I stopped consuming content for a week (and you should too)
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- I did a week-long media fast inspired by the book "The Artist's Way." During this week, I wasn't allowed to consume any content created by others. If that wasn't enough, I started the media deprivation week with 2 screen-free days. I was surprised by some of the revelations that came out of this week (and surprisingly emotional 🥲).
At the end I reflect on some lessons learned and things I want to continue going forward. I'm not going to list them here because I want you to watch to find out. Okay fine I'll list them here but watch the video too ok
things I learned:
1. screen-free days help disrupt content-consumption habits
2. things have a more meaningful impact when I'm not constantly consuming content
3. when I'm not constantly consuming content, I can pay more attention to sensory details, and that makes the present moment a more interesting place to be
4. we cannot create when we are consuming content. boredom breeds creativity.
things I want to continue going forward:
1. only check email a few times per day (and close the app in between checking)
2. do a screen-free day every once in a while
3. think twice before googling
→ mindfulness class I'm taking (mentioned at 12:58): www.meditationwithamber.com/b...
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Chapters
00:00 introducing the rules
01:52 thursday
04:45 friday
07:22 weekend
08:16 monday
12:28 tuesday
14:58 reflections
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Thank you so much for your support!
I did a media fast, where I stopped all content consumption, inspired by The Artist's Way. screen-free days + digital detox leads to more productivity, creativity, and mindful living
The most valuable thing I get from this video is that what's damaging me is not my phone, my computer or screen time in general, it's the excess of content consuming.
yes! exactly my point. although I guess there are some negatives to the actual screens too, in terms of strain on our eyes 😅 but we can use screens to draw, write, make music, soo many possibilities. Screens are not the enemy, I don't even think content is the enemy. It's the attachment to a constant stream of content, the inability to be alone with our thoughts without something playing in the background - that's what I feel is the issue for many of us (myself included)
@@jenwebbcreates well I work with a computer 40 hours a week, so believe me, I don't want to reach out for it after that, I don't even hava a game console, all my hobbies can be done without my phone but I feel extremely uncomfortable while being in silence, so there's always a show or video streaming the background
I love when UA-camrs are also designers because their videos are always 10x better with all the creative graphics and editing
aww this made me so happy lol 🥰 thank you!
i cant begin to explain how important it is to take breaks from consuming content. Thank you for bringing more attention to this!
absolutely! it's so important. thank you for watching 😊
I once listened to a question in a podcast that was basically “what is your hobby that does not involve consuming some type of media?”. I have been thinking about that for a while and this video has inspired me to take some time off consuming content. I agree, it’s a lot of information at once.
I love content like this of challenges with clips from DURING the challenge! So many challenge videos are just "in conclusion" type things, and I always find myself wishing I could see the process. I love this!
I can see why people would do just the "in conclusion" type videos, because that would have been soo much easier to film and edit haha 😅 but I agree, it's much more interesting to see things unfolding in real time. thanks for watching ! 😊
For people who have any long term health issues I'd highly recommend doing something like this even for just one day. It's really easy to disassociate and be disconnected from your needs and get too used to just living in pain when you have things you can do to help it.
If you are already good at being self aware like that though take the screen time you need to make the time pass easier and the pain more bearable.
I hope you all have a good day and can find some peace ❤✨
Sometimes I find myself feeling really tired. I figured out it's because of all the information I am consuming. We have more information now than people used to have in a lifetime! It's too much to handle and process. If I want to watch something on You Tube, I'll focus on that instead of say, checking my phone and e-mail at the same time.
yes! information overload, all the time ! it's so hard to pull away from it
This week I went for my usual walk. I typically have a podcast or music and I bring a notebook with me to write down insights. This time, I decided not to listen to music or podcasts and just leave my mind wondering. To my surprise, I had an idea for a book. Back when I was in school I used to get so many of these ideas, but after the worst of my depression they never came back. I wondered if I could never be creative like back in school. I feel like the response to previous stories that unmotivated me the most was "oh, so that's like [show/book/movie]. In a world full of ideas it's hard to convey something that someone else hasn't thought about. This walk has opened my eyes, creativity is still here, I can still have ideas. Does someone probably have that same idea? Sure! But why should that mean that I can't explore it my own way?
Thats why i came up with hobbies that didn't have to involve any screen time just to give my eyes and brain a break. Working out, drawing, cleaning my room, stretching, reading and do creative projects that doesn't involve a screen. I went majority of the day yester without being on my ipad and it felt so good. Then one time the internet had shut down and that was a blessing in disguise because it gave me time to clear my mind and think the whole day and be creative
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Consuming content. Wow! A very new and modern phrase. At 76, I am continually baffled by the new terminology.
I'm glad to have taught you a new phrase! 😄 Gotta keep ‘consuming content’ to keep up with the modern lingo 😉
@@jenwebbcreates very true
I think I’d like to do this at some point, but there’s no way I could stop reading books
I think there’s a line between content made to be consumed and art made to be enjoyed and for the love of art. I’d say books fall into the latter category
I agree! I wanted to read so bad during this week 🥲
I forgot to mention it while filming, but this challenge was inspired by a "Reading Deprivation" exercise from the book The Artist's Way. The aim of the original exercise was to take away all content that other people created in order to give you space to feel inspired to create more yourself. It's just for a week, not meant to be implemented forever.
I agree that books are a more elevated type of content than, say, scrolling tiktok 😆 I think I could have explained this better in the video, but I didn't mean for this to be a denouncement of all content. and in fact coming out of the media fast week I felt inspired to spend more time intentionally consuming content, like sitting down to read a book, vs. mindlessly scrolling or passively consuming content while I do some other activity.
that being said, if I did it again I'd probably allow myself to read 😅
The way I have been waiting for this one!! I can’t believe how incredibly beautiful the poem was… and the fact that your mom reconnected with her friend is just perfection.
You really are inspiring me to take this media-free challenge. It’s been a long time since I’ve truly disconnected 😅
right!! I love that the making of this video rekindled a friendship 🥹
and you should totally do it! it was hard, it felt like it took forever to finish, but it was so necessary 💛
Gosh i found the part about the poem so insightful. Like, the ability to actually experience the media instead of just jumping into the next... I bet we could Green so much more joy from all the wonderful content if we just didn't quite consume so much of it
yes exactly! being more mindful with each piece of content. I think social media has conditioned us all to just quickly scroll to the next thing and continue to be mindlessly entertained
awesome vid, tons of valuable insights!
omg i don't think i could go on a walk / run without any form of media haha, but this is super important! I try to get through my mornings without any media because I consume a lottt of content daily (from work to personal) so it's nice to have noise-free mornings
I love that! quiet mornings.. sounds like a great way to start the day!
this is a really good idea i’m going to try doing this
i'd love to challenge myself to a week without consuming content before i go back to school in the fall! ty for a refreshing watch on this topic, i'm glad to see a video tackling content overconsumption instead of just screentime and smartphones. it's definitely changed my perspective on the whole issue :)
I loved watching this video, you are so talented, this felt like an art piece in of itself!!
Thank you so much 🥰
Beautiful poem.
Thanks for including the story of the helpful guy.
I enjoy screen-free Saturdays, including a mid-day struggle that leads to a better day by getting through it. Books, walks, games, learning to juggle or tie knots. There's so much to do. :-)
I am inspired by this! I love the idea of screen-free Saturdays. not sure I could do it every Saturday, but I definitely want to incorporate more screen free days 😊
I really Love this Video!!
I think your challenge is neat. It shows how much we are constantly consuming content. The poem you shared is touching!
I will do this challenge. Thanks for the inspiration!! I am so glad UA-cam recommended your video in my feed. Happy creating!!👍❤️
yesss I'm so glad you were recommended my video too! have fun with the challenge 💕
This is amazing
The poem made me cry 😢😢
Omg, I've been wanting to do this for a while now.. I'm so dependence with content & my inability so sit in silence is out of control, while being so overwhelmed all the time.. Thanks for sharing your experience, it's very inspiring
I encourage you to try it!! it will be hard for sure. but if I can do it, you can do it too!
Love this idea and video. New sub 🎉
This was a very inspiring video! i am currently trying to stay off social media (instagram) and it has been extremely difficult. this video really just opened my eyes even more to how attached we are to our screens and how we should start doing things without our phones. my spanish teacher told us (my junior year of high school) that she hated her phone and only had it because that’s the way to connect nowadays and that before, people survived without it so we can to and that stays with me and just this video is definitely gonna stay with me to. Keep making great content !!!
so true! I didn't have my own phone for most of high school which tells you how old I am 😅 I had to share a phone with my mom and it was one of those old nokia phones with no touchscreen or internet.. I can't even remember what it was like to live like that haha. it's crazy how much things have changed and how we are all so hooked on our screens now! I'm so glad this video was inspiring to you! 😊💕
I don’t use social media but I do consume UA-cam and audiobooks and podcasts. I do UA-cam scrolling fasts but i personally don’t think there is anything wrong with audiobooks and podcasts. I suffer from chronic pain and chronic migraines so physically reading is hard with blurred vision. So lots of portions of my day is resting so I listen to a book etc. But every evening I put my phone away it auto sets for 2 hours before bed time. I will sit and watch my fish in the tank and pray. Or meditate and stretch. I live a slow, gentle life so it’s quite boring for most but it’s how I have to live so I’m ok with it! ❤ you did great. Very cool to follow along on this fast.
16:43 I have a TBI so I lost my sense of smell & taste total permanent loss over 6 years ago. Along with other sensory issues. so you are making me think that maybe due to those losses of those senses, that I try to fill the stimulation or gap of stimulation I would get from those senses with other things and that might not always be positive! Hmm 🧐
This just showed up in my feed. I enjoy your presentation and the honesty of your thoughts. You seem like a lovely person.
thank you, I appreciate the kind words 😊
Such a beautiful poem, brought a tear to my eye!
mine too! 🥲
omg I really love all the rules but if I were to do this challenge myself, I'd let book reading be a part of the list of activities I want to do and I'd avoid book pdfs just to make sure my screen time is limited
you should do it!! and report back on how it goes 😊 I'm so curious to hear what others get out of it
I enjoyed Your Video. I'm Old School and I think too many people are plug in far too much. Have a Great Day!
I think I would do a modified version of this where I eliminated screen time and audio, but not books. Haha maybe that wouldn’t fully accomplish what you did, but I just need books 😅
not me eating dinner to this video lol, congrats on getting through it!🎉
lolll thank you for watching ! 😂
Thank you! You motivated me to do the same thing!
yay! let me know how it goes!
I'm gonna give this week of no content a shot see how I feel. I remember the 80s and 90s I had no internet no laptop and no cell phone so I think I can manage this. Gonna start with a dumb phone LOL! Ceviche is the bomb ! I used to go to Siete Mares Seven Seas when I lived in LA. What a beautiful video great touching stories here nice work 💯❤
oooh I'm always looking for good local recommendations, added that to my list of restaurants to try 👍 and yes you should totally give it a try and see what comes of it!
I like this challenge and I’m doing this, I think I will keep this challenge as a once a week every month just so I don’t fall back to my old addictive ways of social media and doom scrolling
yay! have fun with the challenge 😊
I love Set!!
Me too!
been thinking about doing this for along time but i think i would feel too lonely without the distractions
yes I did feel lonely the first full day especially. but I was lucky to have a lot of in-person social interaction during this week. without the content to keep us company maybe we can be more motivated to go out into the world and feel less lonely that way 🙂 but also learning how to be alone without the distractions is tough and also so important!
thank you for inspiration! guess i’m gonna try the same thing soon. i feel like i really need it…
give it a shot! it's just for a week. it was a much needed reset for me
I want to try this!!
dooo it!!
Hello i from Ukraine and I enjoy your content because it improve my English🫶🏻🥹
I gottaaaa get on this asap. I don't think I do ANYTHING without watching/listening to something playing in the background
it's definitely eye-opening ! I'm back to consuming content now but now I'm more mindful of it and giving myself more breaks than before
@@jenwebbcreates Yeah it just seems like a good way to find balances for yourself and maybe spark some originality and creativity for myself again
this was super interesting! I agree with a lot of the others below - the constant content consuming is overloading and balance is key. silence can be so beneficial, but too much of it can feel dreadful. do you think you'd ever do something like this again?
yeah definitely! I can see myself doing it as like a reset maybe twice a year or something. Since I just finished the challenge I am still very mindful of when I'm consuming content, but I can see how over time I could start to lose the balance again. Also definitely want to try to incorporate more screen-free days, maybe one day per month. do you think you'd ever try it??
I love this idea and your video is really well made, I just have one question though as I'm hoping to do the same myself; How did spending time with your husband work outside of playing board/ card games? Watching things together is a main thing myself and my partner do. Thanks, I'm loving the channel and I hope you gain the success your hard work deserves.
my husband was kinda forced into doing the challenge alongside me 😂 at least for the time he was at home, which was only a couple hours a day after work. we played games, went out to eat, perused shops, we did a lot of those conversation starter games. we drew together ! and a lot of the time we just talked. it was really nice and I'm grateful he was willing to do the challenge with me, it would have been so much harder if he was watching tv and browsing his phone while I just sat in another room lol
This video was so chill and it really helped me after a draining workday. And the picture! I usually watch UA-cam in the background but I just couldn’t get my eye off the screen. This is the kind of content I’ve been craving. Now you have only 2k subscribers but your content definitely deserves more
wow thank you so much for this motivating comment! I’m glad you enjoyed it 😊
I don't think everyone should cut out ALL media. There needs to be a purpose and I would have liked to hear that in your preface. If your goal is to be creative and focus on creating, then I see why you would want to cut out all media. But for the average consumer, that is not focused on art or creating, I think cutting out books is unnecessary.
I agree, I don’t think anyone should cut out all content forever. I only did this for a week. it was a good way to reset and realize how much I rely on content to get through the day.
W video
I do agree that we're all generally content-logged, me included, but I have a problem with categorizing (some) books and (some) films as simply "content." Books, poetry, and films can be art. Maybe you would have stopped yourself from going to art museums during this challenge, I don't know... But I do think art is helpful and *good* to consume, and most of us probably don't take in enough art.
ah I love art and books and film so much, I could never give them up for good. This was just a week-long challenge that I actually got from the book "The Artist's Way" in an effort to feel more creative she suggests taking a week off of other people's content and just seeing what you end up spending your time doing instead. I realized after I filmed the video that I didn't explain this in the intro 🤦🏻♀️ totally agree that art is good to consume and we all need more of it in our lives!
omg i spot the tofugoob tote 🎉
ha! good eye 😊
I'm curious how you decided to define "content." For example, you listened to music when you worked out, but not an audiobook or podcast. The games you played were designed by other people as entertainment. What about visual art? What makes something "content"?
yes very good point. I was thinking whether the games should be considered "content" after I made the video, didn't even think about it at the time. It was mostly taken from an activity in the book "The Artist's Way", which was written back in the 90s I think, before a lot of our current media forms existed. In the book she calls it a "reading fast" so focused mostly on reading as content, but also mentioned tv and movies. I expanded it to include social media, audiobooks, and podcasts. but she specifically says in the book that music is okay for some reason. I realized after I made the video I should have clarified all this in the intro 🥲 it was also very personalized to what kinds of "content" I feel I lean on too much. I consider board games more of a social activity, but video games were off limits because even if it's a 2-player game, it's definitely a lot more mindless entertainment and less social than a board game.
@@jenwebbcreates Interesting! Yeah, I think you have to create your own boundaries around it, because there's no one definition of "content." It makes sense to tailor it based on what you're trying to achieve.
And the guitar?
ha! did you see it in the video? I can't play the guitar 🥲 I've been holding on to it thinking that one day I would learn, but now it's by my front door because I'm finally planning on getting rid of it lol. that would have actually been a good activity to do during this week haha
@@jenwebbcreates What a shame you haven't tried it yet!
why not read?
The intent was to stop consuming all content for a week, to clear my mind and let me actually think my own thoughts lol. I forgot to mention it while filming, but this challenge was inspired by a "Reading Deprivation" exercise from the book The Artist's Way. The aim of the original exercise was to take away all content that other people created in order to give you space to maybe create yourself. I think I could have explained this better in the video, but I definitely didn't mean for this to be a denouncement of all content. In fact coming out of the media fast week I felt inspired to spend more time intentionally consuming content, like sitting down to read a book, vs. mindlessly scrolling or passively consuming content while I do some other activity.
@@jenwebbcreates Ah, I read the book too, thank you for explaining! 😀
Never consume content.
Instead, read a book, listen to music, watch a movie, listen to an interesting lecture.
I cut content out my life years ago and it's great.
Yet you’re watching this video
@@moth0000 no I just saw the title
What do you define as "content"?
I ask because you list a plethora of things you do consume instead, I'm curious what is the difference you see.
@@gladiatorinsweats think of it this way: A neo Nazi video and a video about fostering puppies are both equally content
"All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned"