A Day Without Media

In the book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" the idea that immersion in what we love will lead to our end is presented and analyzed. After reading this book I took it upon myself, as part of a class assignment, to go 24 hours without media. Initially I believed that this would be an easy task but found that as a whole we are surrounded by media in every instance of our lives. From car rides, to simply walking around my house I had to be observant to avoid media that would reset my 24 hour time frame. In Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death", he reflects on how the television brings families to the same room but creates separation between them. In my time without media I spent two meals with my family (a lunch and dinner). At both of these gatherings my family talked much more than we usually did. While watching television we would "shush" each other to hear the show, but without it we discussed school, politics, and controversies such as legalizing weed. Looking back at this I see Postman's point. We become so focused on the story folding out in front of us that we block out each other in the process. I also noticed the same effect when I was driving with my grandfather that night. He needed to deliver a present to family and I needed driving hours, so I drove the hour and a half drive. I wasn't allowed to touch the radio because of my media break so we talked for that time. I found out that my close grandfather, whom I see five times a week, has severe ankle problem and was going to get treatment later that week. I like to think I'm close to my family, but this occurring without me even knowing about it struck a chord in me. How much do we really know about our loved ones? What simply hasn't come up because we spend our time learning about the new celebrity fads or who wore what where? As I'm sitting here listening to the radio while writing this I have to reflect on Postman's thoughts of how intertwined our world is with media. As he put it,