A Day Without Media

Yesterday I went the entire day without checking my personal Twitter or Facebook accounts, reading blogs, browsing the internet, checking my personal email, watching TV, listening to the radio, and with limited cell phone use.  Why this "media fast"?  Well, as part of our new small group Bible study, as well as the devotionals I've been posting here (a coincidence that both required some sort of fasting??  I think not!), I was encouraged to take a one day break from media in an effort to create more space in my life for God, or at least the opportunity for me to focus on God.  Brandon also joined me in the effort.

Before I get into the things I learned yesterday, I do need to give one short disclaimer.  As part of my job, I am responsible for all communications in our office, along with overseeing and managing our website and social media channels.  So while I was fasting from personal social media and internet activities, I still had to use media at work. 

Okay, now on to my media-free observations (I jotted down a list throughout the day yesterday so I wouldn't forget anything):

• the drive to work was eerily quiet and I found myself humming and whistling
• my work day was a little more productive because I was not doing anything personal online
• realized I will survive without knowing all of the breaking news via Twitter
• the break provided me with more "thinking" time in the car sans the distraction of the radio
• Brandon and I actually had conversations when we got home from work instead of vegging in front of the TV
• we got more accomplished around the house last night since we were not distracted by TV
• realized how much time I do spend online or watching TV
• I actually read part of a book without falling asleep -- this is MAJOR!

So now that we have particpated in that little exercise and made these observations, we have decided that we need to refocus a little bit.  From now on, we are going to instill a no TV from the time we get home from work until after dinner.  This is a good opportunity for us to decompress and talk to each other about our days, and in all hoensty it was sort of nice to have some peace and quiet after a full work day.  I think we will also eventually limit our TV intake all together, or at least not feel like we have to watch our shows "live" since we do have a DVR and can watch them when we literally have nothing else to do.

One thing that I know I need to work on is my connection to social media.  I will be the first person to rattle off its benefits, and I do believe there are benefits, but it does not need to rule my life.  I can live without all of the tidbits of information I gather on Twitter and Facebook.  In reality, I do not need to check Twitter and FB right when I get up in the morning.  I watch the news and will find out any pertinent information that I need at that time.  And really, sometimes it is nice to be in the dark a bit -- for instance I did not know about the shooting in Ohio until this morning when we turned on the news.

So, all in all this was a good exercise for both Brandon and me.  I would encourage all of you (the few who do read this thing) to try a similar exercise in your own life and then re-evaluate how you've been doing things.  It really was refreshing.

Also, my faithful readers may have noticed that I had two posts yesterday but have no fear, they were both scheduled posts that I wrote on Sunday night :)