RSS FeedJul 16 2009
My Media Fast
You may recall that awhile back I conducted a week-long media fast as part of a class I’m taking on The Artist’s Way.
For those of you who may not have read the original post, a media fast is a complete abstention from all forms of media. That means: no books, magazines, NPR, TV, movies, music with lyrics, email, frantic reading of the back of cereal boxes, etc.
Julia Cameron is not the first to suggest a media fast as a tool for personal development. Many other self-help gurus (including my crush Tim Ferriss) recommend one ranging anywhere from a day to a month or more. In it’s purest form it could resemble a Buddhist-style monastic retreat from the world.
Ideally someone participating in a media fast would keep their computer shut down for the length of the fast. In my case, that was not possible based on the fact I telecommute for work and also had a minimal amount of non-work-related email and tasks to keep Coming Unmoored on track. However, for a week I gave up all TV, radio, movies, books, and magazines. I tried to only check more work email twice a day and limited my “blog support” time to no more than an hour a day.
I knew from my resistance to the exercise that the media fast was going to be a pretty radical departure from how I normally spent my time. But, until I started the actual fast, I had no idea how deeply entrenched my reliance on media actual was.
I won’t lie to you. My first 48 hours on the media fast were complete hell. I actually ended up having to de-program all the radio stations on my car radio and hide the internet browser icon on my computer desktop because 5-10 minutes into any kind of silence, I would just automatically turn on the radio or pull up Firefox. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. It was just that habitual.
That week at the grocery store, I also ended up automatically throwing the latest issues of two magazines I enjoy into my cart. The absurdity of buying magazines while I was on a media fast didn’t even hit me until I was home unpacking the groceries.
I also quickly realized just how little patience I have for waiting. Sitting on hold for a customer service representative to answer on the phone suddenly because a torturous affair when I didn’t have the option to scroll through 100+ colorfully attractive ApartmentTherapy stories while I waited.
During this time, my mind also went completely wild. It jabbered a loud, non-stop monologue about anything and everything desperately trying to fill the sudden silence. Imagine Rowan Atkinson with a bad case of Turretts and you’ll have a pretty good idea what was going on inside my head.
In the first two days I ended up sleeping an insane number of hours. This was in part due to the fact I simply couldn’t figure out what to do with my time. But also, without the distraction of constant input, I finally got in touch with the fact that I had been going on overdrive for quite awhile was bone-weary tired.
Somewhere at about 48 hours into the media fast, something shifted. My mind stopped frantically jabbering and fell into a profound sort of silence where it stayed for the remainder of the week. Perhaps it had simply exhausted all its available material. I’m really not sure.
I had thought I’d probably use much of my time during the week either writing or working on projects around the house. But once the silence descended, all I really wanted to do is curl up in one of the chairs on my porch under a blanket and watch the river. It’s hard to explain but it somehow became endlessly fascinating to me.
The rest of my week was spent rising with the sun, doing what I needed to get done for my job, sitting on my porch until sunset, and then sleeping deeper than I had in years. Rumi quickly fell into the rhythm of the exercise and was happy to spend the evenings in my lap rather than insisting on exploring the marina.
I was aware that some sort of wheels were busy churning deep inside me during this time, but whatever was going on was at a level I couldn’t consciously follow or describe. Something was just… happening.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation of all, however, was what happened when the media fast was over. Or rather, what didn’t happen. I had thought when the fast ended, I would go on some sort of media-laden binge. Instead, however, I seemed to have developed a profound aversion to “noise” which most of my previous media sources now felt like. I barely thumbed through the magazines I’d purchased. I ended up unsubscribing from roughly 2/3′s of the previous newsfeeds I had (and am still weeding through the remainder). Instead of surfing the net constantly, I now may check it briefly in the morning and for a bit longer in the evening if there’s time. And I have next to no patience for email lists. The only thing I really returned to was books. I’m still doing a significant amount of reading but I now seem to prefer focusing on one book at time.
It’s definitely been an interesting experience and I have a feeling I haven’t yet recognized the full impact. I’ll tell you this, though–even if you don’t have the time to do a media fast for an entire week, I’d strongly encourage you to try at least 24 hours. I can guarantee you’ll learn some interesting things about yourself and your habits.
Marina photo by Tammy at RowdyKittens
You may recall that awhile back I conducted a week-long media fast as part of a class I’m taking on The Artist’s Way.
For those of you who may not have read the original post, a media fast is a complete abstention from all forms of media. That means: no books, magazines, NPR, TV, movies, music with lyrics, email, frantic reading of the back of cereal boxes, etc.
Julia Cameron is not the first to suggest a media fast as a tool for personal development. Many other self-help gurus (including my crush Tim Ferriss) recommend one ranging anywhere from a day to a month or more. In it’s purest form it could resemble a Buddhist-style monastic retreat from the world.
Ideally someone participating in a media fast would keep their computer shut down for the length of the fast. In my case, that was not possible based on the fact I telecommute for work and also had a minimal amount of non-work-related email and tasks to keep Coming Unmoored on track. However, for a week I gave up all TV, radio, movies, books, and magazines. I tried to only check more work email twice a day and limited my “blog support” time to no more than an hour a day.
I knew from my resistance to the exercise that the media fast was going to be a pretty radical departure from how I normally spent my time. But, until I started the actual fast, I had no idea how deeply entrenched my reliance on media actual was.
I won’t lie to you. My first 48 hours on the media fast were complete hell. I actually ended up having to de-program all the radio stations on my car radio and hide the internet browser icon on my computer desktop because 5-10 minutes into any kind of silence, I would just automatically turn on the radio or pull up Firefox. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. It was just that habitual.
That week at the grocery store, I also ended up automatically throwing the latest issues of two magazines I enjoy into my cart. The absurdity of buying magazines while I was on a media fast didn’t even hit me until I was home unpacking the groceries.
I also quickly realized just how little patience I have for waiting. Sitting on hold for a customer service representative to answer on the phone suddenly because a torturous affair when I didn’t have the option to scroll through 100+ colorfully attractive ApartmentTherapy stories while I waited.
During this time, my mind also went completely wild. It jabbered a loud, non-stop monologue about anything and everything desperately trying to fill the sudden silence. Imagine Rowan Atkinson with a bad case of Turretts and you’ll have a pretty good idea what was going on inside my head.
In the first two days I ended up sleeping an insane number of hours. This was in part due to the fact I simply couldn’t figure out what to do with my time. But also, without the distraction of constant input, I finally got in touch with the fact that I had been going on overdrive for quite awhile was bone-weary tired.
Somewhere at about 48 hours into the media fast, something shifted. My mind stopped frantically jabbering and fell into a profound sort of silence where it stayed for the remainder of the week. Perhaps it had simply exhausted all its available material. I’m really not sure.
I had thought I’d probably use much of my time during the week either writing or working on projects around the house. But once the silence descended, all I really wanted to do is curl up in one of the chairs on my porch under a blanket and watch the river. It’s hard to explain but it somehow became endlessly fascinating to me.
The rest of my week was spent rising with the sun, doing what I needed to get done for my job, sitting on my porch until sunset, and then sleeping deeper than I had in years. Rumi quickly fell into the rhythm of the exercise and was happy to spend the evenings in my lap rather than insisting on exploring the marina.
I was aware that some sort of wheels were busy churning deep inside me during this time, but whatever was going on was at a level I couldn’t consciously follow or describe. Something was just… happening.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation of all, however, was what happened when the media fast was over. Or rather, what didn’t happen. I had thought when the fast ended, I would go on some sort of media-laden binge. Instead, however, I seemed to have developed a profound aversion to “noise” which most of my previous media sources now felt like. I barely thumbed through the magazines I’d purchased. I ended up unsubscribing from roughly 2/3′s of the previous newsfeeds I had (and am still weeding through the remainder). Instead of surfing the net constantly, I now may check it briefly in the morning and for a bit longer in the evening if there’s time. And I have next to no patience for email lists. The only thing I really returned to was books. I’m still doing a significant amount of reading but I now seem to prefer focusing on one book at time.
It’s definitely been an interesting experience and I have a feeling I haven’t yet recognized the full impact. I’ll tell you this, though–even if you don’t have the time to do a media fast for an entire week, I’d strongly encourage you to try at least 24 hours. I can guarantee you’ll learn some interesting things about yourself and your habits.
Marina photo by Tammy at RowdyKittens
When my husband and I moved into our house, we had a week without running water and no electricity. It was the most relaxing time of my life. I felt in touch with nature. When it got dark, I went to bed and woke up early. I had to work to bring water in, used lanterns and could just be. In ways, I wish life was like that more often but convenience gets in the way.
I’m going to have to try this soon. Now that I’m not working anymore (preparing to move in early Aug) I find myself looking around online A LOT. It’s not like I’m accomplishing anything useful, like writing posts or organizing packing lists…just filling my already full head with more – noise.
I’m going to see if I can find a 48 hour period before my move when I can try this as a stepping off point…thanks for the encouragement!
Jesse
Jesse, I would say 48 hours would be a great starting point. I got a lot of benefit out of the first two days. Good luck with your move!
Congratulations. You’ve had your first glimpse at being truly alive. Armed with this newfound knowledge and experience, what will you do now?
Phil
P.S. – I MUST try this soon as well. But, with 5 other people in the house, it’ll be harder.
This is making me want to create a Shabbat practice for myself again. I could really benefit from 25 hrs a week without brain junkfood.
A week-long media fast has been easy for me in the past–when I was camping. Doing it while going to work, sitting at home, getting food, socializing with friends–that would be a major challenge for me.
Thanks for the great post. Lots to think about.
Beautifully written entry! This inspires me to try my own media fast. I had attempted it when I first read The Artists Way, but my addiction won and I never tried it again. It’s really nice to read your impressions of it, and the benefits you’ve gleaned. I’m far more hooked into media now than I was then, and it’s even more intimidating to think about trying this.
@Kerrick -
Good call, I’m an Observant Jew so technically I do a 25 hour media fast everyweek, huh?
Somehow I hadn’t put 3 and 3 together…that’s what I get for trying to keep these two aspects of my life separate, thanks for the wake up call!
Jamie, for what it’s worth, the harder people resisted the exercise, the more they seemed to get out of it. Me and one other person in the class fought it tooth and nail, and we’re now both believers.
Just discovered your blog. I plan to try a media fast. Your post is truly an inspiration. Thank you.
Ahh, I found it. I couldn’t remember the term you used, at first. I think we are due for this next week (week 4?) I’m working on week 3 and trying not to think of this torturous process :-O