Media Fast
Before I started using the Internet on a regular basis, I basically read all the time. I mean, I played with friends and everything, but I read A LOT. And I'd shut everything out so that it was just me and the book. Forever. It sounds kind of cool, being able to focus like that, but most of the time it meant that I'd forget about schoolwork and chores and basic human things like eating or grooming. And whenever I was forced to stop reading because of class or sleeping or whatever, my brain would stay in book-world and it was great for me but pretty awful for school and such.
I mention that because I had to do a media fast for my sociology class earlier this week- three days, no texting, TV, movies, music, non-school-related computer use, everything. Reading and making phone calls were the only things we were allowed to do.
So I read. I read just over 900 pages on Sunday (finished up The Girl Who Would Be King and all of Kushiel's Mercy), both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, as well as half of Sherwood Smith's Inda on Monday, and finished Inda and got stuck in to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms yesterday. And I forgot I had a paper due, I forgot I had a quiz, and I forgot about an assignment. I barely remembered to do my contribution for a group project, and I half-assed that. It was like before the Internet, and it was kind of scary. It was difficult to think of anything that wasn't my books, I was completely stuck in book-world.
And I guess what was the worst part is that I thought I had conquered that part of myself, the obsessive, single-minded-to-the-point-of-destruction part of me but nope, it's still there. And I guess saying "to the point of destruction" sounds kind of melodramatic, but when I was in that phase I got nothing done, and if it extended I know my grades would have ended up slipping and things would have been bad and I would have retreated even further into book-world, which would just make things worse.
Anyway, people give the Internet and media a lot of shit, saying that it ruins attention spans and such, but honestly, I'm probably more on the ball now than I was before. Having a bunch of things to focus on means that there's more opportunity for the important stuff to get noticed.
I'm not entirely sure what I want to say, other than I wasn't a fan of myself for the past three days and I wanted to make another post here.
I mention that because I had to do a media fast for my sociology class earlier this week- three days, no texting, TV, movies, music, non-school-related computer use, everything. Reading and making phone calls were the only things we were allowed to do.
So I read. I read just over 900 pages on Sunday (finished up The Girl Who Would Be King and all of Kushiel's Mercy), both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, as well as half of Sherwood Smith's Inda on Monday, and finished Inda and got stuck in to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms yesterday. And I forgot I had a paper due, I forgot I had a quiz, and I forgot about an assignment. I barely remembered to do my contribution for a group project, and I half-assed that. It was like before the Internet, and it was kind of scary. It was difficult to think of anything that wasn't my books, I was completely stuck in book-world.
And I guess what was the worst part is that I thought I had conquered that part of myself, the obsessive, single-minded-to-the-point-of-destruction part of me but nope, it's still there. And I guess saying "to the point of destruction" sounds kind of melodramatic, but when I was in that phase I got nothing done, and if it extended I know my grades would have ended up slipping and things would have been bad and I would have retreated even further into book-world, which would just make things worse.
Anyway, people give the Internet and media a lot of shit, saying that it ruins attention spans and such, but honestly, I'm probably more on the ball now than I was before. Having a bunch of things to focus on means that there's more opportunity for the important stuff to get noticed.
I'm not entirely sure what I want to say, other than I wasn't a fan of myself for the past three days and I wanted to make another post here.