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Day Without Media - Afterwards
Jan. 22nd, 2013 03:35 pmVastly enjoyed my day offline last week! Super bonus ironic amusement from the fact that I kept thinking "must blog about this" :)
The thing I missed most, weirdly, was my camera! I suspect it was because the fact that I'd be without camera did not occur to me until the day. I had mentally thought about most of the other factors, but the camera one escaped me. Added to that, I did an absolutely TON of crafts that day and I do really like posting progress photos as I'm doing crafts, so I had plenty of events that I would usually have photographed.
Had two visitors which was nice, and my flatmate was home all day. That, together with craftwork, kept me happily occupied.
As I had suspected, the biggest problem with "happily occupied" was that if you remove all media from the equation, almost everything that's left requires physically doing things (the only non-doing-things activity is chatting face to face). So although I had a really great day and all, my arms and hands were VERY painful by the end of the day and worse on the day after. I just don't have the physical ability to do so much craft stuff in a sustainable manner, unfortunately.
The nicest thing about the whole experience was how peaceful I felt by the end of it. I really really love how peaceful my mind gets when I am not deluged by media ... unfortunately I have to go through the part where I am bored to get to the part where I am peaceful, which makes it harder to attain. It's so easy to assuage the boredom with more media, which cures the boredom but also prevents the peacefulness. Buuuut on the other hand without media I am cut off from friends and family to a much greater extent, and also with the hand/arm overuse.
So ... after my media-free day, I'm going to try to find a balance with a little less media than before, and hopefully a bit more peacefulness.
To this end, I have been intentionally sitting somewhat with boredom instead of rushing to always alleviate it. It takes some energy to do this, paradoxically, and in the short term it's mildly unpleasant so my success at this varies! For me this means:
- If I am waiting for something that I know will only be a short while, just waiting instead of pulling out an audio book or podcast etc.
- Reinforcing my existing habit of not using audiobooks/etc. when I am out going places, except if I have to wait a really long time for a doctor or taxi and have totally run out of energy.
- When I sit on my recliner to do crafts sitting for a while just doing the crafts, rather than always turning on audiobooks/etc.
- Turning things off earlier before I go to sleep in the afternoon and evening, rather than using the soundtrack always to lull me to sleep.
- Reminding myself that it's OK to feel bored and it means that I'm looking after myself, rather than feeling like boredom is only a negative symptom.
When I am using the computer, I'm trying to be more focussed and less 'scattered'. The temptation to do fifty things at once is strong, once there are fifty interesting things in front of me! So on the computer/iPhone end of things I am:
- Unsubscribing from many online sources of content, including Facebook groups and pages, Email newsletters, etc. Ongoing process at the moment ...
- Consciously closing down computer programs when I am not actually using them, especially things like chat programs, email, and Facebook which tend to "grab" my attention.
- Started using Isolator and Nocturne programs on my Mac, also to help reduce distraction when I am using the computer.
- Becoming aware when I habitually flick between programs every time there is a few seconds break waiting for something to download/render/compile/etc. Instead of flicking to something else, just wait. This is aided by not having things visible and not having things open!
- Decluttering inbox as much as possible too.
For my iPhone, I am altering it to make it less tempting to mess around and also turning off as many 'interruptions' as possible:
- Remove most of the apps from my iPhone, especially games I find most addictive and unused apps.
- Store less frequently used apps in folders so the phone looks less cluttered too.
- Carefully check the iPhone notification settings to turn off notifications for anything that isn't absolutely necessary.
- Change ringtones to less "urgent" sounds so they are less intrusive.
- Try to remember to turn phone to "silent" as often as possible. Slightly tricky as it also silences the alarms that remind me to take meds, so I have to balance it.
- Untrain self from habitually checking iPhone screen for activity. Checking occasionally or if I am waiting for something specific is OK, habitual checking is not useful though.
Other miscellaneous things:
- Make sure my answering machine is set up and functioning for both mobile and landline, so I don't feel I have to answer ringing phones.
- Making sure my home is decluttered and fairly tidy, which always makes the inside of my head feel less cluttered and less messy too. Do other people's brains do this?
What else makes you feel peaceful?
r
The thing I missed most, weirdly, was my camera! I suspect it was because the fact that I'd be without camera did not occur to me until the day. I had mentally thought about most of the other factors, but the camera one escaped me. Added to that, I did an absolutely TON of crafts that day and I do really like posting progress photos as I'm doing crafts, so I had plenty of events that I would usually have photographed.
Had two visitors which was nice, and my flatmate was home all day. That, together with craftwork, kept me happily occupied.
As I had suspected, the biggest problem with "happily occupied" was that if you remove all media from the equation, almost everything that's left requires physically doing things (the only non-doing-things activity is chatting face to face). So although I had a really great day and all, my arms and hands were VERY painful by the end of the day and worse on the day after. I just don't have the physical ability to do so much craft stuff in a sustainable manner, unfortunately.
The nicest thing about the whole experience was how peaceful I felt by the end of it. I really really love how peaceful my mind gets when I am not deluged by media ... unfortunately I have to go through the part where I am bored to get to the part where I am peaceful, which makes it harder to attain. It's so easy to assuage the boredom with more media, which cures the boredom but also prevents the peacefulness. Buuuut on the other hand without media I am cut off from friends and family to a much greater extent, and also with the hand/arm overuse.
So ... after my media-free day, I'm going to try to find a balance with a little less media than before, and hopefully a bit more peacefulness.
To this end, I have been intentionally sitting somewhat with boredom instead of rushing to always alleviate it. It takes some energy to do this, paradoxically, and in the short term it's mildly unpleasant so my success at this varies! For me this means:
- If I am waiting for something that I know will only be a short while, just waiting instead of pulling out an audio book or podcast etc.
- Reinforcing my existing habit of not using audiobooks/etc. when I am out going places, except if I have to wait a really long time for a doctor or taxi and have totally run out of energy.
- When I sit on my recliner to do crafts sitting for a while just doing the crafts, rather than always turning on audiobooks/etc.
- Turning things off earlier before I go to sleep in the afternoon and evening, rather than using the soundtrack always to lull me to sleep.
- Reminding myself that it's OK to feel bored and it means that I'm looking after myself, rather than feeling like boredom is only a negative symptom.
When I am using the computer, I'm trying to be more focussed and less 'scattered'. The temptation to do fifty things at once is strong, once there are fifty interesting things in front of me! So on the computer/iPhone end of things I am:
- Unsubscribing from many online sources of content, including Facebook groups and pages, Email newsletters, etc. Ongoing process at the moment ...
- Consciously closing down computer programs when I am not actually using them, especially things like chat programs, email, and Facebook which tend to "grab" my attention.
- Started using Isolator and Nocturne programs on my Mac, also to help reduce distraction when I am using the computer.
- Becoming aware when I habitually flick between programs every time there is a few seconds break waiting for something to download/render/compile/etc. Instead of flicking to something else, just wait. This is aided by not having things visible and not having things open!
- Decluttering inbox as much as possible too.
For my iPhone, I am altering it to make it less tempting to mess around and also turning off as many 'interruptions' as possible:
- Remove most of the apps from my iPhone, especially games I find most addictive and unused apps.
- Store less frequently used apps in folders so the phone looks less cluttered too.
- Carefully check the iPhone notification settings to turn off notifications for anything that isn't absolutely necessary.
- Change ringtones to less "urgent" sounds so they are less intrusive.
- Try to remember to turn phone to "silent" as often as possible. Slightly tricky as it also silences the alarms that remind me to take meds, so I have to balance it.
- Untrain self from habitually checking iPhone screen for activity. Checking occasionally or if I am waiting for something specific is OK, habitual checking is not useful though.
Other miscellaneous things:
- Make sure my answering machine is set up and functioning for both mobile and landline, so I don't feel I have to answer ringing phones.
- Making sure my home is decluttered and fairly tidy, which always makes the inside of my head feel less cluttered and less messy too. Do other people's brains do this?
What else makes you feel peaceful?
r
