too much tv

Approximate TV show watching I have done since sophomore year….HUGE waste of time

25 shows…60 seasons….approximately 42 min/per episode…approximately 18 episodes/per season

=45,360 minutes…756 hours…31 days…

Reading the news

I’ve recently been thinking about the importance of reading the news paper, blogs, sports sites, and other sources of content. It would seem that more information is better, but do we really need all that information? How long should we take to get the news?

I am currently reading a book called 4 hour work week by Timothy Ferriss.  I haven’t finished yet, but it seems that the author takes an unusual approach saying that he has not bought a news paper in the last 5 years. He claims to be more effcient and never to have felt under informed by this low information diet. Now I agree that he probably saves a lot of time by not reading news sources, but I don’t think its worth it to miss out on whats going on.  I enjoy talking to people about the newest site on digg, the top 10 list on cracked, or a new Bill Simmons mail bag.  Though I may waste less time without the news I think that I would miss it.

Maybe the solution is just getting news in concise formats.  My google reader is set up with about 10 sites where I can see the headlines from major news sources without having to navigate to the actual sites and search for new content.  Between the New York times, ESPN, and a few blogs I have most major news covered.  I also started downloading the audio edition of the economist so that instead of reading, I can just listen on my way to class which saves me time and I get some utility out of walking around.

time to blog

I read a few blogs online, check my email probably 30 times a day, and waste countless hours reading articles on espn, but for some reason I never have kept up writing anything myself. People always say that it is rewarding to keep a journal, but for some reason its hard just to get myself to write something down. Usually my excuse is that i dont have anything interesting to say. At other times I just find myself too busy to write a paragraph or two. But I cant come up with a good reason why I haven’t done it this semester. Im taking a grand total of 27 units so there should be plenty of time for me.

I guess its just up to me to force myself to write down my thoughts. Hopefully in a few months I will be able to look back and appreciate the time spent doing it.