Media Deprivation W(eek!)

 So, I am cutting back on “media” this week as part of the assignments for this week’s Artist’s Way chapter. In the book, (which I think was originally published in 1992, before the advent of widely-used internet)it is called “reading deprivation week”, where you are not supposed to read anything extracurricular for a week (which means stuff you need to do for work is okay).

It has been updated to “media deprivation week” and while I can’t go on a complete hiatus from “media”, I’m doing my best to go on a diet. For me, this means

1. Cutting back to 1 hour of tv a night

2. No use of Facebook *except* to check & write messages

3. No use of Pinterest *except* to pin *specific* recipes and bring them up while cooking

4. Updating my website/blog is fine – since that is inherently creative/organizational

5. Going on Instagram is fine specifically for photoediting and posting purposes – but not allowing myself to look/comment on other photos, since this is mostly about editing photos I’ve just taken.

6. I am also defining work as not only dayjob-related stuff, but anything pertaining to current and developing artistic projects, so checking both personal and work email is a must, but trying to keep that to a minimum and not use email for social purposes.

7. Listening to music is fine, either on Pandora or on my iPod – but no radio or podcasts.

8. Internet feels like a grey area…but trying to keep it mostly to image searches rather than long chunks of reading, except when it pertains to dayjob or artistic projects.

I think those are all the perimeters. I have been at it since Tuesday, am nearly midway through Day 3 now, and I have to say, it is HARD for me. I am a media WHORE, an ADDICT in capital letters. I have eagerly sucked down my hour of tv the past two nights, and no catching half an hour of the news in the mornings before work – luckily, only 2 work days to deal with during this – it’s hard to implement this while sitting in front of a computer all day, so I will be glad when I can be free to do other things. Am looking forward to going for a walk after work, if the weather holds – apparently, it is not looking so good, so I will have to throw my heart and attention into making dinner. But conveniently, I also have some edits to the Arts Gumbo poster I am making for SEED Arts, so that should carve out some time.

Anyway – this is where things stand as of now – we shall see how it unfolds with 4 days away from work.



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