Media is like Alcohol

Here's another thing that makes you feel shitty that is pretty easy to eliminate (and thus make you feel better right NOW): Media. Like the title implies I think media consumption is a bit like drinking: a little is ok, and maybe the occasional binge, but for people of certain ages, and when it becomes a constant habit, it's totally inappropriate and self-destructive. Don't get me wrong here, when I say media I'm talking about corporate-sponsored (owned) mainstream media, I'm not talking about the fabulously creative independent media produced by real artists, and I'm (mostly) not talking about books. Yes yes, we could have a fight over what constitutes a "real" artist, but for my purposes let me just say this: if there was a focus group involved in its production, and it advertises specific products, and has a brand attached to it, it's on the chopping block here.

Media is the collective story of our society, or rather, it is the product our society puts out to explain who we want to be perceived to be. Yeah, it's kinda complicated and confusing, but the basic idea is that corporate media creates a picture (fantasy) of what our lives are supposed to be like, or how to get what we are told we need to be successful and happy and then we consume whatever it is so that we can be a part of that fantasy. And don't get me started on how the news is just one giant fear-mongering machine that activates our reptilian brains between commercials making us more likely to buy stuff. Ever looked at a mainstream magazine and noticed how all the images are more clean and perfect than anything you've ever seen in real life and yet somehow they are the ideal? Let me tell you something: every single thing in every single image in mainstream media is precisely choreographed to make you think and feel certain ways. It is brilliant manipulation. My sister works in advertising, and my goodness, the things she does to make food look sell-able are... well, let's just say it's no wonder your casserole didn't turn out like the picture!

Have you noticed how much we are surrounded by screens, plugged in to some giant information machine, or placed captive to billboards in traffic jams? Have you noticed that children are brilliantly creative in their games until they start to get the hang of super hero cartoons and food advertising? Have you ever turned off the radio to find that your own thoughts were way more interesting and important that the song of the week you heard 8 times today?
My point here (and this applies to movies, music, news, corporate internet stuff, you name it) is that there is a lot of stuff out there that is designed to make you feel less than perfect, less than wonderful, less than ideal- it's a bunch of lies. They're really clever lies, they're pretty convincing, but the reality is that nothing real is as perfect as that fantasy, and while it is important to have goals and to strive to have good beautiful things in your life, you are the one who should be deciding what those things are. You, by yourself, without corporate media loudly or quietly commanding you, without some weirdly hairless model or some too-clean kitchen or some messed up slogan about how beer makes you cool. You are the one who decides what is important, beautiful, attainable, challenging, and if you tune out media on a regular basis, or only tune in occasionally, you can be a lot surer your decisions are based on your own wonderful self than on corporate manipulation. And knowing you are making your decisions based on things you actually intrinsically care about feels really fucking great!