Day 5 - second-hand smoke

The world around me doesn't share my goal for a media-free June. I feel like someone who is trying to quit smoking but that hangs out in smoky bars and lives with a family of smokers.

Inevitably, you breath in some of the second-hand smoke. The level of your resolve is determined by whether or not you take a big breath when walking through the tobacco cloud.

Here are a some of the ways that my world is clouded with 2nd-hand media:

1. Other family members watching TV - usually the kids. I have to confess that I've let my ear linger a moment or two while one of them was watching an episode of Family Guy.
2. My wife does a lot of work with her iTunes. She's putting together a CD of Italian songs for a friend's birthday. Since the computer is in our bedroom, I hear the songs all the time.
3. Visiting web sites. Even though I'm only visiting "business" web sites like eBay, they have advertisements on them for movies and TV shows.
4. This morning a construction worker was parked outside my office blaring his country music from his truck.
5. Billboards on the road as I drive to and from work.
   
6. Magazines everywhere: at the convenience store check out, at the grocery store, at Target, lying around the house. You can't get away from them. So, even though I'm on a media lock-out, I still know the headline that talks about Bill and Hillary's $109M divorce.
7. Eating lunch. Almost every place I eat has music playing and some have TVs on the wall.

Products Advertising Media

Two posts ago, I wrote about media advertising media. Now I have an even better one... products advertising media. When I grew up, the advertising media was designed to convince people to purchase products. Now, I see how deeply that model has turned on its head. For example:

1. I bought a Super Big Gulp at 7-11 today. On the cup was an advertisement for The Incredible Hulk.
2. I had been buying Diet Dr. Pepper in the 20 oz bottle because there was a game code under the cap where I could win cool stuff associated with the new Indiana Jones movie. Since I swore off commercial web sites as part of my Detox, I started buying the fountain drinks since I wouldn't be able to redeem the cap code, anyway. This was a double whammy. There was advertising on the outside of the bottle, a code under the cap driving you to a web site that advertised a movie. Wow!!! I think you see the problem.
3. I also saw the staff at Subway today wearing T-Shirts advertising yet another movie. I don't remember which one.

I think you see the problem!

Day 4 - Thank God for the family

It's Wednesday evening and since I came home from work at about 7pm, I came home to an empty house. The kids and my wife are all in Church for youth activities (no, she's not that young, she is a youth leader). Very quiet. I found it very hard to resist the urge to turn on the TV.

I still have the problem of songs getting stuck in my head. Van Halen's "Right Now" has been playing for about three days, and I'm ready for something new. A children's song from church has also been playing over and over. The problem is that I don't know the whole song, so I keep hearing the same half verse and the chorus ad nauseum between repeats of "Right Now."

I miss Family Guy. Over the past 3 years, I've probably seen about 50 different episodes from the pre-cancellation and the resurrection timeframe. I love Stewie, Brian, even Meg. I found myself thinking about old episodes while I was in the bathroom.

The good news is that I'm used to the quiet car drive home, now. I make phone calls on my cell phone, which keeps me in touch with our field sales force a little better. I also find myself thinking about some of the people at work that I supervise more than I would have.

I also think my wife is starting to think something is up. I've been paying more attention to her. Last night, we walked the dog together and, rather than heading for the TV, I stayed and talked to her. I think it spooked her.

Media advertising media

I've promised myself to do some research about how much of our gdp is generated by media.

The reason is that I've noticed how much media is spent on advertising other media. The thought came to me when I saw a bill board advertising Glen Beck's radio show. I like Glen, though I revere him as an entertainer, not a journalist.

In any case, I started to notice, 3 out of the next 5 billboards I passed actually pitched radio programs. On the radio, we here tonight's TV line up. TV news programs drive us to their web sites.

I'm not saying it's bad to know what your choices are, but when is it too much?

In the end, this is just another example of how I'm failing this test. If I want to swear off media, I need to stop reading billboards.

I guess I need to learn to drive blindfolded.

Sitting in Ritzy's

The more I try to avoid media, the more I realize how little I am in control.

I've stopped at one of my favorite lunch places. There are TVs on the wall. I've turned my back to them. Nonetheless, music is blaring, so I'm technically out of bounds right now.

Yesterday I went to buy something at Target and walked by a stereo that was blasting "Right Now" by Van Halen. Without something from the radio to take its place, that song stuck in my head for almost the whole 30 minute drive back to my house.

In fact, I've found that music has become much stickier. All music, not just music I like. For example, the step aerobics song from Wii Fit, which I do several times a week, is now stuck in my head.

This is going to be a long month.

Day 2 - Silence is Golden

The car has become a very quiet place. Unfortunately, I find myself making a lot of phone calls, but I can only talk to so many people and, frankly, I don't think it is the safest thing in the world.

I had to make a trip to return my scuba gear rented over the weekend and that was about 1/2 hour each way at lunch. I thought about a lot of different things, none of which seems to have stuck with me. I remember thinking to myself, "I'll have to remember that and put it in the blog." Well, sorry dear readers (should I ever have any), I don't remember what it was that I was supposed to remember.

Day 1 - At the lake

For my first day out of the web, I did much better than expected.

Normally, I go to Church most of the day on Sunday, but, since my son was doing his SCUBA certification, I was at the lake all day. My daughter came with us so that she and I could dive together (she certified last year) while he did his training dives. Since there were no TVs or radios at the lake, I was fine until we got in the car to head back.My first instinct was to turn on the radio in tha car, but I caught myself before doing it.
The only other temptation before the ride back was my daughter asking me to listen to some songs with her on an mp3 player, but I made an excuse and she didn't really care.

When I got home, I avoided tha family room though my oldest son was watching an episode of Family Guy and I had to turn my head. I spent the rest of the evening in my bedroom talking to my wife about leasing a new car and looking for used SCUBA gear on eBay.

I was so tired after diving for 2 days that I went to bed early.

So far, so good.