Media Blackout

I've decided to join Becky Smith this week and do a media blackout. She blogged about a previous experience of going media free and how empowering she found it to unlock her creativity without distractions You can read what she has to say over at http://www.rebeccaannsmith.co.uk/cold-turkey-can-i-go-a-week-without-distractions/#comment-611

I know I can manage a week without social media and email, I do it ever time I go on holiday. In fact last year my phone stayed in airplane mode and never came out of my bag! I guess I'm luckier than most in that I don't use my phone for email and social media. It's not buzzing away beside me to remind me of incoming messages and I certainly don't check it obsessively ever few minutes like some young folk seem to. Also the fact that I don't go out to work is a help - no work emails to check, no Internet that I can't avoid. However, being at home all day gives me far too many opportunities to waste time watching day time TV (yes, I'm looking at you Jeremy Kyle!)

So I need to establish my own ground rules. After all I still have to function in my family while doing this.

• No social media. So no Twitter, no Facebook at all. Not even a tiny, sneaky peek!
• No obsessive checking of email. So I don't miss anything important I will check email once a day and respond to anything urgent or important.
• No TV during the day. As a member of a family I can't dictate what everyone else watches so I will watch the news and weather which my husband likes to see; I will watch Masterchef with my son as we're a bit obsessed by it and we've watched the series so far. Apart from that I will do my best to avoid the TV and all the rubbish that I get sucked into.
• I will listen to Radio 4 in the morning because it is our alarm clock. I will not substitute obsessive TV watching for obsessive radio listening.
• I won't read magazines or newspapers. I may allow myself to do the crossword but I'm going to try to avoid that too.
• I won't read any fiction or non fiction. I hope to have finished my current book by Friday but I won't start a new one until the media blackout is over. 

So there you have it, my week of switching off and engaging with life. Assuming I make it to the other side I'll blog about my experiences when it's over. I think I may need to start a diary/journal about how it goes - time to break out another notebook I think.

So from Friday 9am until bedtime on Thursday I will be away from the media and hopefully more gainfully employed - or I may be tearing my hair out and crying for my Jeremy Kyle fix!