Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to try the analog version of your favorite
Speaker 1: digital leisure. Many of us spend more time on our
Speaker 1: devices than we'd like, but if you think about what
Speaker 1: exactly you are finding appealing, you may be able to
Speaker 1: recreate that in an analog form that is less likely
Speaker 1: to completely suck you in. So one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I enjoy Instagram is that I like looking at pretty
Speaker 1: pictures of things. I know. People share lots of videos
Speaker 1: and other such content there now, but at least initially,
Speaker 1: photos were the draw, and that is still what I
Speaker 1: most enjoy. I like floral arrangements, beautiful garden pictures and
Speaker 1: landscape pictures, and pictures of beautiful places you could travel to.
Speaker 1: I like interior design pictures too. Those are among my favorites.
Speaker 1: But it turns out that there are other ways to
Speaker 1: see gorgeous photos that don't necessarily require being online. For instance,
Speaker 1: I now subscribe to a lot of magazines, including Better
Speaker 1: Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, Coastal Living, HGTV Magazine, and
Speaker 1: so forth. These have lovely pictures of homes and gardens
Speaker 1: and such that I can flip through during low energy
Speaker 1: times at night instead of scrolling. I also realize that
Speaker 1: coffee table books tend to offer lots of visually appealing
Speaker 1: spreads too. Now, purchasing such books is probably something best
Speaker 1: done in small quantities. They are expensive, they take up
Speaker 1: a lot of space. But guess what, my community's biggest
Speaker 1: library has a ton of books with photos of gorgeous
Speaker 1: travel destinations or landscapes or gardens or homes or what
Speaker 1: have you. I have set up a regular library visiting schedule,
Speaker 1: and each time I grab a few coffee table books
Speaker 1: to peruse. I have realized through time tracking that I
Speaker 1: spend a fair amount of time reading headlines online. Now.
Speaker 1: I do like my digital New York Times subscription, but
Speaker 1: there are still print newspapers, and they still have headlines
Speaker 1: and zippy commentary too. We get the print Wall Street Journal,
Speaker 1: and I like to page through that when I pick
Speaker 1: up my phone to look at headlines or remind myself
Speaker 1: that the printed paper is there too, And if I
Speaker 1: want to read the news, I can, and I don't
Speaker 1: have to wait into the comment thread afterwards. Since there
Speaker 1: is no common thread in the paper version. In some
Speaker 1: cases that is a good thing. Electronic hobbies are fun,
Speaker 1: but because scrolling is so easy, that tends to consume
Speaker 1: a bigger portion of our leisure hours than most of
Speaker 1: us would choose if we were intentionally creating a budget
Speaker 1: with our time. By figuring out an analog version of
Speaker 1: your digital hobby, you might be able to spend less
Speaker 1: time online and avoid some of the downsides, like seeing
Speaker 1: that commenter's weird conspiracy theory, or being exposed to some
Speaker 1: influencers pictures combined with self righteous commentary that it's all
Speaker 1: just designed to make you feel terrible. So ask yourself
Speaker 1: exactly what the appeal is, then see if there is
Speaker 1: a way to recreate some of that fun in an
Speaker 1: analog way that is easy and accessible too. Maybe there isn't,
Speaker 1: but my borrowed coffee table books and my print newspaper
Speaker 1: aren't that hard to come by. My guess is it
Speaker 1: might be possible to figure something out in the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.