Track your media

Become a more mindful consumer of everything you watch and read

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to choose and track your media. As with
so many aspects of life, mindfulness can make our leisure

(00:26):
time feel much better. So with a lot of media consumption,
we wind up being fairly passive. We see what headlines
catch our eyes or what comes up on a social
media feed. Even with old fashioned television, people often scroll
around to see what's there. And that is fine, except

(00:47):
there are so many options out there in the world,
and while I believe we have a fair amount of
leisure time in our lives, we don't have infinite amounts.
If leisure time is supposed to be fun, then in
in general, we are better off making sure that whatever
media we consume during this time is in fact going
to be fun. So be a thoughtful consumer. Curate your

(01:12):
podcast library so that it only contains episodes you are
really interested in listening. To keep your bedside tables stocked
with books you really want to read, create a queue
of shows and movies you want to watch. Go through
your newsletters and social media feeds, and make sure you're
prioritizing accounts with interesting content you want to consume. Being

(01:38):
intentional about the content you take in is important for everyone,
but it may be especially important if you are in
a chapter of your life when you may not have
much time to travel for pleasure, attend live performances, or
see friends. What you read and watch is going to
be a big chunk of the way you learn about

(01:59):
the world. However, even if you have limited time, you
probably have some time, and that's why I think it's
especially important to track your media. Maintain records of what
you have read, heard and watched, what you thought about it,
and the insights you took away. The goal is to
remember what you have consumed. There are lots of ways

(02:24):
to do this. I know of one avid reader who
writes the title and author of each book she reads
on an index card, plus a sentence or two about
her thoughts. Then she punches a hole in the card
and puts it on a loose leaf ring that she
keeps by her reading chair. It is a fun way
for her to be able to remind herself of what
she has read. You might prefer logging and sharing what

(02:46):
you read on Goodreads or books to gram for movies, podcasts,
or any sort of media. You could keep a list
of what you have consumed in a print or digital
journal or on a spreadsheet. Yes, you can record newsletters
and social media on there too. I know it might
not be quite so granular, but you could indeed write

(03:07):
twenty minutes of Instagram after work on Thursday, mostly looking
at interior design pictures. From time to time, you can
review this list and see what it is that you
always love, or if there's anything that is no longer
worth your time. When you know you are going to
log the media you consume, you may feel a nudge

(03:30):
to choose something worth your time. You may not want
to write down that you spent three hours watching YouTube shorts,
and so you choose to do something else. But even
more important, when you start to see your list of books, movies,
podcasts and so forth grow, you may start to realize

(03:52):
that you do have more leisure time than you thought,
and you may start telling yourself a happier story about
how you spend your time. So as we look ahead
to summer and perhaps a little more leisure time than
during other parts of the year, it's a great time
to get intentional about what you consume and to consider

(04:13):
tracking the content you took in. You will get more
out of your media and maybe feel better about your
time overall. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

(04:39):
for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeart Radio app,

(05:01):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.