Media Fast: An Experiment in Digital Simplicity!

My wife and I took a solitude retreat this past weekend to one of our favorite retreat places by Point Reyes. We brought minimal entertainment supplies: two books each, and of them was the Bible.

A little apprehensive with the horrid expectation of being bored out of our minds, we went to our retreat place ready for some change of scenery.

And then Rest Happened
As life's frantic pace took a rest, and as the complexities of event and creative time management gave way to a simpler schedule (sleep, pray, eat, read, repeat) the restlessness gave way to a deep rest.

We started to enjoy more whatever we were doing, without thinking about the myriads of things we should be doing. We started to enjoy the present moment, without thinking of whatever big and exciting event was around the corner.

Despite my meager entertainment choices, I don't remember ever getting bored. I realized that my fear of getting bored is borderline paranoia. Boredom is not out to get me. There is no need to fight it off with an army of gadgets.

Media Fast!

After our retreat, my wife and I decided to make Tuesdays our media fast. This past Tuesday was a day when we didn't watch any TV. We missed not having our evenings filled with Parks & Rec, New Girl or Call the Midwife, but we enjoyed the conversations, the friends we had over for dinner, and just the quiet moments to reflect and meditate.

This is something that I encourage all of us to do: pick a day out of your week and fast from media. How this looks like may be different for all of us. Fasting from media may mean not watching any TV for that day. Maybe it is not checking any social media, phones, or (oh the horror!) the internet.

Experiment and adjust as necessary, but whatever you do, give yourself and your mind a break.