filling the void
I conducted an experiment this summer. I’ve never gone without television for more than a week or two. There’s too many programs I enjoy and watch regularly for me to completely give it up. So, for two months this summer, I completely fasted from tv.
My experiment was wildly successful. I didn’t realize I could do this, nor did I even care to try. It began as an unintentional absence. Soon after realizing I hadn’t vegged out watching anything for a few weeks, I decided to totally give it up for a while. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
While I was very successful at avoiding everything that tv had to offer, I created a void. There was downtime that I needed to fill. I quickly learned how unimportant one medium became and grabbed on to my other favorite medium: the Internet.
I’ve probably spent an average of 10-14 hours a day in front of my computer for these past two months. However, during the first month, it was much easier to not be in front of the computer since I was working full-time and socially as an IT administrator. I also had many people to visit after hours and kept myself busy most nights.
In the middle of July, I flew back home to an unscheduled second half of the summer. So my free time suddenly increased threefold. With my desire to watch television nearly deceased, I spent much time browsing the world wide web. And it’s just as easy to treat this medium as television and waste hours reading unimportant crap: mostly trivial or subjective content but nonetheless mildly entertaining.
I admit to being quite obsessed with being online when I should be doing one of many things. As was so famously portrayed in What about Bob, I guess sometimes we have to take baby steps.
The most important change I should discipline myself with is time management. I could have done this years ago, knowing very well that I waste a lot of time. I have no regrets about this, but I also realize that I’m going nowhere fast. If certain things really were important to me, I’d do anything to make them happen. I see this in a few of my other friends, which is very inspiring.
I guess life doesn’t get any easier than this. I work for myself, I call my own hours, I travel when I desire and to wherever I want, and I can make the most of everything I do. I’m lucky to be in my position and unless I further myself in the areas I want so badly, I might lose this again to another extensive round of monotonous drudgery. I have the opportunity to do and be anything I want right now. Wake up, Micah!