Raam,
I studied Media Ecology in school. The entire course is about how media influences and thereby creates our culture by framing issues.
I believe you would have loved this course of study.
I’m placing a link to Neil Postman’s page. He was the chair of the dept at NYU, sadly he passed away but, he was brilliant and way ahead of his time. If you get a chance check out some of his books. http://neilpostman.org/
Angela
I left my TV behind in 1989 and haven’t missed it since. Have not had one in the house since then….I think it’s the way TV sounds that drives me so crazy. All the noises and violence, gun porn, explosion porn, rubbernecking news.
But everyone around me, it seems like all they talk about is TV. I end up not having anything to say ….
And everywhere I go, people are staring at screens….
It’s weird…
Seriously considering moving to the Amazon or….somewhere away from “civilization.”
In the Amazon, your mindful, consciously living example will not be seen by all the people who most need to see your example!
I grew up without a television and after a few years of owning one in my teens, I abandoned it altogether. I simply feel the value-to-noise ratio isn’t great enough to warrant using it. (Likewise with radio, news, and media in general.)
It seems more productive to sit quietly with my own thoughts than it does to hear about everything that’s happening in the world.
Apologies for the late reply; somehow this one slipped through!
Watching our thoughts is definitely a challenging thing, as it forces us to step back from that which is false to a place that is real. I feel that meditation is the best way to achieve this, but I also believe that “living meditation” can be achieved, to live in a constant state of awareness.
It all begins with being present and the easiest thing to practice is to simply be as present as you can in whatever task you’re doing. If you’re sitting at your computer typing or reading something, make sure you’re sitting at your computer typing or reading something, not off thinking about what you’re going to do tomorrow, or a conversation you had with someone recently, etc. (unless you’re typing about those things).
The point is that self awareness leads to self knowledge. Start with practicing being present and allow yourself to explore from there.
Raam,
I studied Media Ecology in school. The entire course is about how media influences and thereby creates our culture by framing issues.
I believe you would have loved this course of study.
I’m placing a link to Neil Postman’s page. He was the chair of the dept at NYU, sadly he passed away but, he was brilliant and way ahead of his time. If you get a chance check out some of his books.
http://neilpostman.org/
Angela
Thank you for sharing that, Angela! Media Ecology sounds fascinating. 🙂
I left my TV behind in 1989 and haven’t missed it since. Have not had one in the house since then….I think it’s the way TV sounds that drives me so crazy. All the noises and violence, gun porn, explosion porn, rubbernecking news.
But everyone around me, it seems like all they talk about is TV. I end up not having anything to say ….
And everywhere I go, people are staring at screens….
It’s weird…
Seriously considering moving to the Amazon or….somewhere away from “civilization.”
In the Amazon, your mindful, consciously living example will not be seen by all the people who most need to see your example!
I grew up without a television and after a few years of owning one in my teens, I abandoned it altogether. I simply feel the value-to-noise ratio isn’t great enough to warrant using it. (Likewise with radio, news, and media in general.)
It seems more productive to sit quietly with my own thoughts than it does to hear about everything that’s happening in the world.
Hey Raam,
I like the experience of watching our own thoughts rather than everything else
I read/heard it some where that ( I think Bruce Lee)
“Every knowledge is ultimately the self knowledge”
I have tried watching my thoughts, but it is very hard, feels like my mind is watching my thoughts, which is again like thought watching thoughts…
I would be really grateful if you can help me on this
Hi Jatin,
Apologies for the late reply; somehow this one slipped through!
Watching our thoughts is definitely a challenging thing, as it forces us to step back from that which is false to a place that is real. I feel that meditation is the best way to achieve this, but I also believe that “living meditation” can be achieved, to live in a constant state of awareness.
It all begins with being present and the easiest thing to practice is to simply be as present as you can in whatever task you’re doing. If you’re sitting at your computer typing or reading something, make sure you’re sitting at your computer typing or reading something, not off thinking about what you’re going to do tomorrow, or a conversation you had with someone recently, etc. (unless you’re typing about those things).
The point is that self awareness leads to self knowledge. Start with practicing being present and allow yourself to explore from there.
I hope this helps!