What do you think of when you hear the word “diet”? For most of us, thoughts of food and weight loss are the first things that come to mind.
With the new year now here, a lot of people are either thinking about or have already started (and possibly ended) some kind of diet. And this year, I’m one of them. But I’m not dieting in the usual sense of the word. You see, I haven’t changed the food I eat, but I have been restricting the information sources I’ve been consuming. I’m going on a “media diet,” I guess you could say.
Media Diet
The challenge is there are so many things we can choose to read or watch that we could spend an inordinate amount of time just trying to “keep up” with all the interesting things out there. But if we spend all our time just taking in new content, we can also fail to take adequate time digesting or applying what we’ve already consumed. It’s also possible that even good content could end up keeping us from giving our attention to the things in our lives that are even more important.
Because of this, I’m making a conscious effort to restrict what I’m reading or listening to on a regular basis. It’s not a total fast, per se, but it is an intentional downshift. Like in a standard diet, the goal is not to eat nothing at all. But to rather be more selective in what goes in.
I’ve found that there is value in regularly taking in content that stimulates my thinking or teaches me something. But there is also a point of diminishing returns, where continuing to take in more content ceases to be helpful. And so I’ve started paying closer attention to the various types and sources of media I come in contact with. These include:
- Podcasts
- Blogs
- Social media
- Television
- News
- Talk radio
Some of these I haven’t been spending much time with lately (like television, radio, or social media), so the need for further restriction is less acute. But with other sources, like podcasts, blogs, and news, it’s much easier for me to spend more time on.
The issue behind my desire to cut back has nothing to do with whether any of these are inherently good or bad. Rather, the crux of the issue is primarily one of opportunity costs, since every moment I give my attention to some new piece of media, that’s one less moment I can focus my attention elsewhere. This doesn’t mean there’s no place for the media equivalent of a some candy or dessert on occasion — but hopefully they end up being the exception, not the mainstay of the diet.
Intentional Consumption
Regardless of what I choose to spend my time consuming, the biggest challenge is to do so intentionally. There will be times where I watch or listen to something purely for the entertainment value of it. And that’s fine. But it’s one thing to do so on purpose, intentionally choosing what I want to spend my time on, and it’s another to pay no attention to where I’m spending my time, and then to wonder where it all went.
When addressing someone’s eating habits, sometimes the first step is simply having them keep a log of everything they eat. And even if that’s all they do, sometimes just the process of writing down everything they consume actually affects what they choose to eat. Because when we’re mindful of what we’re doing, we have more of a chance to self-regulate.
The same thing goes with the media we choose to consume. Even if there are no hard restrictions, being mindful of our choices, and making them intentionally, will have an impact on what we ultimate give our attention to.
Helpful Constraints
As a kid, my parents put limits on how much television we could watch and video games we could play. And although I wasn’t thrilled at the time, I’m glad they set those limits.
The thing about limits is that limits force us to choose. As a kid, if I had a certain amount of screen time, and there were multiples show I wanted to watch, I had to decide which was was more important to me.
Similarly today, if I set general limits on either the time or number of items I consume, I’ll be quickly forced into prioritizing my options. Maybe it’s limiting the number of podcasts I listen to, or articles I read, each day. Not because there’s anything inherently good with the (arbitrary) limit I choose, but because of the resulting prioritization that takes place.
Constraints can be frustrating, but they can also be helpful if seen in the proper context.
Practical Considerations
When going on a diet, one of the pieces of advice you’ll often hear is to immediately clear out all of the junk food in the house. Because if it’s not there, then no will power is needed to not eat it — it’s not even an option.
The same idea goes for the media we give our time to. If the content we want to cut back on is always in front of our face, it’s going to be harder to ignore it.
For instance, I’m cutting back on the amount of news I’m looking at regularly, and so I’ve removed some of the ‘news’ features on my phone, and removed the app that I used to view them. Now I don’t even see the latest headlines unless I intentionally seek them out.
Saying No to Say Yes
When talking about restricting what we consume, it’s easy to forget that doing so is ultimately not about what we say no to. It’s about what doing so allows us to say yes to.
Being selective in the media we choose to consume can help us grow in our ability to be more present with family and loved ones when they’re near. It can provide time to reflect on, and apply, what we’ve already taken in. It can give us a chance to learn to sit with our thoughts and simply be.
Regardless of whether we place hard limits on what we consume or not, the main challenge is to be more intentional in whatever we choose. There will always be opportunity costs associated with our choices, and so it makes sense to ask ourselves, Is what I’m consuming providing any value? How is this media affecting me? And could the time I’m spending here be better used elsewhere?
The answers to these questions may not always provide clear directions on what we should do. But just the habit of keeping them in mind can go a long way in shaping what media we choose to consume.