This is an idea that comes from Dr. Weil and one that is simple and powerful. Since the goal of Apartment Therapy is to reclaim your home as your own personal space and to keep the pressures and stimulation of the outside world out of it, another culprit to be aware of is the ubiquitous television, radio and newspaper. Dr. Weil calls his fast a “news fast” and says “do not read, watch, or listen to any news for a day.”
Here are his words:
I do not want you to become uninformed about the state of the world, but I note that paying attention to news commonly results in anxiety, rage, and other emotional states...
that probably impede the healing system…. I think that it is useful to broaden the concept of nutrition to include what we put into our consciousness as well.
Many people do not exercise much control over that and as a result take in a lot of mental junk food…. My goal… is for you to discover that you have the power to decide how much of this material you want to let in. (Weil, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, p. 78)
I have found Dr. Weil’s approach to be both wise and effective, and have introduced it to clients, many of whom have a television in the middle of their living room which is turned on the moment they come home and runs all evening. Whereas Dr. Weil calls simply for a “news fast,” I have extended it to a “media fast” as I believe that the issue that he identifies as “mental junk food” applies to most media in general. Therefore, avoid these media during your work day and turn them completely off while you are at home. If your work makes this impossible for you, try this during the weekend.
As you experience your day, and especially your home time without the usual sights and sounds to listen to (music is fine, though if you want to go further, try turning this off as well), and you give your home a rest from the invasion of the outside world, pay attention to how you feel. While uncomfortable and unfamiliar at first, you may find yourself with time that is unfilled which you can do other things with. One email I received from a woman in Chicago said that she had started doing this with her husband one night a week and it became her favorite night at home. She found that she and her husband spoke with one another and did things together that they never did on other nights when the television was on. She wrote that she wished that every night was like this, but that it would be impossible to turn the television off that much.
When I first began experimenting with this myself, I was amazed at the amount of time I suddenly found coming back into my day, which gave me time to do such as cook, read, repair, paint or speak with friends. Before the advent of television, our homes were the centers of our personal lives where we could develop skills such as cooking, music or other artistic or professional hobbies. Unfortunately, the highly addictive nature of television watching has robbed these rich personal activities of our attention and the time we need to pursue them. By turning off the television and removing other media from your day, you will be restoring mental space and personal time back into the life of your home. (Photo: Witold) MGR
Television can absolutely be an addiction, which means it includes the symptoms of withdrawal. My husband and I are trying a weeklong TV-turnoff, and we felt a little antsy on our first night with no TV. But we did notice that we talked more, we listened to some good music, and we felt more relaxed when we went to bed. I've noticed that TV is not necessarily "relaxing," just numbing. We have tried this before and have never stuck it out through "the shakes," but we are determined to do a week and see how it feels afterward. Thanks for this post.
At this point, I'm much more addicted to the internet than the TV. (Though I agree about TV's effects--I have been addicted to TV at other times in my life.) If I didn't also do work over the internet, I'd try a fast from that. I can keep the TV off for a week, no problem, but I can't go without turning on the computer for more than about 8 hours.
Okay, I'm addicted to AT, specifically.
I agree with Joan that the internet is just as addicting. I find that I idly surf when I think I'm getting work done, or sort email when I should be answering it. The internet is not numbing like TV, but it is often "junk food" information or tasks. I'm trying to be more disciplined with my time in the new year, and this was the first realisation I made... Unlike the TV, I can't turn off the internet on my computer, although I suppose I could literally unplug it from the modem and router.
My husband and I have been without a television for over three months, ever since we moved into our new apartment. We don't have much space in our news digs, so we left our bulky TV set behind, planning to buy a plasma. After balking at the prices, we finally settled on an LCD, but we've been so pleased with our TV-free lives that we decided not to hook it up to cable, and use it only for watching video rentals. The NY Times, the internet, NPR, and the magazines we subscribe to (The Economist, Harper's, the New Yorker, etc.) are more than enough to keep us informed--in fact, now that we have more time to read, we're much better informed than previously, when we'd squander the time watching news shows that had one minute of good content for every 60 minutes of drivel. Do I miss the utterly inane reality shows, sitcoms and melodramas that pass for entertainment nowadays? Not on your life.
We spent Christmas in a cottage in Antigua. For six days we had no television, radio or newspaper. The only music was my husband's iPod, which he rarely listened to. The only sound was the crashing waves, singing birds, and the occassional goat and donkey. Oh, and the cocktail shaker. We skipped coffee for the entire time as an experiment to see if we could live without it. It was the absolute most relaxing vacation we have ever had.
By the last day, I was really jonesing for the news. I told my husband that there must be something going on in the world. Imagine the shock we experienced when we learned of the tsunami, three days after it had occurred.
Remember when The Artist's Way book was a trend a few years ago? I got through about 2/3 of it. But the only part of it I still remember was the week I was to go with no TV, no newspapers and no books. I missed the "good" reading I did, but I had much more time to write, cook, talk on the phone with friends, write letters.
After reading this, I think I could put my Times subscription on "vacation hold" for a few weeks and do something else with the time.
I spent a year and a half traveling through Asia a few years ago. I am a major media junkie/whore, so my withdrawal was not small. However, I noticed how much happier I was. Less stressed - I wrote more, and strangely enough, became much more intuitive.
I find my current problem, like a few previous posters, is not TV but the internet. My haunting of Gardenweb and Apartment Therapy is at least educational; however I feel my life just may be more enriched if I didn't check awfulplasticsurgery.com and fleshbot as much as I (embarrassingly) do.
thank