Media Binge and Fast

Confessions of an Addict

I'll admit it, I'm addicted to the digital world.

Between my laptop and my phone, I am constantly on one of the two. Whether or not I realize it, I do probably spend most of my day doing something online. As disgusting as that might be, I don't feel like it's really that uncommon among people my age.

Clearly, the media binge was not a difficult task for me. Honestly, I just did what I normally did and thought it was enough. I am constantly checking all of my social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat), so I just continued that.

This made me realize how much time I actually devote to media in my daily life. I am almost constantly media binging, which cannot really be that healthy. Overall, the media binge was a walk in the park of the digital world. It was a little too easy.

The media fast however, went much differently.

I would tell myself I wasn't supposed to be mindlessly scrolling, and not a minute later I would be doing just that without even noticing it. I found that more than a little disturbing.

I use it as a cure for boredom, which I found quickly after not being able to go online. But, this made me question whether I was curing boredom or just filling it.

What I mean by filling boredom is that I'm really not doing anything. Truthfully, being on social media is pretty much just an extension of cognitive surplus. I mean, unless I'm organizing an important social movement or adding to the academic conversation of curing cancer (both of which I'm not), I'm essentially not really doing anything productive.

Media fasting actually made me very aware of my habits, and very aware that I am wasting an excessive amount of time scrolling through mindless content that no one really cares about.

I think it's safe to say after this binge and fast that I will be scrolling through the digital world a lot less and strolling in the real world a little bit more.