Consumption ad Nauseum
(Originally published in my blog “Undertaken Seriously” on March 26, 2017)
My dear readers, thank you for patiently waiting (perhaps that’s just my ego talking). It’s been a while, I know. The torrid and tumultuous rapids of dead week and finals week captured me in their undertow, and I all but drowned. I washed up days later on the white sand beach of Spring Break, the sun kissing my face and the water lapping at my feet almost teasingly. I plan on playing catch-up on the weeks I’ve missed while I enjoy my brief stay in paradise.
Drawn-out metaphors aside, I did seem to struggle with coming up with any interesting content for the blog during my last few weeks of school, and it was frustrating to me. On top of being swamped with final projects, papers, and exams, I felt a great longing to return to my written sanctuary and put out some great stories for you all. I felt so guilty simultaneously because, in the event that I did find some time to sit and write in the blog, I was met with crushing writer’s block. I didn’t have time to devote to researching an interesting topic, and I hadn’t paid enough attention to the news to write a deep political piece (though there is no shortage of possibility there). I was annoyed, to say the least.
But I realized something through that struggle for expression, and thus a sort of formula for my blogging strategy coalesced in my mind; consuming as much or more information than you publish, as well as taking time to reflect on that which you have consumed. A professor of mine liked to use the adage “Bite less and chew more,” meaning to focus in on smaller elements of something you were trying to analyze and dive deep, rather than attempt to analyze the entire artifact superficially. That’s partly true, but I would argue for as much biting as possible: I found that the reason I wasn’t coming up with anything worthwhile to write was because I hadn’t given much time or energy to the consumption of media—only the production of it.
While it sometimes may seem uninteresting, unnerving, or downright disturbing, much of the media we encounter (news, books, movies, music, etc.) greatly contributes to what we tend to think about and what our conversation gravitates toward. I also believe that, with the right critical mindset, all media has something to offer in terms of food for thought. Similar ideas to these are explored through the Agenda-setting hypothesis and Cultivation theory, both of which address the influence of the media we consume on our thought processes and, consequently, our very existences.
When I think of some abstract or otherwise interesting topic to write about in the blog, it stems from a recent thought or experience I’ve had, which I then ponder more deeply until I can glean some profound thesis from it. The last post about the power of mindfulness and presence stemmed from conversations I had with my girlfriend; the conversations which themselves stemmed from the abundance of people with their faces in their phones we had seen ourselves, as well as the prominence of the topic as of late.
Enter my argument about the potentially untapped power of our gluttonous media consumption and our everyday experiences:
We cannot truly escape the media overload without becoming some sort of hermit, so to combat this inevitability, we must run with it and consume as much as we can within reason. Accept, and even welcome the many different competing sources shouting at you from your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat feed; embrace the pundits and the smooth-talking reporters and the news anchors; take all the headlines with a grain of salt, and make sure to note where the headlines come from; Listen to that new song, or new album, without hesitation, and don’t wait for the reviews go see that new movie or read that new book.
Only once your head is swimming like Phelps, and you feel as stuffed with media as he does after he finishes eating another 12,000-calorie day, only then can you begin to digest and, as my professor quipped, “Chew.”
The problem with writing while you’re hungry is that you find your article peppered (Sorry, I had to) with culinary-themed metaphor;”food for thought,” “bite less, chew more,” “consume and digest,” and the like. Excuse me while I grab a snack.
Coming home and taking a break from my studies has afforded me the time I so dearly wished for, and I have spent it frivolously; watching March Madness (Go Ducks), reading fiction, talking with family and friends, mixing music, watching movies, and paying deserved attention to the current political climate. After allowing my oh-so-precious time to be spent on consumption, I felt suddenly inspired to return to the blog with a bang.
So don’t feel so bogged down with the torrent of media competing for your attention. Give it away as freely as you can manage, but always maintain a critical eye and ear. You will be rewarded with a wide spectrum of thoughts, peaked interests, and munitions for any sort of conversation you might get yourself into. To paraphrase another one of my professors, when he was met with the tough task of getting a class of 20-something students interested in long pieces of classical music, German history, and the New Yorker Magazine: “The more you experience, and the more you are exposed to, the more conversations you are able to be a part of.” Who wants to go through life as a mere listener, rather than a participant? I wish the latter role on myself, and all of you as well.
“Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
