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  1. A Winding Path of Progress/

Newsletter #5: No media conclusions

·2 mins·
Challenge
Table of Contents

Hi 🙂,
let’s get straight into the…

Review of the last challenge #

Last week’s challenge was: No audio-visual media

The challenge went well and I feel much better because of it. I will keep it up indefinitely, making exceptions where I’m positively drawn to something, e.g. an on-topic audiobook during a long drive, Tolle to become more present, a new chapter of a manga when I feel like it.

Some new and re-enforced learnings:

  • On the first day, I didn’t start the challenge in earnest, eventhough I had already decided that I would do it, because I hadn’t sent out the newsletter annoucing it yet. Without the commitment I lacked resolve.
  • Boredom quickly overcame me. I soon found other things to do: stuff that came up urgently, tasks that I had been postponing, ideas that just popped into my head. I like the boredom much better than the automatic busyness of being so drawn to consume.
  • I got more intrinsic motivation to write and more satisfaction from the process. I didn’t feel constantly pulled toward some easier way to get a dopamine kick.
  • Consuming media is not relaxing. If what I need is a break, media consumption is not a suitable alternative. It’s stressful for the brain, giving it a lot to process. This quote describes it beautifully:

    This new technology paralyzed us into atonia — we became an awake brain locked in a motionless body [..]1

  • I had three instances of long (5h+) media binges. One reading the complete run of a manga and the other two on reddit. These interfered with my sleep and I felt like I couldn’t stop. Not great. Reddit is getting banned (that scrolling is pointless.) For the manga, complete abstinence doesn’t seem like the way. I don’t have all of the answers (yet) for the best approach to handling this whole topic of media consumption. More experimentation will be necessary.

Next challenge #

This week I’ll do some sun salutations (a simple yoga sequence) as the first thing after getting out of bed. This will help structure my morning. And I wanted to introduce more stretching/exercise to my life anyway, with this being an easy start since I already know the sequence by heart.

New articles #

Cheers,
Jonathan

  1. Source: Exit the supersensorium ↩︎