Our annual media fast has begun in earnest once more.

The basic idea is no TV, DVD’s or movies for the month of August. Email? Sure. We do lots of online shopping, so that’s okay, but the idea being not to spend time on the Internet unless it is task-specific.

We stopped watching local/national news long ago. Local/national news is irrelevant anyway. The infinite variation on “Man Bites Dog!” and random acts of violence negatively affect anyone’s world view.

Anyway, in August:

The first thing that always happens is the amount of time available for tasks goes up quite a bit.

The second thing that happens is I am better able to focus and think more clearly.

The third things that happens is priorities change for the better.

Parents who use the television/video games as a baby-sitter will have many problems getting the child to fill their time with play. That should clue you in on how much influence the television has on a developing mind. Parents won’t have it much easier so don’t exclude yourself from the exercise.