The Media Audit Challenge

What we take in matters. So many of us are mentally and emotionally weighed down and wondering why. If you can relate, I want to invite you to participate in The Media Audit Challenge to help refresh and reset your mood and perspective. You have the power to determine what you allow into your life.

Dictionary.com defines the word media as: “the means of communication, as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, that reach or influence people widely.”

How many hours a day do you spend consuming these various forms of media? From scrolling through social media, watching our latest TV shows or movies, flipping through magazines or reading the news. Every single form of media is a form of input into your brain influencing your emotions and the way you view everything from the state of the world around you, yourself, other people, your relationships, to the measure of your success.

Our brains can be thought of like a machine. That isn’t hard to see as they function rather seamlessly in gathering and storing information. Also like a machine, the quality of what we put into it drastically affects the quality of what we get out of it. Can we be surprised if we are fearful, down, discouraged or disappointed if we are constantly taking in negative input? On another note, are we modeling some of the behavior or choices of others we watch and listen to on TV or online?

Is the quality of what you are taking in helping you or hindering you in your goal of maintaining a happy, healthy outlook and relationships? There is a direct correlation to what we take in and our mood and perspective - the quality of the input matters.

The Media Audit is all about thinking about what we are allowing into our lives every single day.
Whose voices are we listening to?
What are we letting shape our view of ourselves, others, and the world?
How are our current sources of media affecting how we are doing right now?

We can get real basic in our initial evaluation. Check in with yourself:
Do you have peace?
Do you have contentment?
Do you have joy?
Do you have hope?

If you answered no to any of the above baseline questions, why? Think about what is influencing your mood and perspective today, this week, this month, even this year.

After your initial self-reflection, jot down every form of media you take in regularly to semi-regularly. If you have a slow start on this one, look at the above definition of media and then make a bulleted list of the ones you gravitate towards.

Next to each form of media you wrote down, evaluate how your time consuming it generally leaves you feeling or thinking. You have the power to choose what you feed on: is it positive and true, or negative and misleading?

People have been fasting from social media and television for years. I want to encourage you to take another approach, because I want you to see lasting results. When someone completes a fast from something like social media or television, are they returning to it and resuming the same behavioral pattern as before? Like a diet, we want a sustainable practice in order to have lasting results. We can’t fast from food and then binge every imaginable craving upon resuming food. Likewise, we can’t fast from media and then return to the same sources expecting different results. The difference between The Media Audit Challenge and a fast is that you won’t make the mistake of returning to what negatively impacts you. You will be empowered to take control and continually choose healthy and trustworthy sources of input. This is a continual choice and process in order to maintain positive growth and perspective.

I’ll leave you with this encouraging and thought-provoking verse: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Consider sharing this post to empower others to take control, too. Share your journey and encourage others with #TheMediaAuditChallenge