errantember: (Little Cowboy Scott)
errantember ([personal profile] errantember) wrote2010-01-10 11:51 pm

Signing Off for Media Fast

Having recently read the Four Hour Work Week, I'll be trying out a Media Fast over the next week, starting Monday. This basically means no news (in any format beyond looking at headlines in a newspaper dispenser and asking people what's going on in the world) in pretty much any format, including the Internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Fiction in any form is ok, but no other books are allowed. E-mail is limited to only necessary use, as is the Internet. No random surfing! This will be even more challenging than usual since I have a job interview to prepare for that will likely require online research, but I'll do my damnedest to stay on task. Naturally this means I also won't be checking on or posting to LJ. I'll still read incoming e-mail from specific people, but nothing from lists, news, or political groups.

I was originally going to do a food fast at the same time, but it turns out my big martial arts event is actually this coming weekend instead of last weekend, *and* I'll have the interview, so that will have to wait until next week. Like a food fast, the media fast's purpose is to make me aware of how much time I spend (or waste) "staying in touch with what's going on" instead of actually accomplishing anything useful.

I'll allow comments, but won't read them until next week. See you next then!

[identity profile] kadairk.livejournal.com 2010-01-11 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hope it went well. I fasted from the internet when I did a 3 day juice fast last autumn, and was amazed at how little I missed it, and much less noisy my head felt. Of course, I am back up to using it as much as I did before the fast.

[identity profile] gailmom.livejournal.com 2010-01-11 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Did it work? Are you giving up LJ forever? :P

[identity profile] errantember.livejournal.com 2010-01-21 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
It *did* work, and I'll blog more about it later. I'll still be reading certain people's LJs, though I'm looking for a way to grab posts from various social media programs and put them all in one place.