I am on Day 10 of getting off TV! I realized it was a total addiction. It feels like I got my peace back. I am listening to music and READING. Just finished "Severance" (not anything to do with the TV show) and (the even more brilliant) "I Cheerfully Refuse" -- both dystopian -- and am about to start on Juneteenth. It is like cleaning my brain and - as you say - definitely exercising it. TV is just watching my life flickering away, especially the junk I was watching. There is good TV but I am clearly not one of those who can do it in moderation so it's back to books - and physical.
If reading a book, that is, reading what someone wrote, is the road back (and I think that it is), where does writing, actual writing, stand in strengthening our self? Perhaps what a person thinks about something becomes known only after picking up the pencil and a piece of paper.
Good Morning Bret, you just described my life raising my 16yo son. I love him deeply but he scares the crap out of me! Don’t mention the word addict, yet if I do within seconds it’s back to shorts, only a momentary bit of a frustrated look, by both of us. Anything use of words beyond two minutes is a TED talk. Well, love endures and the struggle continues. Thanks for your words. And Backup! 🤙
I applaud you. I recently had to defend my book collection to a friend who is trying to help me downsize. I did get rid of a few. But I will always have books. They make your brain work in a way nothing online can ever do. My books and I have a relationship. They will stay with me until I feel the desire to share them with a friend or until I pass away. So, I will have them for a long time yet.
You become a houseplant with WI-FI, ha, ha, very good. And an excellent reminder of the dopamine hits we get from scrolling down Tik Tok. Guilty as charged. And agreed, it all started with soundbites on the tube. When did the news ever go into depth? We've become soundbite junkies!
Not as bad for the aging brains as for the tera raza of young minds, but addictive, nevertheless.
Another funny and pointed classic Bret. I’m as guilty as anyone else. One thing you left out was the audio book. I do a lot of audio book so I can “read” while I shower and drive. It occurs to me that this too has its drawbacks.
I recall my days of reading my Hardy Boys books with a flashlight, under the covers when I should have been sleeping. I can still see how the world they lived in, that I invented in my own mind with my imagination, looks and even how it feels and smells. You don’t really get that with an audio book. It’s all acted out for you.
I’ve been thinking about going back to that physical books. The last one that I read was a proud accomplishment, Saxophone Colossus by Aiden Levy. That book is about 5” thick, and took 6 months to complete. I loved every second of it. I had to commit to it and carve out the time. You’ve inspired me to take a plunge again.
I fervently hope your prediction pans out. I would add to the list of culprits the MTV music video. Telling the story of a 3 minute song meant images on the screen for split seconds. It was the beginning of the end of the American attention span. Any wonder we ended up with a POTUS who doesn’t read? Betcha can’t find a single book in the White House.
I am on Day 10 of getting off TV! I realized it was a total addiction. It feels like I got my peace back. I am listening to music and READING. Just finished "Severance" (not anything to do with the TV show) and (the even more brilliant) "I Cheerfully Refuse" -- both dystopian -- and am about to start on Juneteenth. It is like cleaning my brain and - as you say - definitely exercising it. TV is just watching my life flickering away, especially the junk I was watching. There is good TV but I am clearly not one of those who can do it in moderation so it's back to books - and physical.
If reading a book, that is, reading what someone wrote, is the road back (and I think that it is), where does writing, actual writing, stand in strengthening our self? Perhaps what a person thinks about something becomes known only after picking up the pencil and a piece of paper.
Good Morning Bret, you just described my life raising my 16yo son. I love him deeply but he scares the crap out of me! Don’t mention the word addict, yet if I do within seconds it’s back to shorts, only a momentary bit of a frustrated look, by both of us. Anything use of words beyond two minutes is a TED talk. Well, love endures and the struggle continues. Thanks for your words. And Backup! 🤙
I applaud you. I recently had to defend my book collection to a friend who is trying to help me downsize. I did get rid of a few. But I will always have books. They make your brain work in a way nothing online can ever do. My books and I have a relationship. They will stay with me until I feel the desire to share them with a friend or until I pass away. So, I will have them for a long time yet.
Read Yiddish. Dress British.
You become a houseplant with WI-FI, ha, ha, very good. And an excellent reminder of the dopamine hits we get from scrolling down Tik Tok. Guilty as charged. And agreed, it all started with soundbites on the tube. When did the news ever go into depth? We've become soundbite junkies!
Not as bad for the aging brains as for the tera raza of young minds, but addictive, nevertheless.
Another funny and pointed classic Bret. I’m as guilty as anyone else. One thing you left out was the audio book. I do a lot of audio book so I can “read” while I shower and drive. It occurs to me that this too has its drawbacks.
I recall my days of reading my Hardy Boys books with a flashlight, under the covers when I should have been sleeping. I can still see how the world they lived in, that I invented in my own mind with my imagination, looks and even how it feels and smells. You don’t really get that with an audio book. It’s all acted out for you.
I’ve been thinking about going back to that physical books. The last one that I read was a proud accomplishment, Saxophone Colossus by Aiden Levy. That book is about 5” thick, and took 6 months to complete. I loved every second of it. I had to commit to it and carve out the time. You’ve inspired me to take a plunge again.
I fervently hope your prediction pans out. I would add to the list of culprits the MTV music video. Telling the story of a 3 minute song meant images on the screen for split seconds. It was the beginning of the end of the American attention span. Any wonder we ended up with a POTUS who doesn’t read? Betcha can’t find a single book in the White House.
scuse me, Bret, while I burn the library at Alexandria. Read my essay, "Total Cell Phone Ban". No one appreciates how funny it is. https://medium.com/@artsdigiphoto/total-cell-phone-ban-e244da094394