01.31.06

MOAD: Media Overload Anxiety Disorder

Posted in music, iPod, podcasting, podcasts, radio, talk radio, satire, techno-babble, media, mental health, MOAD, satellite radio, XM at 12:48 am by admin

I’m afraid to say that my iPod might be trudging down the same dark path that sealed the fate of my XM Satellite Radio. No, not being stolen from my glove box through the smashed window of my car in San Francisco on Thanksgiving. I fear that the overwhelming amount of content on my iPod (8,793 songs and counting) could eventually spell doom for the device in the same way that I was compelled me to stop paying for my XM subscription several months ago (prior to the above mentioned robbery).

When I purchased my XM tuner, the draw was that I would have a massive selection of commercial-free music channels so that I would never get bored with what I was listening to. The iPod successfully eliminated my interest in satellite radio music, because I could have thousands of songs in my car or in my pocket, and my programming choices were far more tailored to me, because I became the program director of my own commercial-free radio station. In fact, while I can’t prove it for sure, I would imagine that my libary, which could get me from New York to Los Angeles by car and then back again without ever repeating a single song, is probably more complete than the one they’re using at any given Top 40 radio station in America.

So it’s easy to see why XM music is useless to me. However, I kept paying my $10 per month for the sake of listening to Air America Radio and XM’s “extreme talk” station in my car and at work. Talk radio became an addiction, and for that reason I decided to keep paying the bill.

Then came podcasting.

Now, I have 4 or 5 podcasts that I listen to every day, over the span of several hours. The Rachel Maddow Show and the Al Franken Show in the morning, This Week in Tech on Mondays, Democracy Now in the afternoon, and the hilarious Feast of Fools in the evening.

That’s a pretty full schedule!

So when am I listening to these 8,793 songs? Rarely. Maybe when I’m running on the treadmill, or walking around at the mall trying to be standoffish and avoiding making eye contact with people. In fact, I’ve only listened to 7,813 of the tracks currently on my iPod. The rest remain untouched. You do the math.

The cause behind this is MOAD, or Media Overload Anxiety Disorder. While not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental illness, its effects can be incredibly crippling. Symptoms may include the endless need to rate and categorize songs, micromanagement of playlists, the impulsive fast-forwarding of a song to the end prior to skipping it merely for the sake of ensuring that the play count is properly incremented, along with various other classic anxiety symptoms.

I propose that the mind’s way of dealing with this painful and life-altering syndrome is to regress into a more simple way of life. Much in the way that the Amish renounce technology, or the Republicans renounce ethics, a MOAD sufferer will eventually renounce the need to categorize and organize thousands of songs by sustaining him or herself almost solely on volatile content that needs no rating, remains fresh on a daily basis, and is fully disposable after it has been consumed.

In a nutshell: the podcast.

Each day, the podcasts I have listened to are deleted automatically from my iPod, and new ones are automatically synchronized. I don’t have to rate episodes, or put them into special genres, or distinguish between 18 different remixes, because they’re just daily shows. That’s it. End of story. I remain entertained and happy, barely even paying notice to the Chumbawumba and Vengaboys tracks lurking deep in the cavernous pit of unplayed songs on my iPod.

While there is no cure for MOAD, it’s definitely possible to treat it through education and prevention. I would imagine that this involves only carrying around music that I actually intend to listen to, and letting the useless crap clutter my hard drive at home where it belongs.

Please remember this new acronym, because like all good acronyms it certainly deserves to be the subject of numerous conferences, websites, books, and media events. Please contact me in person to schedule speaking engagements.

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05.11.05

plastic bottle throwing! oh, and by the way, assassination attempt #1

Posted in rants, politics, bush, media at 5:14 pm by admin

Although the shills in the mainstream media haven’t made as big a deal of it as they probably should have, someone threw an old Soviet grenade at President Bush yesterday when he was speaking in Georgia (the country, not the peach state). While Georgian security officials claim it’s not possible that the grenade could have detonated, it’s scary that it’s so easy to throw a grenade at a world leader (even one that no one likes).

My favorite part of the story is the AP’s half-assed reporting. The news item they posted this morning gives the story, and then includes this completely unrelated paragraph at the end:

“Many in the crowd were carrying plastic soda bottles, which they used to squirt water on each other to stave off the heat after hours of standing without shelter under the bright sun. There were many young people horsing around during the speeches — especially when the translation was muffled and the speech unintelligible — and some threw plastic bottles at one another for entertainment.”

What the *hell* is that about? They should just add a paragraph about chickens and Paula Abdul. I think it’s probably intended to portray the crowd, and the Georgian people, as uncivilized and rowdy. Total bullshit.

AP: Grenade Found Near Site Where Bush Spoke

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