Slow Media

Today we recognize that we have a different relationship to media technology--and to information more broadly--than we had even five years ago. We are connected to the news media to our jobs and to each other 24 hours a day. But many people have found their mediated lives to be too fast <br>too digital too disposable and too distracted. This group--which includes many technologists and young people--believes that current practices of digital media production and consumption are unsustainable and works to promote alternate ways of living. <p/>Until recently sustainable media practices have been mostly overlooked or thought of as a counterculture. But as Jennifer Rauch argues in this book the concept of sustainable media has taken hold and continues to gain momentum. Slow media is not merely a lifestyle choice she argues but has<br>potentially great implications for our communities and for the natural world. In eight chapters Rauch offers a model of sustainable media that is slow green and mindful. She examines the principles of the Slow Food movement--humanism localism simplicity self-reliance and fairness--and applies<br>them to the use and production of media. Challenging the perception that digital media is necessarily eco-friendly she examines green media which offers an alternative to a current commodities system that produces electronic waste and promotes consumption of nonrenewable resources. Lastly she<br>draws attention to mindfulness in media practice--mindful emailing or contemplative computing for example--arguing that media has significant impacts on human health and psychological wellbeing. <p/><em>Slow Media</em> will ultimately help readers understand the complex and surprising relationships between everyday media choices human well-being and the natural world. It has the potential to transform the way we produce and use media by nurturing a media ecosystem that is more satisfying for people <br>and more sustainable for the planet.<br>