I want to start by saying that I know this tip isn’t for everyone. If you place a high value on your media time, go ahead and skip this one. That said, if you’re looking for a way to free up some spare time, media consumption may be a good place to do it.
A report from the USC Marshall Business School estimates that the average American engages with media for over 14 hours a day (Short, 2013). Other statistics put it closer to 12 hours (Statista, 2015). But whatever the exact numbers are for the average person — only you know what they are for you personally, those are truly staggering statistics. This means the average person spends over half of their daily 24 hours consuming some type of media.
Now some of those may be work hours and not within your ability to cut back on dramatically, I get that. However, Short’s (2013) study also says that over half of those hours come from a combination of watching television and listening to the radio.
My guess is that if you’re finding yourself without time to spend on things you truly love or want to do, you can probably find at least some time, if not several hours of time, simply by cutting back on your media consumption.
Instead of watching a half hour of TV, you could play a game with your kids (we like THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS). Instead of playing 20 minutes worth of a video game, you could take a walk. Instead of watching a re-run of a program you’ve seen before, you could prepare a healthy meal. Or you could talk with a friend or family member. Or you could simply sit and think. Or even do nothing at all. There are thousands of possibilities that don’t involve media.
I don’t know what your priorities are, and what you may feel you don’t have time for, but you can likely carve out time for whatever it is that you want to do by cutting out media time that you wouldn’t really mind missing. You can exchange that media time for something that you really desire and will truly nourish your body and soul.
Notably, you don’t have to make a drastic change. Even cutting back media consumption by a half an hour (the length of one sitcom re-run) can give you a half hour to spend on something else.
In my family, we’ve cut out a lot of media from our lives over the years. We no longer own a television. I rarely listen to the radio (though we listen to lots of music). I spend my online time purposefully, instead of browsing mindlessly.
I find my mind is calmer. I find my nights are more restful. And I find my days are more fulfilling when I spend them mostly doing things other than engaging with media (though I obviously still choose to keep some in my life, and I enjoy what I do choose).
Media, whether television, Internet, radio, computer games, social media, or whatever our chosen forms, can come to dominate our lives. I’m simply saying that you don’t have to let it. You can choose to focus your attention elsewhere.
You can simplify your life by limiting your media consumption.
Do you limit your media consumption? Do you feel better when you do? Have you ever engaged in a media fast (see HERE)?
Sources:
Short, J.E. (2013) How Much Media? 2015: Report on American Consumers. Institute for Technology Management.
Statista (2015). Average time spent with major media per day in the United States as of April 2015 (in minutes). Statista: The Statistics Portal.
So does listening to CPR (classical music) while I draw count? What about audio books. Seriously, though when do people find the time to do that? Unless they multitask and do it while working etc. Or maybe they never sleep. One weekend while the kids went camping with dad, I did one of those binge nights on Netflix watching some series. I felt physically ill the next day and can’t watch anything since. I don’t consume enough to get the benefits from a fast but I am trying to look at how I waste my time on the internet. Instead of checking my social media accounts I try to resist the siren call and read to the kids instead. There was ten year period where I watched no TV and few movies. I got a lot done. But now we don’t need a TV in our society to be entertained. Computers and the internet have changed our lives so much.