Tips For Media Fasting

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Most of us think that consuming vast quantities of media is a necessary condition of modern life. After all, it seems like almost all of our lives are mediated. We get most of our news from TV, papers and the internet. We spend a lot of our time watching DVDs and TV shows. We communicate largely through mediated forms like e-mail and social networking sites. When we sit back and think about it, everything seems to be mediated in one way or the other, and taking a break from using media (often called a 'media fast') can seem like a daunting and almost impossible task. Even if it seems possible, most of us would simply ask 'why'? Why take a media fast? Well, cutting out some time away from media has a number of benefits, and is pretty easy to do once you set your mind to it.

First, you need to understand why you should take a media fast. The first reason is the fact that most of us are really pretty addicted to using media. It can be really hard to step away from the TV or to not use e-mail for a day, and I know I face a lot of strong urges to log on for no reason when I'm taking a break from the internet.

Whenever you feel like you NEED to do something you have a problem, and staying connected to the massive influx of information that the media provides is nothing short of addictive. Take a moment to think about just how much information is constantly being fed to you via media. The internet provides a constant stream of endless information and distractions. Books, magazines and newspapers provide more information when you're no logged in. TV fills in a lot of gaps, and if you do not watch the tube chances are you watch your share of DVDs. Radio provides some noise and more information when you're driving, and iPods and overdeveloped cell phones ensure that there's never an empty moment when you can not be on your laptop. If you want to, you can always be caught up in the information stream, and most people opt in. When it comes down to it, we over saturate ourselves with more information than we can effectively process, and we block out and refuse to give room for anything to actually flourish.

Media fasts, cutting ourselves out of the information deluge, can take a number of different forms. First of all, you can decide to just cut yourself away from all media for about a week straight. If you can take the time off and travel, there are retreats you can go to that do not allow media technologies, and some that do not even allow speaking. A week can be a long time to cut yourself off, so consider logging off for a full 24 hour period. This can be really refreshing, and doubly so if you allocate a single day a week, every week, for this. Some people find success by doing smaller fasts that involve only cutting out one type of media, like not reading the news or checking Facebook for a week.

Whatever you feel like you can accomplish, do it. Once you're done with your fast, look back at your media intake and try to come back to it in a healthier way. There's more to life than always being connected.

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Source by Sam Stieler