panic.

I'm with Anita.

Posted 7 months ago #
irishbell
Member

I guess I'm with Anita also. I just close it up or turn it off or don't answer,
I'm just not compelled to be in touch 24/7.

Posted 7 months ago #
Ella
Member

bandicoot, thanks for that article. The link to Sabbath Manifesto was also good to read. But I'm wondering why we've come to such a point that having a media-free day of rest and restoration for both body and mind has become such an anomaly...
an idea that's borderline moral panic for mili and insupportable for Anita.

I'm not exhorting anyone else to do it... but only posted because I wondered who here already takes a weekly sabbatical, a one-day fast from the media feed, and how is it working out for you?

I'm looking forward to having my first screen-free Sunday this weekend. (Still on the fence about magazines or newspapers.)

Posted 7 months ago #
JuliaJayne
Member

Self-edited for snarkiness :)

Posted 7 months ago #
snosie
Member

At the heart of this (media or hammer!) is creating limits for you that work! Limiting your stress, overload, work, whatever.

I find getting home, after 8 hours with internet access and no net connectable laptops, I'm frustrated. We don't have a yellowpages anymore - how do I find that ear specialist I read about in the paper? (I went to the library, and the yellowpages don't have an 'ear cleaning' specialists - only auditory services). But by walking to the library, I also did an errand I might not have done, so in that sense it was a win, win, lose (exercise, errand, phonenumber).

I find 'having a life' creates my media fast on weekends. If I make plans, I enjoy those. I don't have a smart phone. I get narky at friends who use their phone (smart or otherwise) with me - do you need to chat to that person/check that fact more than hang out and talk to me? Give me your attention and vice versa? So if I'm out of the house for many hours, or only shortly home, I don't get on the net. Not much happens (emails). Calls are ok, so I suppose it's not a true fast. I suppose I think of a fast in the sense of "laptop closed".

I've taken Oct to be the month without facebook, and I love it! I mean it's not easy to tell 'everyone' about my fracture, or my auction results, but if they are interested, or I can be 'bothered', they'll find out. And the hangers on won't... And by making a call/sending a text, I'm giving one person my full attention in that moment, and that is wonderful for me and them...

Posted 7 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

no moral panic here.
just joining a discussion about how much media i personally need to consume.
and my thoughts are, a bit less is better. for me.
i am not in a mess by the way.
i'm interested in kaizen in my life.
what i really need is some new plastic keyrings.

Posted 7 months ago #
irishbell
Member

Bandicoot- thanks for my new word for the day. Kaizen- I loves it!
Another good word for a mantra.

Posted 7 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

kaizen kaizen kaizen.
if i mumble it a bit, it could almost be
keyring keyring keyring.

Posted 7 months ago #

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