18 2 / 2012
Over consumption
Right now I have 31 tabs open across 3 Safari windows. I have iTunes playing music, and I have Messages open with 5 conversations. I also have Mail running in the background, and Twitter hidden in my dock. On top of all that, I have a few books waiting for my attention. I think I’m stretched too thinly.
Okay, maybe not too thinly. But I’ve reached a point where I have so much content queued up, and more keeps pouring in. Sometimes I see myself closing old tabs with articles that I, at one point, wanted to read. But I know if I don’t close them they’ll sit there for another week before I get a chance to either read them, or close them anyways. I need to consume less, produce more.
I had a related thought today after reading some similar articles. Somehow it surprised me that we’re paying for entertainment. We’re paying to be unproductive. Call it whatever you’d like - some might describe it as social, others might defend it as their way to relax. You know what relaxes me? Listening to some nice, calm music. You know what doesn’t? Sitting through 20 minutes of an action show with 10 minutes of advertisements thrown in my face. I pictured a future where media companies have to beg us to consume their content, and throw it at us for free. I dream of a world where the social influence to watch television is the minority - something a bad friend would suggest. Much like how smoking a cigarette might be considered today.
Of course, we’re far from this future. But are we really? Maybe with the upcoming Apple TV (or at least what’s rumored), I think we’re on our way to a commercial-less viewing experience. For a price, still. And in the case of Apple, a high premium. But at least it’s one step closer, right? I can only hope.
27 1 / 2012
`Why do I do what I do?`
Philip Defranco:
I find myself asking this question every now and then. I think that’s normal. On a very raw/selfish level I think its because I want to matter. I want to be something to someone. It provides me with self worth. I used to feel bad about this, but it is a very human truth; If you don’t matter to at least one person what was the point of you taking up space in the first place?
I don’t think everyone is here for a reason. I think that is a concept that puts a nice big red bow on all the child deaths, faceless natural disasters, and needless terribleness that lurk beneath the surface of our society. But I think that everyone needs to FEEL like they matter.
Well said, Defanco. It doesn’t help that the media blows things out of proportion all the time, and people believe whatever they want - whatever they wish.
