In praise of slow media

Less is more

streaming on Kanopy

Hi there,

Have you seen The Man?

Five things to share:

1. I once heard a joke: Before streaming services, it took people ten years to watch Friends. I laughed, then I was kind of sad. I watched Friends in less than a year— more like six months— often watching multiple episodes a day. Binge watching is the norm now. But is entertainment more enjoyable when it requires prolonged anticipation and patience before one can consume it? When it is slow? In praise of slow media.

2. Surprise! Streaming services are taking advantage of your psychological weaknesses; you don't just like that new show, you might actually be addicted to watching that latest Netflix show. Lee Adams explains what binge watching does to your brain.

3. A (long) quote I want to share with you:

   Energy goes where intention goes.
   Energy goes where attention goes.
   Energy goes where your thoughts are going.
   So where should I spend my attention during the day?
   What do you want to create? This is the question.
   What do you want to do with your lifetime?
   You can either take part in this world by being a creator, by bringing or offering something to the world that people can benefit from, or you can also just live a life purely for consumption.
   In which part of this system do you see yourself?
   Only consuming, or also creating?

   What is the most precious thing you have in this lifetime?
   Besides your health, it’s time.
   When the time’s over, we have no time. This is why time is so precious.
   Maybe this is the reason why it’s embedded in the universe, that whenever you spend time on something, this universe is going to pay you back for this time that you invested. You spend time with your family, you are creating relationship with your family. You spend a lot of time at your working place, you are creating something in regards to the relationship with your working place or company.

   The question is: What do you want?
   What makes you satisfied, what gives you fulfilment, what makes it easy for you to wake up, to walk through the day?
   That’s something you decide for yourself.
   And after you have given a purpose to yourself, then this is where you spend your attention on. Because every type of creation needs time.
   – Shi Heng Yi (Source)

4. The first decade of the 21st century has brought profound changes to the technological foundations of the media landscape. The key buzzwords are networks, the internet and social media. In the second decade, people will not search for new technologies allowing for even easier, faster and low-priced content production. Rather, appropriate reactions to this media revolution are to be developed and integrated politically, culturally and socially: The Slow Media Manifesto.

5. A question for you: How can you slow down your media consumption?

That’s all for this week!

Thank you for reading, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.

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Until next time,

Mehret