Unmedia (abstract)

By TMO

General peace and distraction-free living by self-imposed media abstinence

In late-2019 I “stopped” with media. A fair deal of it - I closed the last two social media accounts I had (Twitter and Instagram), I stopped checking up on CNN here in The States, I stopped looking for news recommendations from other RSS sources. I just stopped ALL of it. It turned out to be a good time to turn away from media consumption, too, because the COVID-19 pandemic was just around the corner (not that anyone saw that coming).

But, when I began my longterm media sabbatical (it has been 2 1/2 years now with very little media consumption, besides a few headlines here and there, and still no social media), I decided to write about how it was going by avoiding news, social media, and other outlets of information. And that is where “Unmedia” came into play.

In this article I address the very real, but very unnecessary trepidation people experience with Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), discuss a few small hiatus’ I took from the Internet pre-media abstinence, how deciding to remove the mass media (social or otherwise) consumption from my life was the “correct answer” for me to “heal” and for me to regain my bearings, and how I spend my time now that I am not in “Consumption Mode” 24 hours a day.

As time went on (and as I documented in the article), I saw that media was much more than just a passive way to kill off some time - it was, in fact, an addiction. The prolonged hours of boredom (that never get “replaced”, just “dealt with” and consolidated in a different (and more healthy) way), and to use one quote from the article:

Boredom is like a mantlepiece for how time is spent – make use of it, BUILD with it, DO with it, or let it be a crushing hurdle in life when it is not managed properly.

I also address elements of the addictive properties OF social media sites, and CHOOSING to (re-)prioritize how I spend my time, and how by staying away from bad news has improved my outlook and approach to life, and how I am going to stay away from media consumption for the foreseeable (and unforeseeable) future.

The index for “Unmedia” is below. About 2,100 words, cut into seven sections:

  1. Out Of Touch (with world happenings)
  2. Good information. Bad information. True information. False information. No information
  3. Amusing Yourself, or, Becoming Anti-Bored
  4. The Feed Is Not The Problem
  5. Lost to Time(lines) and (Cyber)space
  6. Dancing Around The Zeitgeist In The Room
  7. The Permanent Vacation (Conclusion)

Read the complete text on Unmedia.