My Slow Media Diet

At no other time in history have we had so much information.  It is like a primordial soup of information out there.  And I am the first to admit that occasionally I drown and have to be resuscitated with a good solid dose of self imposed solitary confinement away from all of it.

I did that this past weekend.  And upon my return I reflected that each and every time I return to the 'soup' I think...."Wait just a gosh darned second...I don't need this shite....most of it is not life enhancing."

It is the 'most' bit that gets me each and every time.  The fact of the matter is that there actually is some utility in the information and that marginal utility is what prevents my digital suicide each and every time I contemplate it.

I enjoy (need) to hear about the day to day activities of loved ones that are not near.  I enjoy (need) to hear about the activities of loved ones that are near too.  I also find that most of my news is obtained via social media streams and I love the fact that I can mute certain streams if they no longer meet my needs.

I need interaction.  I believe we all do.  Forcing oneself into isolation is an activity encouraged only in small doses and in today's dispersed and time-deficient world we interact electronically alongside face to face.

This week's viral article on "Listening to Complainers is Bad for your Brain" reminds me of the essence of my discomfort with all of this information:  It is, for the most part, negative.

In the last year I have consciously chosen to try and live-talk and e-post only good news stories except when my blood pressure simmers to the point of needing to climb to the top of the rooftop and literally scream my displeasure.  A negative article or comment from me is the equivalent of a gorilla pounding her chest.  I am a passionate (and, um, unmedicated) person so this tends to happen on a regular basis.

Slow media is a lifestyle that encourage others to do the same.  Thoughtful and conscious consumption and production of media could radically change our world while maximizing the opportunities for significant and positive world change that technology affords us.

LBF: Life Before Facebook

Events in my life have taken many twists and turns in the last couple of years so that by the end of July I thought, I need to unplug from the greatest friend debauchery the world has ever known.  Even if it is only for a wee while.  So I took a month off of facebook this past August.

I can report that after one month exactly 4 of my 661 facebook 'friends' contacted me via phone/email.  I have 3 immediate family members and luckily we maintain regular contact.  So, as a mathematician I have to evaluate this using the cold hard facts.  4/661 people are really my friends.  I interacted with approximately 0.6% of the total publicly declared number of connections that facebook deems friends.

I don't know about you, but that's about the same as LBF.  In my adult life I have found that in a given month I socialize with about 5-10 people and since I actually do know people that don't have a facebook account that number is about correct for my facebook free month.

Facebook clutters my life and I'm not sure I can return to it again.  I've poked around a bit in the few weeks since I 'returned'  (pun intended) and I feel like a lost sheep.  The spell is broken.  The charm has ceased.

I am now officially living LAF:  Life After Facebook.  This 'new' life will include this blog.  Or another blog (I have a  habit of creating new blogs....maybe I will commit to one eventually).