It’s now Sunday evening and I’m just hours away from ending my media fast. While I have to admit that I did cheat some, I mostly kept to French media for the week. Overall the experience was positive–I bought and read a French magazine, explored some new French music, started a French novel, browsed Le Monde often and found a couple of interesting articles on topics that just aren’t covered in US media. The best part was the extra time I found I had. I managed to squeeze in visits to two museums, a movie, a hike, and lots of runs–the things I normally just wish I had the time to do.
Not reading my usual blogs or facebook was liberating. It made me realize that the attention I lavish on these pages is sometimes more from compulsion than true enjoyment. While I do like keeping up with friends, I don’t like feeling like it’s a homework assignment. Of course I’ll still be stopping by tomorrow to see what I missed, but hopefully I’ve learned from the experience and won’t waste all of my time with these sites. As for my biggest weakness? It turned out to be The New York Times. I can’t feel too bad about that, even if many of my illicit visits were to the style section.
Forever 22 