What I consumed in 2024
The price of my attention
I am taking on virtual nutrition counseling clients! If you or someone you know is struggling with their relationship with food, consider booking a free Discovery call or visit my website to see what it is like working with an IFS-informed registered dietitian.
I was totally baffled by the under-consumption trend earlier this year. In the social media world, “under-consumption” referred to deliberately consuming fewer resources or purchasing fewer goods (products). I was intrigued to watch the internet (read: influencers) attempt to re-calibrate what is “normal” as it relates to spending money and acquiring things. I was on board with being mindful of purchases but I couldn’t help but notice:
We should be talking about how we are spending our attention.
To no one’s surprise, it is not at all challenging to quantify where our attention goes since nearly every tool we use on our phones/computers tells us exactly how we spend in the attention economy! (you gotta laugh so you don’t cry)
This post is a round up of my attention consumption habits from 2024 in multiple categories: books, screen time, podcasts, entertainment, and personal spending!
In essence, I explore:
What did I consume?
Did I overconsume?
What price am I paying to consume this?
Goodreads
I am embarrassingly motivated by the Goodreads yearly reading challenge and I have spent a lot of time reading to hit my goal of 35 books.
This year I consumed: 17 fiction and 18 non-fiction books via physical book, audiobook, and Kindle; apparently this is around 11,000 words! Fun!
Top fiction book of 2024: The Armour of Light by Ken Follett
Top Memoir of 2024: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real about the End by Alua Arthur
Top Non-fiction book of 2024: Wanting: Women Writing about Desire by Margot Kahn
Top Professional book of 2024: Profit First for Therapists by Julie Herres
💰The price I paid: About $50 on a couple books (Avid Libby user, here!) and my time. Occasionally, sleep if the book was particularly good, and restorative silence as I sometimes listened while walking.
💥Did I overconsume? No! Is there too much reading?! Reading is my primary hobby and, if anything, I would like to read more rather than less. I see zero negatives to reading and it is an important means of exploration, imagination, learning, and resting.
Substack
Substack is a magical land of discovery; I follow writers, medical professionals, creators, journalists and more! I am delighted to peek into the lives of others, read the perspectives of talented writers, and enjoy encountering the recommendations from writers I follow.
💰The price I paid: Approximately $15 a month for paid subscriptions (hoping to add more in the future!). Sadly, I also spent a bit on comparison and negative self talk. I have encountered lovely writers living lives that mirror my biggest fantasies which activated a critical part of me to come forward. I must tread carefully!
💥Did I overconsume? This feels tough for me. If I consider the ratio of how much Substack I read compared to how much I wrote, then yes - I feel as though I overconsumed. However, Substack is much better for my brain than other social media platforms and overall I don’t feel my time is wasted on the platform.
Screentime & Social Media
I hesitate to even look. Oh dear friend, I feel shame bubbling up inside me as I write this sentence to avoid looking at my screentime data! The social media I peruse on my phone includes YouTube, Instagram, Substack, LinkedIn, and Reddit.
Checks phone -
I could spend a whole post breaking down the nuance between the time I spent texting loved ones, leisure/intentional time, accidental screen time, watching a YouTube video, or doomscrolling…but for the purposes of this reflection, I don’t think it matters; it doesn’t matter because, to me, it simply feels like too much.
💰The price I paid: Time, my peace, my attention, my focus, feeling settled, and the hyper vigilance of knowing I will likely encounter something devastating. It feels like an extremely high price and is a source of significant dissatisfaction.
💥Did I overconsume? Yes, yes, yes. Despite the herculean efforts to make social media/my phone as boring as possible, create boundaries, unsubscribe, not using the apps, create alternatives, create incentives to not scroll - I haven’t landed on a balance that feels just right. Perhaps this is just a 21st century work in progress? If this is something you navigate, too, I really recommend the book Stolen Focus by Johann Hari or Katie Lemons’ Substack review of the book.
Television
The Sopranos takes the cake for the most time dedicated to a TV show this year. We are rationing the last season because we’re sad to see it go.
💰 The price I paid: This one cost me some sleep, nervous system activation/exposure to graphic scenes, and time I could have spent collage-ing or reading. Inadequate sleep also impacts my focus and productivity, so perhaps this “price” include actual dollars not earned.
💥Did I overconsume? Sort of? TV contributes to my buckets of quality time with my partner and evening relaxation. But, watching this show at night made it nearly impossible for me to honor my bedtime and the intensity of the show is a little too much at times for my brain and body.
Money
Financial health is profoundly relevant when talking about well-being; securing safe housing, access to food, healthcare, and financial resources to take care of our bodies and mind is somehow a luxury in America?
For the purposes of this post, I am reviewing my personal spending (my line-item for fun money) which equated to $620.85, or about $50 a month. Looking through my transactions, this included meals/desserts out with friends, a Switch game, coffee shop dates, hobby supplies, a couple books, and a flight home to see my family.
💰 The price I paid: in this case, $620.85. But also, I spent some stress anticipating what I wanted, choosing what “things” I was interested in and deciding what I wanted “most”.
💥Did I overconsume? No; the experiences I had and items I invested in were intentional and purposeful. This spending directly connects to my core values of quality time with my loved ones and creativity.
Podcasts
This year I spent 14,684 minutes listening to podcasts; this is 244 hours or 4.7 hours per week. According to Spotify, my #1 topic was Business & Technology. I thought a lot about finance and business practices this year as I dove into full time self-employment in my private practice Nutrition Made Well.
💰The price I paid: Imagining all the hours I spent with ear buds nestled in my skull, the price I paid was quality time with myself, silence that could have felt nourishing, and spontaneous connective moments with my partner.
💥Did I overconsume? Yes. Sometimes I felt a little compulsive or anxiety-driven listening and found myself a little finicky with silence at certain points of the year. I also really value headphones-free walks, and podcasts made those less frequent.
Takeaways
My 2024 was INTENSE. Looking back through these attention-grabbers, I can see why these habits were in my life (self-soothing, entertainment, relaxation, avoidance, calming fear, learning!). I will continue the endless path towards feeling more active in how I spend my attention instead of these things passively stealing my attention. I want to underconsume other people stuff, so I can give more of my attention to myself, my loved ones, my creativity, my values…my life!
Of course, I will leave you with a few reflection questions:
Where does your attention flow to when you are stressed, anxious, scared, overwhelmed?
What is your relationship to your attention? How do you foster it?
What steals your attention? How do you get it back?
What incentivizes giving your attention to something? (stress, overwhelm, entertainment, learning, etc.)
A little P.S. …
There is irony here that a dietitian is talking about “consumption” and not talking about food!
If the Kroger app created a “Spotify wrapped”-style analysis of my grocery habits, I would excitedly review them. However, they do not, and parsing through grocery receipts is not something that excites me. That being said, I will reveal a screen shot from “Your Favorites” on the Kroger app…
I am so impressed with you and all that you are doing. Looking forward to following your messages and loving your success.