It was day 30 of our media fast. Daniel and I were sitting on our living room couch sharing an egg tart. In between every other nibble of egg tart, we’d our sip tea- my usual Harney and Son’s Paris Blend for me, some coconut one from Tealish for him. Daniel was working on a post for HowToSaveMoney while I flipped through the latest book I was reading- the ninth or tenth one since the start of the month. Music from Bahamas, an artist I discovered during our vacation in Prince Edward County, played in the background.
The dessert may change and sometimes we may find ourselves on the bed rather than the couch, but the most evenings during our media fast was similar in nature: quiet, relaxing, productive.
The first few days of the media fast were hard. Like any addict, I experienced withdrawal symptoms. Irritability. Why did I cut television during network television season premier month? Anxiety. What am I going to with all my time; I may quite literally die of boredom. Obsession. I really, REALLY want to watch TV. What about just ten minutes?
On Day 3 I felt almost lonely. Television has always been a faithful companion. I like to eat dessert while watching a re-run of Murdoch Mysteries. I work while Grey’s Anatomy plays in the background. I really wanted to watch television to pass time and even asked Daniel for permission to watch part of an episode before bed. He gave me withering look which, in my withdrawal state, was interpreted as “Sure, Love! You were so productive tonight. You should be rewarded with ten minutes!”. I crawled into bed and readied myself for some TV but decided against it. I ended up reading late into the night; it was a good book (a Murdoch mystery by Maureen Jennings. The television series is based on the books).
Seven days into the fast, I was starting to grow accustomed to not emailing, texting, Instragramming, Internet surfing, or watching television (aka, the quiet) with my free time. As a matter of fact, I found time on my hands which I didn’t always have because I was so preoccupied with media outlets. I started churning out blog posts, the thoughts in my head turning into words like milk into butter. In one of my quiet moments, I decided now was the time to start a kitchen remodel, something we’ve been considering and discussing for months. Lastly, I have rediscovered my love for reading, burying my nose into books for hours at a time; when bored, I find solace in a novel.
By day 20, being unplugged became a way of life. The insatiable desire to hop on the Internet was diminished and we rarely knew where our hand-held devices were. I didn’t even miss Instagram! We went for longer walks after dinner. After Boo was put to bed, Daniel and I would spend our time working on the municipal campaign or the blog or simply enjoy each other’s company, playing scrabble or perusing through Ikea catalogs and faucet/sink/paint brochures. We even went to bed a little earlier. Our month long media sabbatical wasn’t just an exercise of mitigating distractions but a re-development of (better) habits and routine.
2 Takeways from Being Unplugged
Here are two things I gained during my media detox:
- More Focus – I have a magpie brain that flits from thing to thing. If there is a stimulant, whether it be tactile, auditory, or visual (especially visual), it will trigger my brain and initiate a new thought process, often completely unrelated to my task or activity at hand. I can be caramelizing onions over the stove, a slow process of cooking down onions to sweet umami goodness, and notice the elephant shaped teapot I keep by the stove and be reminded of the zoo which I have tickets for but I would like to avoid the zoo on a weekend so I’ll try to schedule some vacation time to take the kid on a weekday, however I only have four vacation days remaining, some of which I want to carry over to next year for our Korea trip which is in the middle of February and close to the lunar new year which would mean it would be fun to hop over to Hong Kong to visit my uncle but only if it’s affordable (my brain uses run-on sentences). Then I find myself on the computer looking up flights to Hong Kong and my onions burning on the stove. I digress. Point is, I get really easily distracted; just take a peep at my browsing history. Less stimulants allows me to be more focused and productive.
- More Time – Before going on a media fast, we often complained about not having enough hours in the day to do everything we wanted/need. Not true. Without media to pull my brain in a million directions so I could focus on a task, I was able to complete it much quicker. We could clean, blog, and prepare breakfast and lunch for the next day with time to spare in the evenings. The random 5-minute Instagram checks and texting and “ooh, let’s look up this online” add up; removing those from our daily routine gave us much more time to tackle items on our to-do.
The Struggles
The ability to abstaining from media varies from person. Similarly, each person has their vice, a media form to which they are more dependent on. Not huge social media users, not using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram had a small effect on us, but we both struggled in our own ways with our own media distractions of choice. For Daniel, being a ward captain for the mayoral campaign, felt he needed to be plugged in to address emails as they came in; he checked his email more than the more than the agreed upon frequency, not once receiving a pressing matter to address. His email checking habit eventually lead to an argument.
I, on the other hand, am not accustomed to quiet moments of just sitting. I feel the need to fill the void and prior to the challenge, would hop on the Internet or turn on the television just to be doing something. Without media, I often found the silence maddening. For example, I usually arrive home from work first. It is then a long wait for Daniel and the kiddo to come home- fifteen minutes to half hour- without something to distract me.
We both missed media for the mind-numbing effect on our brains, the way it allows us to not have to think. After long mentally exhausting days, we would want to unwind with some television or catch up on pretty pictures (via Instragram), especially before bed. Daniel, better at turning off his mind and thinking about nothing, dealt with unwinding without a prop; I kept chic-lit by the bed; while it would suffice, sometimes reading just didn’t satisfy as much as an episode of Castle.
Last Word
As the month drew to an end, I found myself not really wanting it to end. On one hand, I looked forward to the end of challenge so I can veg out on the couch and catch up on my season premieres, but I also value the time and productivity gained from not having media distractions. Daniel and I reconsidered our fast and decided to continue with a less restricted extreme variation of it. We want our every day to have less distractions and to focus on things that matter more to us.
For those who have gone on a media fast before, what did you learn? What was hard for you?
Congratulations to you both. That sounds like it was challenging and rewarding. How realistic do you think it is to be unplugged on an ongoing basis? Not completely, but just enough that you will “find” more time to accomplish your goals. It’s so hard to balance! There is genuinely good reading material online, but like you mentioned, it’s a rabbit hole going from one interesting article to the next.
P.S. Nice to see that the Read Aloud Handbook was in your pile.
It’s hard to imagine how much time and distractions media gives us without doing an experiment like you’ve done. I’ve never done a media fast myself, but I imagine the results would be much like yours. Probably feeling less overwhelmed, being very productive, more relaxed, and, dare I say it, happier.
I don’t foresee that I’ll actually do this because media is so integrated into my life and career … but sometimes I wish I lived in a simpler time before all of this nonsense. Good on you for giving this a go!
Thanks Stephen. It’s by no means easy for a month, especially since we all work with computers. Here’s an interesting read, someone who went offline for a year!