Book Review and Giveaway: Fast Media/ Media Fast: How to Clear Your Mind and Invigorate Your Life in an Age of Media Overload by Dr. Tom Cooper

** this giveaway is closed ** 

As a Mass Media major, I was drawn to reading this book, as the author was an assistant to Marshall McLuhan, one of the biggest names in Mass Media (and a frequent topic during my time at college!). I was interested to see how Dr. Cooper felt about, if McLuhan's motto "the medium is the message" was still true or had it changed, with all the new forms of media. 

Synopsis:  FAST MEDIA, MEDIA FAST is a guide for taking a liberating media fast, in an age of increasingly fast media. It is the first book to provide readers a practical, user-friendly and thought-provoking guide to gaining a newfound control and understanding of their relationship with the media. This researched, seasoned manual provides specific guidelines, important areas for thought, creative options and life-changing opportunities.



FAST MEDIA, MEDIA FAST shows the reader how to take control of the media choices in our lives. This book is not a judgmental, media-bashing sermon, but rather an inspiring guide to cultural nutrition. In fact, most people do not typically choose to eliminate all media from their lives when they return from a fast, but rather make more informed and conscious choices about what to consume, how much, when, and why.  Fasters also return more rested, revitalized, and thoughtful, often excited about new directions and purpose, or about being better organized and centered.


Note: this is actually an updated version of this book, the first having been published as a class workbook by the author, after his 1989 media fast. 


About the Author: Dr. Tom Cooper, is  Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Boston's Emerson College. Before joining the faculty at Emerson, Cooper taught at Harvard University, University of Hawaii, and other leading universities. A former assistant to Marshall McLuhan, he now serves as speechwriter for Jochen Zeitz, CEO of Puma.


Cooper has appeared on NPR, CBS, NBC, PBS, BBC, CBC, and the Discovery Channel, and been quoted or reviewed by such publications as The New Yorker, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. He lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.


Review: The author took himself on a total fast from mall media back in 1989 and realized within days that he was eliminating problems of mental fuzziness and slowness, along with finding his family relationships becoming more fulfilling. He discovered that the more we interact with media, the more disconnected we become from those we share our lives with and we let the messages we are receiving color what we perceive as reality. AHA-the medium WAS becoming the message! If you've ever gone on a vacation and voluntarily disconnected from emails, the internet, tv and your cell phone, you will know exactly what he is talking about.


Dr. Cooper does a great job in showing how our world is colored by what we 'perceive' to be being told to us through the different media outlets like tv, radio, internet, newspaper and HOW it is told to us. Admit it- which stuck in your head more-being told a plane had crashed into the twin towers, or seeing the image over and over on the news? Were you there? No. Do you almost feel like you were? Probably due to the overwhelming amount of media information that came at us in the following days, that over saturated our brains, and in many ways, almost gives us false memories. We receive so much information, that our brains can not properly digest and sort it out, so it groups all of it together and moves on. McLuhan advised that "when communication travels at the speed of light, people are transformed". He meant it as a good way, but Dr. Cooper advises it doesn't take into the amount of stress that this fast media produces upon us biologically. The result is sluggish brain activity, lethargy and feeling like our brains can't 'relax'. In fact, Dr. Cooper makes the analogy of media overload to an addiction. Think when you go on vacation- it's hard to break free from checking your cell for emails or calls isn't it? What if the hotel's wi-fi is down? Do you feel jittery and out of sorts? Yup, that's your media overload addiction talking!


Dr. Cooper urges the breaking free of the media overload, so that you can regain your 5 basic freedoms: 

1. Freedom of thought- you can make your OWN rational decisions, not ones based on what you are being bombarded to do by the media. To be able not to second guess yourself, just to make a decision because it is right? 
2. Freedom of Identity-what would happen if our young women were no longer bombarded by pictures of perceived perfection, that is not attainable for most women? When you let go of what you SHOULD be, how much happier are you?
3. Freedom of emotion- every form of media attempts to influence your emotions in one way or another. There's a reason we call them "Hallmark moments'- we know we are being manipulated into a 'crying' moment
4. Freedom of Perspective- not seeing the forest for the trees bliss. When we focus so much on the details, we miss the greater pattern. Seriously- watch the national news, then go watch the BBC news. Then come back and you'll tell me that you don't have a clue what the BBC news was all about. We are no longer part of a big picture, the focus is only on what the media here wants us to know.
5. Freedom of Action- do we need to be fixated with the Weather Channel when a storm in coming, or can listen to the radio when we need to and go about our business? 

As Dr. Cooper says, media and the ability to get needed information IS a good thing. But it doesn't take a doctorate to see the differences between a media-less society, like the Amish, versus the average modern society. Stronger family bonds, creativity among kids and adults alike, better functionality with nature and a stronger sens of peace and no worry, are elements that we all want in our lives, and those of our immediate family's. Getting there can be as simple as limiting the media we allow our kids to feed upon, and the amount that we use in front of them. We are the models, and when we allow our new gadgets to overwhelm us, it is no wonder that our kids are addicted to theirs.

I highly recommend this book as a guide to starting your own media fasts within your own families. When you feel like you need a media-less or no-media day- TAKE them! Your body is trying to tell you to detox. Listen and you will find yourself not only in a more healthy state, but feeling more mentally clear and alive. In fact, I urge you to try it at least once every week. It really DOES make a HUGE difference!

This review copy of the book got well read, but I still want to share it with one of my dear readers! 

And my Fall wish is for you, and yours, to destress by taking mini media fasts- go off and play in the leaves and cut some pumpkins and forget about media for 24 hours. You'll be happy and so will you family!

**
**




Disclosure: I received this book, from Newman Communications, free of charge, for blog review purposes. I received no other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post.Nor was I told what to say about the book!