Media Consumption Diet

There is a lot of media out there. We have radio, television, game consoles, print, and the internet. We have iPods, iPhones, and Kindles. I can go on and on with the devices. We live in rich media times. But there are also problems with all this media. The main problem is that there is so much to consume and so little time. The resolution involves making choices, but we don't even have effective criteria to inform those choices. It is one big stew of good and bad. Picking out the bits that are bad takes more time than just guzzling the whole thing. I will endeavor to make sense of it and provide some solutions.

The first thing you need to do is establish the amount of time you will devote to media consumption. In order to set this up, you have to distinguish between two broad categories of media that I call AUDIO and VISUAL. Things like the radio and podcasts require only your ears while things like games, television, books, and the rest require your eyeballs. The reason this distinction is important is because you can enjoy audio sources of media with almost no ill effects on your time. You can work out, run, clean house, drive, work, or whatnot while listening to something. Audio forms of media are the high fiber veggies of the media consumption diet. You can enjoy as much as you like with virtually no detriment to your other activities.

Visual media requires your eyeballs which requires devoted attention. You usually sit down for these things. Naturally, this eats valuable time, and this is where people need to exercise discipline. I recommend doing this media consumption in the evening prior to going to bed. It should be the last thing you do. Reading or watching TV is a great way to unwind from the day. I call this time "Reading Time" though I will watch a DVD or play a game during this time as well. For me, this is 9 p.m. and lasts until I fall out from exhaustion which is usually 10:30 at the latest.

The bulk of your media consumption should be audio. I'm a big fan of podcasts, and I recommend iTunes and the iPod shuffle as the best way to enjoy this media. I have an iPod touch, but I use it sparingly since it is primarily visual. The shuffle has no screen. It is just buttons. I turn it on and do mundane activities or play it while waiting somewhere. It is small and handy. I put on a mix of information and music.

The next aspect of media consumption has to do with TEXT and IMAGES. People will always tell you that the book is better than the movie. They are right. Your visual input should primarily be text based. Reading a book or an article will enrich you more than watching a video. I recommend reading primarily during the week and leaving movies and TV shows for the weekend.

The next aspect of media consumption has to do with selection. Some media is high quality while other media is crap. No one wants to waste valuable media time on crap. The goal of media is to inform and entertain, so it helps to get the best bang for the time spent. I have no overall strategy for this since individual tastes and needs vary. But I do have a collection of tips:

1. Eschew celebirty gossip.

This shit is a waste of life. It is fun to discuss with friends and family, but you are better off letting the morons tell you about it than actually spending time listening about it or reading about it.

2. Eschew televised sports.

This shit is not much better than celebrity gossip. There is very little I have watched on ESPN that I remember today that still enriches me. But watching The Shawshank Redemption for the umpteenth time has always been worth it.

3. Eschew tech news.

You can spend a lot of time reading about gadgets, but here's the reality. Most of this new tech deals with creation and delivery of new media. But there really is no new media. It all boils down to art, music, stories, and information. Prior to the internet, I would check out books from the library, and I never exhausted that media source. New gadgets will only be a marginal improvement on what we have already, and you can count on marketing and commercials to let you know when those gadgets arrive.

4. Eschew televised news.

I get most of my news from NPR and the internet. Televised news requires your eyeballs and lacks depth. This is why only old people watch the nightly news. It sucks, but they are too old to know better.

5. Eschew complicated video games and consoles.

Kids love things like the XBox, but the games they play on there are just high tech boredom. They obsess over things like speed and the graphics. Yet, can they beat a grandmaster at chess? The fact is that the best games are surprisingly simple. I always thought soccer would be more fun if they had three goals at the end of the field instead of one. But in reality, it isn't. It is just a variation that adds little to the game. Similarly, video games don't get much better with improved visual elements. Like movies in relation to books, the best part isn't on the screen but what is going on in your own head. This is why chess remains so challenging while video games rapidly become obsolete. I wouldn't waste my time and money on the consoles. Play the classic games instead.

6. Eschew business news.

Don't waste time watching CNBC or reading the business pages unless it is required for your particular profession. This information is useful for stockpicking, but stockpicking is a waste of time. Read Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street to find out why. Your time is better spent indexing and learning how to manage your personal finances.

7. Eschew entertainment reviews.

The best movie reviews come from word of mouth. Listen to your friends when it comes to which movies and shows to watch. As for music, you are better off listening to the radio or podcasts that play a variety of new music. The one exception to this rule concerns book reviews. You want to read those since few people read books.

8. Watch more TV shows on DVD instead of movies.

Television has gotten better while movies have gotten worse. The result is that I watch more TV shows now on DVD than movies. The reason for this is because a TV series is more like a novel and is more satisfying. A movie only has two hours or less to tell a story, so the pace is brisk and the story is truncated. Movies are more like short stories which usually suck. Make your Netflix mostly TV series like The Wire or House or Dexter.

I can't give more tips than these because they become person relative at this point. But if followed, this advice should give you more bang for your time. You will enjoy your media consumption more and get more out of it.

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