“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so they have made me.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
When Emerson shared these words, there was no mass media, motion pictures, or Facebook. Then, only books, newspapers, and plays had a profound influence on culture. Today we are flooded with media competing for our attention. It’s everywhere we turn.
It’s hard to realize how media shapes us until we think back to when we were kids in front of the television and reminisce about the shows we loved. These, consciously and subconsciously, helped form us.
This is a powerful realization. It can serve as a warning to our youth and also help us understand the way we think. Everything we allow in our minds affects our personality, emotions, and thinking.
Think back to your most recent dinner with friends, when people around the table almost robotically began quoting movie lines or excerpts from books. Media leaves an imprint on us.
This is the same reason we share recommendations with others. Have you seen that movie? Have you read that book? Why do we do this? We passionately recommend the things that have deeply affected us, that have imprinted us.
We’ve all heard we are what we eat. Equally true is—what we consume is, in some small way, consuming us—especially the media we allow into our lives.
Emerson’s words remind us, it’s hard to remember the books we’ve read any more than the meals we’ve eaten; even so they have made us.
Bits of Wisdom Podcast #44