Survival of Media Diet: ACHIEVED!

Things I’ve discovered while being on a media diet the past week:

1. I really like to discover neighborhoods and get places on foot.
   
   

So, since I wouldn’t allow myself to just mindlessly turn on the tv last week, I instead went walking every day, either to get somewhere or just for the hell of it. Twice I went on walks specifically to take photographs. Besides just killing time, I achieved: getting exercise, soaking up much-needed vitamin D, using less gas, and finding lots of interesting and beautiful things to photograph. I also made friends with a few cats along the way.

1. Facebook kinda makes me feel bad.
   
   

I only allowed myself to hop on once a day, during the fast, just to check private messages. Today, I woke up at around 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep…so I broke the media diet by checking into my news feed. It wasn’t three or four status updates before I started to feel bad about myself. While I love FB for being able to keep abreast of the goings-on of nears and dears that are far away, and it is definitely a necessary evil for project promotion, I can also count on it to feel like I’m not good enough: not doing enough, or that people don’t like me, or that I am being excluded from this or that. I didn’t feel that way all last week, and that is telling.

1. I need to start reading novels again.
   
   

I’ve gotten into this habit of spending my pre-falling asleep time, which used to be reserved for reading books going on Pinterest and pinning stuff. While I have no intention of giving up Pinterest (see #5), I need to read books again. So, as of tonight, I’m reinstituting the reading novels before bed thing.

1. I love going to the movies.
   
   

Movies were exempt from the media diet, and I went to two of them the past week, which is more than I think I’ve been to ALL YEAR thus far. I love going with people and I love going alone. I miss going more often, and I’ll have to figure out how to build it back in without breaking the bank (Crest Cinema Center, HERE I COME!).

1. I love taking photographs.
   
   

I spent 2013 taking a photo a day for a year, joined Instagram and have really enjoyed photography. I took a bit of a break after I finished the yearlong project, but my recent trip to Portland as well as the media diet refreshed my love for the medium, and so easy to do since I bring my iPhone everywhere. Things are interesting. Life is interesting, and visually capturing it is fun, creative and doesn’t cost anything anymore, is a great creative outlet that doesn’t have to be MY LIFE – can just be an outlet. I used to love taking photos of people – now I love taking photos of inanimate objects and plants.

1. I don’t mind not being up to the minute on current events.
   
   

While it was a bit disconcerting to abruptly find out about Maya Angelou’s death in passing from an acquaintance who assumed it was common knowledge, it was kinda nice to be blissfully unaware of what was going on in the world for a week. I don’t want to be completely ignorant of what’s going on in the world, but I wonder if there is a happy medium between that and the constant infostream.

1. I still love Pinterest.
   
   

I replaced it with photoediting on Instagram, but I missed it. Can’t wait to get back to it. I would give up all social media for Pinterest. It actually makes me feel good when I’m on, and creating image banks and having a recipe bank is productive without being stressful. I just need to figure out how to give equal time to reading fiction again.

1. I still love TV.
   
   

I cut back to only an hour per day, and I missed it. A LOT. BUT, I don’t need to watch as much mindless tv as I have in the past, and certainly don’t need to have the tv on for background noise. Most of the shows I follow are scripted, and I feel like they actually enhance my life and are a good way to wind down…but the mindless, plop down in front of the tv because I’m procrastinating or feeling lazy doesn’t need to happen anymore.

1. I love hanging out with friends. For FUN.
   
   

I feel like most of the time now, I do artistic projects with friends instead of just having non-project fun. I stopped by a friend’s house on the way back from a project meeting last Friday and we just chatted about this and that for a couple hours. It was nice to catch up and even nicer to realize, I can actually hang out with my Seattle-based friends, rather than just looking at their social media feeds to see what they’re up to.

All in all, though it was challenging, it was a positive and somewhat enlightening week for me…what it comes down to is, do I want to be a constant consumer of other people’s images/words/ideas, or do I want to be primarily a producer of my own?

---