Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to try the analog version of your favorite digital leisure.
Many of us spend more time on our devices than we'd like.
But if you think about what exactly you are finding appealing, you may be able to recreate that in an analog form that is less likely to completely suck you in.
So one of the reasons I enjoy Instagram is that I like looking at pretty pictures of things.
I know people share lots of videos and other such content there now, but at least initially, photos were the draw.
And that is still what I most enjoy.
I like floral arrangements.
I like beautiful garden pictures and landscape pictures and pictures of beautiful places you could travel to.
I like interior design pictures, too.
Those are among my favorites.
But it turns out that there are other ways to see gorgeous photos that don't necessarily require being online.
For instance, I now subscribe to a lot of magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, Coastal Living, HGTV Magazine and so forth.
These have lovely pictures of homes and gardens and such that I can flip through during low energy times at night instead of scrolling.
I also realized that coffee table books tend to offer lots of visually appealing spreads too.
Now, purchasing such books is probably something best done in small quantities.
They are expensive.
They take up a lot of space.
But guess what?
My community's biggest library has a ton of books with photos of gorgeous travel destinations or landscapes or gardens or homes or what have you.
I have set up a regular library visiting schedule and each time I grab a few coffee table books to peruse.
I have realized through time tracking that I spend a fair amount of time reading headlines online.
Now I do like my Digital New York Times subscription, but there are still print newspapers and they still have headlines and zippy commentary too.
We get the print Wall Street Journal, and I like to page through that.
When I pick up my phone to look at headlines, I remind myself that the printed paper is there too.
And if I want to read the news, I can.
And I don't have to wade into the comment thread afterwards, since there is no comment thread in the paper version.
In some cases, that is a good thing.
Electronic hobbies are fun.
But because scrolling is so easy that tends to consume a bigger portion of our leisure hours than most of us would choose if we were intentionally creating a budget with our time.
By figuring out an analog version of your digital hobby, you might be able to spend less time online and avoid some of the downsides, like seeing that commenter's weird conspiracy theory or being exposed to some influencer's pictures combined with self-righteous commentary that is all just designed to make you feel terrible.
So ask yourself exactly what the appeal is.
Then see if there is a way to recreate some of that fun in an analog way that is easy and accessible too.
Maybe there isn't.
But my borrowed coffee table books and my print newspaper aren't that hard to come by.
My guess is it might be possible to figure something out.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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It doesn't matter how much justice we get.
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Listen to What Happened in Nashville on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Listen to The Brothers Ortiz on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
