Yesterday, I came across an article which compared media consumption to eating. The real problem, the article claimed, is that we are consuming the media equivalent of junk food. But I’m not buying it.
Because here’s another food-related claim I once heard:
Hunger is a necessary nutrient.
That was somebody’s clever way of summarizing what’s now a pretty accepted medical idea. When you don’t eat, your body does some housekeeping which ends up being good for you, and which you cannot get done otherwise.
In other words, hunger, occasional but regular hunger, is just as needed as salt or vitamin C.
And now let me extend that idea to media consumption:
Boredom is a necessary nutrient. Or rather, a necessary ingredient, for any kind of creative work or actual thinking.
For example, today I spent three hours in the car, driving from one town to another.
As soon as I got in the car, my hand reached out to turn on the radio.
“Get thee behind me, Satan” I said to my hand, and I stopped myself from turning on the radio. Because I had a feeling what would happen if I kept the radio off.
For a while after that, my mind roiled inside my skull. “This is so boring!” it said. “I’m getting nervous! Let’s put on some music, it doesn’t even have to have words!”
But eventually, the mind gave up. And some time later, without me doing anything, it happened:
An idea for a new book jumped out at me. The title, the concept, everything. I’m not sure I will ever write this book, but right now I think it’s pretty cool.
Then a few minutes after that, an outline formed in my head for a project I’m working on.
“That outline seems too linear,” I said. “Not integrated enough.”
So a few minutes later, while I braked and navigated some tricky curves high above the sea, a better outline formed in my head.
Eventually, I pulled over at a gas station. I took out my phone, and I wrote down the results of all this hard work I had done.
Maybe the same stuff would have happened in my head had the radio been playing. Or had I been listening to an audiobook. Or had I had somebody in the car to entertain me.
But I doubt it. And that’s why I’d like to suggest:
If you’re looking to get healthy, lean, and fit, creatively speaking, it might be worth turning off your TV. Hiding your phone under the couch. Even putting away that valuable book you are reading.
And then, just sitting there, hungry for stimulation and bored out of your mind…. until something cool happens.
Oh, and stop subscribing to so many email newsletters. Even the entertaining and valuable ones. Like mine.