Give up Facebook and Online News to find time for your goals.
"Silence is the true friend who never betrays you."
Confucius.
After writing the article on bad habits, I decided to dedicate the month of February to an experiment that has been buzzing in my head for some time: starting a media diet.
Andre 'what did you make up this time ?! A media diet ?! What is it ?!
There are hundreds of food diets, yet food is not the only thing we exceed in our days: news, internet, social networks, online news, etc., every day we are literally bombarded with information.
How much of this information creates real value in our life?
The answer to this question convinced me to finally start mine media diet.
My media diet
The first step in starting my media diet was to identify the useless sources of information, harmful e time-sucking. Considering that since my last move I have deliberately decided not to buy a television, I immediately focused on Internet.
As a blogger and tech enthusiast, I find the internet a great tool. The use we make of it, however, is often not exceptional. How many times have you happened to browse aimlessly, postponing your study or work?
Remember that time you spent hours on Facebook or clicking from one site to another instead of carrying out that important project? We want to talk about the time spent on online information sites or chatting with your friends on the most popular services of instant messaging?!
No one will give you back the time spent in these empty containers. Think about the goals you didn't achieve, the projects you didn't accomplish, the real experiences you missed, or the pointless discussions you got carried away into.
That's why I decided to give up, indeed… di set me free for 30 days of:
- Facebook. I've never been a huge fan of Facebook & Co., but I would be lying if I denied the incredible ability of this tool to create addiction. Why Facebook tops the list of banned sites on my media diet; Yet despite crazy games, useless petitions and idiotic links, Facebook remains one of the best tools to share your ideas: which is why I will continue to publish (automatically) the new blog articles.
- Social network. In addition to the king of social networks, I decided to give a drastic cut also to the lesser cousins: FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Flickr, Foursquare, etc. The only exception is Twitter: this social network focuses on the concept of simplicity; You have full control of the profiles to follow and all you can share (and read) are 140 characters. These limitations make Twitter the ideal "meal" for my media diet.
- News on-line. After social networks, the sites of the main newspapers are probably the greatest source of distraction and the greatest danger for our personal productivity. Giving up a window on Spain and the world could appear excessive, if not actually a sign of a poor civil conscience: the evolution of Spanish journalism convinced me of the exact opposite ... I thought and thought about the latest news I learned in newspapers and television news had a real impact on my daily life, news without which I could not have achieved a goal or avoided a serious problem. I did not find her. One way or another important information will keep coming to me: there's no point in spending more time on information trombones.
- In-depth broadcasts. As anticipated, I have given up on television for almost 3 years now, but today the internet offers the opportunity to watch and relate to any in-depth broadcast: from Year 0 to Porta a Porta, from Ballarò to the Infidel, etc. Despite long reflections, I have not been able to understand what they deepen? Different transmissions, yet always the same faces that speak of nothing. I have chosen: media diet also for in-depth programs.
Why you should start a media diet too
Almost 3 weeks into my start media diet, I can highly recommend this experience.
As with food diets, media diets also work if they are personalized. You must therefore not give up on my own sources of information (?!): Choose those media and those programs / sites that do not create value in your life, but that they suck time out of your days.
Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy:
- Stop procrastinating. Facebook, online news sites, television programs, are the best excuse to postpone our commitments and achieve our goals. Get rid of it and you will create time for your passions and dreams.
- Manage time better. Managing time is a lie, all we can manage is ourselves. Learning to give up the superfluous to focus on the essential is the best time management technique.
- More focus. As much as we may not notice it, the useless information with which we are bombarded is absorbed by our mind and slows us down like a computer virus. Free your mind of what doesn't matter and regain focus.
Well ... what do you say? is it time to go on a diet ?!
