Managing Your Consumption of Media - Not Just My Problem, Apparently

This caught my eye today.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/04/19/135508305/the-sad-beautiful-fact-that-were-all-going-to-miss-almost-everything

It's a blog post on NPR about how we live in such an age of plenty when it comes to culture (music, art, TV, music, games) that we can't possibly keep up. And it speaks a bit about the ways in which we use justification ("video games are bad for you" or "rap music sucks" or "kill your TV") to deal with the fact that we have to narrow our focus and don't like that we can't absorb all there is to absorb. I found it really interesting as this is something I struggle with all of the time. We all struggle with it to some extent, though. That's how we get piles of shame and things like that.

So I thought I'd share this and ask how others choose to deal with the embarrassment of riches in culture. I'm very bad at it as people who know me can attest. I sell games at a whim. I bail on games I don't like quickly. I'm curious how others manage without feeling like they're missing out on essential experiences in life. Do you cut off huge swaths of culture and just ignore it? Do you just try and become picky about your time?

I started by cutting out as much grey market / pirated content out of my life as I can. I'll admit there's the occasional TV show I'm so into I seek out alternative streaming sites to watch them, but overall I've stepped back to Hulu and other ad-supported sites, or Netflix Instant. Then there's the semi-legal methods like going to my local bar. It's funny that there's an HBO show about New Orleans, since most residents here can't afford HBO, and the vast majority of people I know watch it at their local bar, coffee shop, or that 1 friend's house.

The same goes for movies, where I just wait for the DVD to come out on Netflix, or borrow it from a friend.

With music, I've placed all my torrented music into a folder marked "MP3" instead of "Albums", and I've slowly been purchasing them through Amazon Music, local CD shops, and really anywhere I can find them. Music I haven't listened to in over a year gets deleted.

With new music, I stick to bands whose shows I've gone to, recommendations from friends, or music that's filtered through to me via a website I trust or publications I read.

Books: I've stopped purchasing books unless I plan on immediately reading them. Otherwise my purchasing moratorium is dependent on working through the backlog of books I already own and have never read.

Or I get them from my local library (you'd be surprised how many people don't realize that you can get damn near any book via cooperative lending no matter how large or small your library branch.)

Gaming has been a lot easier to cut back on since I went purely console. Although a lack of free time in recent years has done more to curtail my gaming than anything else. I either wait for a game to drop below $30 (unless I'm super stoked about it, which I limit to 1-2 a year), buy used, or rent. There's very little temptation to pirate on my Xbox 360, and my Macbook Pro can't handle anything but the least technically demanding of games.

Art is easy. I'm fortunate to live in a city where there's plenty of independent, free or low-cost art. Everything from the mechanical sculptures exhibit I went to in an old iron works structure, local plays that run out of bars or backyards, or free days at local museums and galleries.

When it comes to any of those mediums, however, the #1 way I've curtailed my consumption (and protected my wallet), is to only purchase content I plan on consuming immediately. It's surprising how often I'd purchase a movie on day one and then not get around to watching it until it would have been in the bargain bin or on Netflix anyway. I sometimes wonder how many of the people who are obsessive zero day consumers and Female Doggo about any delay (via Netflix, Best Buy, or whatever) would also fall into that category.

If you read the article it's not a money thing we're talking about. It's a time thing. The question is more about how to enjoy all the "art" there is to enjoy without always feeling like you're missing out.

DSGamer wrote:

If you read the article it's not a money thing we're talking about. It's a time thing. The question is more about how to enjoy all the "art" there is to enjoy without always feeling like you're missing out.

I read it, but the question was how other people may deal with the embarrassment of riches. I've found taking a pragmatic approach financially naturally limits what is available for you to consume, thereby limiting the scope and sense of "missing out". Still, even by my above criteria, the amount of available content is staggering, and my second step is to limit myself to that which I'm willing to consume now.

That great book, movie, or album will ideally still be great a month, a year, ten years from now. If it's context and time sensitize, such as a work I'd like to consume to relate more readily with friends, co-workers, or neighbors, I'll start with that first.

So unlike purely culling or surrendering, it's just sidestepping the issue as presented in the OP entirely. You can't have a pile of shame of books, music, or games if you limit yourself to what you're going to consume immediately.

For me, the money side of things is just an easy framework to start from and nice side-effect.

Plus, you'd be surprised what you can do with that money. In addition to a limitless amount of art available to you at this point in time, you're also presented with endless opportunities to engage in experiences. That's how I've saved up enough money to backpack for a year. Although honestly, I'll probably get a lot more reading done once I'm in southeast Asia, so that decision will also have the side effect of not culling, but limiting the content and mediums readily available to me.

DSGamer wrote:

I'm curious how others manage without feeling like they're missing out on essential experiences in life. Do you cut off huge swaths of culture and just ignore it? Do you just try and become picky about your time?

How can I not cut off huge swathes of culture? There isn't even close to enough time in the day not to.

For me, it's easy though, because there's very little that I consider 'essential experiences' when it comes to media. For instance, the only time I ever go and see any theater is when a friend is involved. It's far more about supporting my friends than it is about the play/show itself. Theater just ain't my bag, so I skip it. Likewise art - it doesn't do much for me, so I don't do much for it.

In terms of digital media, I've been getting progressively less and less attached to not missing the big things. I'll watch things at my own pace on Netflix, I'll play games whenever I get around to it. Portal 2 is the first game I'll have bought on day-of-release this year, and even with that, I'm surprisingly unexcited by it. My room-mate was bouncing around with glee last night at the thought of it arriving today - instead, I'm far more excited about going and hanging out with friends for a birthday celebration at an awesome bar tonight.

The upshot is that if I identify something as an "essential experience in life", then I bust ass to make sure that I do that thing. It's just that there's precious few things that qualify, and at this stage in my life, most of them aren't media related.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

Plus, you'd be surprised what you can do with that money. In addition to a limitless amount of art available to you at this point in time, you're also presented with endless opportunities to engage in experiences. That's how I've saved up enough money to backpack for a year. Although honestly, I'll probably get a lot more reading done once I'm in southeast Asia, so that decision will also have the side effect of not culling, but limiting the content and mediums readily available to me.

This in spades.

My 'essential experiences' for 2011 are all experience related rather than media related. Burning Man, triathlons and a marathon, and impregnating the wife all require time, effort and money, but no media.

It's unfortunate that she used the term "surrender". I think "accept" would have been significantly less loaded.

This is not a new phenomenon; it has existed since there was human knowledge the only thing that has changed recently has been the scope of our understanding of how much there is. Even a hundred years ago, no one would have ever seriously thought that they could "learn it all". So now we know - and potentially have access to - even more; so what? It was already more than anyone could do in a lifetime. It still is.

As with so many other things, accept that there are things that you won't do and enjoy the things that you do. Do. Enjoy the things that you do do. Heh. Doo-doo.

The first step is to accept that you'll never see everything there is that's worth seeing. It's not possible.

Second is to decide that since you can't see everything worth seeing, there's no point in even trying to see as much as possible. Instead, give yourself free rein to see only what you want to see or what you have reasonable time to see.

The experience vs. passive difference has definitely been helpful to me. Last year my wife and I traveled to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Belize on two separate trips. This fall we're taking trains across Europe after landing in Moscow, Russia. And yeah, trying to get outdoors, etc. So I definitely agree with this. My struggle is that I always liked being well read, having played the "essential" games, etc. So I still struggle with the fact that in between those experiences I have less and less time for "essential" books, movies, etc.

My solution:
IMAGE(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z5ktQ_grnps/TTvO2s2yR9I/AAAAAAAAAao/uPh7BUU-QaM/s1600/scanners-headexplode.jpg)

I have elected to just skim this forum post.

from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harr...

Kenneth Goldsmith wrote:

Our primary impulse, then, has moved from creators to collectors and archivists, proving Walter Benjamin, once more to be prophetic: “If my experience may serve as evidence, a man is more likely to return a borrowed book upon occasion than to read it. And the non-reading of books, you will object, should be characteristic of collectors? This is news to me, you may say. It is not news at all. Experts will bear me out when I say that it is the oldest thing in the world. Suffice it to quote the answer which Anatole France gave to a philistine who admired his library and then finished with the standard question, ‘And you have read all these books, Monsieur France?’ ‘Not one-tenth of them. I don’t suppose you use your Sevres china every day?’”

(for those keeping score: yes, that's a triply nested quote)

I use my episodes website to keep track of when my shows are on so I don't miss them. Movies I miss all the time. I love harry potter but missed it when it was out. Music I don't stay up to date on. Most of the stuff I buy is anime soundtracks. I'm not really exposed to new music like use to be since I never listen to the radio and MTV doesn't have videos. For stuff in general I mainly use forums like these to let me know what is hot.

DS, I'm glad you created this thread and framed the issue as you did.

My gut response is to make a joke about how my mind is so scattered and my attention so fleeting thanks to the internet and the hyper-availability of entertainment media that I can't be bothered to write more than a couple lines.

But it's also the case that the line between work and play is so blurred for me at the present moment, doing a lot of work and study from home and on the same PC that I use for gaming and YouTube, that the issue feels less like "there's too much fun to be had" and more "it's too easy to lose track of what I'm doing at any given moment of the day." And that's really a time management, productivity, lifestyle, work/life cliche, thing.

So to respond to the OP, I think the availability of an impossible amount of media has exacerbated a problem that's always been there. What are my priorities? What limits do I set for myself? Do I accept my limitations or constantly rage against them? What niche will I carve for myself in my society? Given that I can't do or see it all - work, play or otherwise - will I choose depth or breadth?

There have always been more books to read, countries to visit, languages to learn, hobbies to master, people to meet and social events to attend than humanly possible. Now it's just right at our front door all the time, or will be via Next Day Air shipping.

The worst is the peer pressure you get. "Oh my god, you mean you haven't watched that show yet? What's wrong with you?" Uh, what's wrong with me is that I'm two seasons behind on most shows I'm interested in already. I can add your recommendation to the list, but it's a long list, buddy.

I watch very little television. I know there's good stuff there, but TV is a massive time sink. Last series I followed was Lost, and that I was buying the DVDs.

I get my news via RSS or Twitter feeds from outlets I respect, and I read this when I get a gap at work. My entertainment at home is videogames and I'm trying to cut out forum browsing at night, heh, yet here I am. I hardly get to movies, been stuck without transport for a while.

I feel like a hermit compared to some people.

Just play the good stuff and you'll be surprised how little of it there actually is.

Books, games, movies, everything...

I haven't kept up with any music in over 5 years, so that's one facet of media I stopped absorbing. I tend to watch television while simultaneously gaming and I watch a small handful of movies a year. As far as reading, I find myself re-reading old favourites instead of exposing myself to new media, so in a way I guess I've cut down the consumption of books as well. So my primary media would have to be games with Television a close second.

tl;dr

DSGamer wrote:

I'm curious how others manage without feeling like they're missing out on essential experiences in life. Do you cut off huge swaths of culture and just ignore it? Do you just try and become picky about your time?

There are just so many books written, movies and TV shows made, games developed, and podcasts recorded every year that it is simply impossible to keep up. Not only is so much new media created every year, but we live during a time where media created 50, 100, more years ago can be consumed as easily as the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Whatever.

So what I do is largely let time separate the wheat from the chaff in the media I consume. If something causes a big splash and then fades to nothing, it's likely not worth investing my time in. If it's something like the Wire where people gush over it for years and colleges start offering courses on it then, yeah, it's probably worth looking into.

I also let my interests filter what I consume. If they (whoever "they" are) consider a book or movie or album essential, but I don't like the topic or artist then I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I like science fiction so I consume a lot of science fiction. Then I let one experience guide me to the next.

For example, when I first got an iPod and started listening to podcasts I stumbled on to the classic science fiction radio drams like X Minus One and even the cheesier shows like Space Cadet. That lead me to Escape Pod, which lead me to StarshipSofa, which led me to Transmissions from Beyond, Variant Frequencies, Lightspeed, Clarksworld, and many other scifi podcasts that I listen to now. It also led me to some fantastic speculative fiction podcasts as well as some downright awesome scifi podibooks from author's I never heard of before.

Of course, that being said, you have to be open to new experiences. I would kick myself if I had never bought that used CD of Ellington at Newport 1956 on a whim because that would mean I would have missed out of some of the best music I have ever listened to.

I guess when it's all said and done just be happy you live in a world were you can easily consume the best that the best artists have ever produced as well as any niche entertainment that turns your crank.

I'm very selective about shows I watch, and even movies I want to see will get watched when I finally go to the theatre or more likely when I watch the second half on whatever premium channel it's on. During the NBA playoffs, though, I do watch a lot of basketball, but even still, it can be background noise until the second half.

As for games, my preferred entertainment, I still have to steady myself. Once in a great while I'll binge, but after that, I find myself tired/bored/needing a better outlet.

Music, well, I'm very selective and the radio and single song mp3 purchases continue to be the better option for me, even though I am generally a "buy the whole album and loop it for months" kind of guy.

Books are back because of my Kindle, and since I tend to be a cheapskate (unless I really like something), having a backlog there isn't usually my issue.

In the end, when I die, I'll still have a to do list, whether it be of media or important life things. I can't stress about it and I shouldn't let it overwhelm me - it's just media! In a year, a majority of it will just be blips in my foggy memory.

No cable, so I've cut most live sports & tv shows out of my diet. The media I consume the most are games, internet chatter and books. Amazon's cloud has spiked my music consumption recently.

Watching shows sans ads reduces many shows to about 73.33% of their scheduled length. You don't have to watch very much tv for that to add up quickly.

The rest, at least for me, was just setting the bar higher; am I looking to simply kill time or am I looking for actual enjoyment? With that in mind lately I simply cut out anything I don't enjoy, I might revisit it later to test the waters again but I don't let myself feel obligated to do so.

I ran into a dilemma like this a couple of years ago and I decided to focus down to what I got the most enjoyment out of. Games are the media that I get the most entertainment out of personally so that's where most of my entertainment dollars go. I buy more games by far than any other form of media, though I do subscribe to a rental service and make significant use or it and sales. With few exceptions, most TV is garbage these days in my opinion so I cancelled cable back in 2008 and haven't looked back. The shows I do watch (primarily from places like HBO) I either get on Netflix streaming or from Zip.ca (Canada's Netflix for DVDs, only not nearly as good). There's only 5 or 6 TV series In terms of movies, I tend to do the same. I like a lot of movies that come out but very few do I need to see on launch day and I don't like what the theater experience has become so we'll usually get them streaming or rent the Blu-rays from Zip and watch them on our reasonably nice home theater setup. I refuse to pirate any content for my own moral reasons. My girlfriend downloads some TV shows she likes and I don't fault her for it but I won't participate. The only show I pirate is Top Gear because there's no real way to get it legally in Canada except iTunes and I refuse to buy an Apple TV to watch one show on my plasma. They allow me to buy it from a place that doesn't tie me to Apple TV and I will delete all my downloaded episodes and purchase the entire series from front to back.

I read a lot of stuff online but have never been a huge book reader. My only other media vice is podcasts and thankfully, I can listen to those at work which allows me to get in quite a few. In this regard I've been streamlining too, I realised lately there were quite a few podcasts I was just listening to because I had from the beginning, even though they weren't that good anymore. I've culled those and replaced some of them and there's another couple I'm thinking of removing as well. I still like music a lot but I listen to it pretty much only in the car or in the background when I'm doing something else.

Even with this regiment, I still find there's more stuff than I have time for. It's easy to start feeling compelled to consume all the content you want but I find once you get in the mindset of realising it's OK to either put stuff on the back burner or just skip it entirely, you'll start to feel a lot better and you'll enjoy what you do consume that much more. I have several PC RPGs like The Witcher and the original Dragon Age that I haven't touched and want to but my "streamlining" option for these is to play them on easy. They'll go by faster but I'll still get to experience the stories which is the most important part of RPGs for me. But like others have said, even if you have narrow tastes, there's no possibly way to have a job and/or life and see everything you want to.

Jonman wrote:

My 'essential experiences' for 2011 are all experience related rather than media related. Burning Man, triathlons and a marathon, and impregnating the wife all require time, effort and money, but no media.

Really, no media? Heyoooooo!

Kind of following your point about enjoying experiences and/or media because a friend is involved (although I quite enjoy plays and even musicals), I also learned to stopped viewing media consumption as a competitive sport. I may never have seen a particular movie, read a particular book, or listened to a particular album, but that doesn't mean I can't roll with it when something I'm unfamiliar with is brought up in a discussion. And vice versa, in terms of friends or even strangers I'm talking to at a bar. And if their application in a conversation is particularly poignant or intriguing, I'll make a mental note to look whatever it is up later.

You'd also be surprised at how often differences in your tastes or mutual gaps in your experience can be a bonding experience. "What? You haven't seen [title]? This Friday. My place." Or they'll lend you the book/album/whatever. So it's not a race, either.

Plus, in terms of essential items, the obvious argument of subjectivity aside, your need at a particular moment may not be one that can be fulfilled by a particular medium's canon.

If I'm having a bad day and just need something to read on my lunch break, while I'm sure "Crime & Punishment" deserves its place in literary history, I'm more likely to enjoy one of the Discworld novels (or insert any author, television show, or movie that can be easily enjoyed but doesn't demand a lot of attention.)

When I'm studying for an exam or get home late from work and I'm braindead, sometimes an episode of two of vapid television is just what I need.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

When I'm studying for an exam or get home late from work and I'm braindead, sometimes an episode of two of vapid television is just what I need.

This. I said before I tend to watch tv and play games simultaneously. We have a cache of what I term 'throw away shows' usually sitcoms. Things you don't think about and you put on to kill time as background noise.

I also try to stop double posting to save time.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

...I also learned to stopped viewing media consumption as a competitive sport. I may never have seen a particular movie, read a particular book, or listened to a particular album, but that doesn't mean I can't roll with it when something I'm unfamiliar with is brought up in a discussion.

OG_slinger wrote:

So what I do is largely let time separate the wheat from the chaff in the media I consume. If something causes a big splash and then fades to nothing, it's likely not worth investing my time in. If it's something like the Wire where people gush over it for years and colleges start offering courses on it then, yeah, it's probably worth looking into.

I try to do both of these as well.

Yeah, there are some downsides (I have to avoid spoiler threads and the latest conversations about things) but I rarely think that I invested hours and hours in some show/book/game and it ended up being a waste. TV shows that were great is season one but went downhill fast, games that never got patched, all the stuff that's the Hot New Thing of the day but everyone forgets about once the next Hot New Thing comes along.

Still, even if you're only going to go with the "really good stuff" of games/podcasts/books/TV/movies/whatever, that's a heck of a lot of stuff (and the point of the article). It's not so much worrying about finishing your pile, it's about enjoying the time you have. Maybe that means watching Firefly, maybe that means playing Europa Universalis 3, maybe that means going for a bike ride.

From the OP, we get piles of shame by buying games that we don't yet have time to play.
We just haven't adapted to digital distribution yet. Games spend a lot longer "on the shelf". Now you're not going to miss playing a classic because the copies are sold, and the store isn't getting anymore. The used market is huge, and if you have some amount of faith in DD, it will be there when you've finished the current new hotness.

The interesting argument turning up is, "keeping up with the jones'". Being one of the cool kids because you're "in the know" about what they're into. I guess I'm passing my mating prime because I have started to firmly believe in several things like: knowing the plot of the latest sitcom or reality show isn't going to get me laid, likewise not knowing isn't going to prevent me from getting laid; of course I wear a ring on my left hand. My clients aren't going to hire me for knowing who just got kicked off The Amazing Waste, or being in on the latest "simpsons cannon" inside joke.

I do some of both culling and surrendering (which I also think should have been called acceptance).

Here's how I've dealt with the overload of media.

- Dealing with media today is an ongoing fight. At times I think I've got my media consumption figured out, then a week later I'm back to wondering how things got so out of control.

- Realizing that there will be things I may miss out on that I would have enjoyed and accepting that.

- Media is not the most important thing in life. It's amazing how relaxed and at peace you can feel once you've decided to shut off all the electronic media for a while. I frequently drive to work with nothing but the sound of the engine and wind. It's relaxing and energizing to do that frequently.

As for dealing with what to consume, here's what I've evolved into:

TV - Rarely do I watch TV series as they air on TV. If I end up hearing about how great something is for long enough, I'll rent the DVDs. If I like it, I can get a full season in at my own pace, and without commercials. I don't really care if I'm a little behind the curve. That's another important point. Not trying to keep up with the Kardash...umm I mean Jones'.

Music - I do like different styles of music, but I have enough *ahem* experience in life to know what I generally like. The internet has been a fine replacement to the old days of word of mouth and MTV for finding new music. I can review bands quickly, and places like Amazon and youtube will point me towards similar music that I may like.

Games - With games, the willpower to wait is a very helpful trait to have. I also keep games that I like and just keep playing them in lieu of automatically discarding them the the next big thing.

Books - I have no idea. There are a lot of subjects I like, from comics to Economics. I don't have time to read all I want, I just know I want to read more than I do now.

A lot of media is just noise. I guess when it comes to media, it really is a journey, and you'll never have the perfect collection of media or consumption. Just do what you can and don't worry too much about what else may be out there.

Ghostship wrote:

From the OP, we get piles of shame by buying games that we don't yet have time to play.
We just haven't adapted to digital distribution yet. Games spend a lot longer "on the shelf". Now you're not going to miss playing a classic because the copies are sold, and the store isn't getting anymore.

That's the nice thing -- you don't have to grab a game because you're afraid you'll never see it again and waiting always works out for you in the end (unless you succumb to Steam sales).

I miss my manuals though...

Despite having almost completely dropped TV from consumption and barely spending any time on music any more, I find I'm still really behind on my main form of entertainment, video games. While initially my reduction of TV time was due to shows I liked dissapearing, it has now become more of a I don't want to spend time sitting in front of a tv just watching as I don't enjoy it as much as video games, in the same vein as Parallax Abstraction. I would just much rather sit down to a video game than most other things.