I'll need to check out the Gioia essay; he's a great writer. (I confess I'm not that enamored by Renn.) But a serious question, Kevin, if you care to answer: in what sense do you consider yourself a "too-big consumer of media"? Your links here are full of praise for various forms of media, which I agree are filled with great information (that's why I listen to your podcast, after all!). So on what basis do you think you're consuming too much, or consuming the wrong thing? I'm not saying you don't honestly feel that way (because how would I know otherwise, after all?); I'm just curious as to why you made that observation about yourself, when the post itself doesn't seem to suggest any place where the media you praise is wasting our time or taking us in the wrong direction. (Unless I read that comment wrong, and you meant that you are a "too-big consumer" of traditional media along with everything else you listen to? In that case, I take back the above; that way, it fits in with your post very well.)
It’s a fair question, Russell. Recently, I made a list of all the various media that I subscribe to or follow somewhat regularly. I was shocked at how long the list is. It honestly began to feel unhealthy. Everything good can be taken to a bad place, and I can see how an interest in current events can eventually become an unhealthy obsession. I’ve been watching that tendency in myself, and am looking to pare things back.
Another layer is a thought I heard shared in a recent podcast. Because of the nature of so many aspects of modern society coming together, we have this weird reality where we know more about people and events halfway around the world than we do about people in our own community. That seems backwards to me. I’m one of those that often laments how few people pay attention to local issues and governance as compared to national and international issues. The local actually has so much more importance for our daily lives, and yet hardly anyone knows who’s on their school board, county commission or city council. It seems to me a large part of the reason is we spend so much of our limited mental energy on those National or international issues and media.
That’s a long answer, but part of why I mention “too-big consumer of media.”
It's a good answer, and I appreciate it, Kevin. I think I'd argue that the tendency to "know more about people and events halfway around the world than we do about people in our own community" is as old as modern--basically, post-Industrial Revolution--communication technologies and the modern public square in democratic societies; I mean, Dickens mocked Mrs. Jellyby in "Bleak House," and she's not too different from any of us: preoccupied with her distant (if noble, but also hopeless) cause in Africa, ignoring the stuff happening all around her. Paring things back, as you say, seems like the only truly dependable way to escape this tendency of human nature in modernity, and it's one I try to force myself to do (with limited success, unfortunately) regularly.
I'll need to check out the Gioia essay; he's a great writer. (I confess I'm not that enamored by Renn.) But a serious question, Kevin, if you care to answer: in what sense do you consider yourself a "too-big consumer of media"? Your links here are full of praise for various forms of media, which I agree are filled with great information (that's why I listen to your podcast, after all!). So on what basis do you think you're consuming too much, or consuming the wrong thing? I'm not saying you don't honestly feel that way (because how would I know otherwise, after all?); I'm just curious as to why you made that observation about yourself, when the post itself doesn't seem to suggest any place where the media you praise is wasting our time or taking us in the wrong direction. (Unless I read that comment wrong, and you meant that you are a "too-big consumer" of traditional media along with everything else you listen to? In that case, I take back the above; that way, it fits in with your post very well.)
It’s a fair question, Russell. Recently, I made a list of all the various media that I subscribe to or follow somewhat regularly. I was shocked at how long the list is. It honestly began to feel unhealthy. Everything good can be taken to a bad place, and I can see how an interest in current events can eventually become an unhealthy obsession. I’ve been watching that tendency in myself, and am looking to pare things back.
Another layer is a thought I heard shared in a recent podcast. Because of the nature of so many aspects of modern society coming together, we have this weird reality where we know more about people and events halfway around the world than we do about people in our own community. That seems backwards to me. I’m one of those that often laments how few people pay attention to local issues and governance as compared to national and international issues. The local actually has so much more importance for our daily lives, and yet hardly anyone knows who’s on their school board, county commission or city council. It seems to me a large part of the reason is we spend so much of our limited mental energy on those National or international issues and media.
That’s a long answer, but part of why I mention “too-big consumer of media.”
It's a good answer, and I appreciate it, Kevin. I think I'd argue that the tendency to "know more about people and events halfway around the world than we do about people in our own community" is as old as modern--basically, post-Industrial Revolution--communication technologies and the modern public square in democratic societies; I mean, Dickens mocked Mrs. Jellyby in "Bleak House," and she's not too different from any of us: preoccupied with her distant (if noble, but also hopeless) cause in Africa, ignoring the stuff happening all around her. Paring things back, as you say, seems like the only truly dependable way to escape this tendency of human nature in modernity, and it's one I try to force myself to do (with limited success, unfortunately) regularly.