The Age Rule: A Media Consumption Proposal

Nicholas M. Synovic

- 4 minutes read - 673 words

Table of Contents

We’re Not Getting Any Younger

As dark and depressing as this may sound, our time on this Earth is limited. Therefore, we must make the most out of our time here. That could mean going on adventures, raising a family, starting a business, etc. Truly, what matters is that you find fulfillment in whatever task you set out to accomplish. But there is one unifying human task that we all share: the consumption of media.

Whether its books, TV shows, movies, or video games, we, as a species, consume a ton of media year over year. But is the quality of what we are consuming worth or time? As an example, I spend a lot of my time doom scrolling on Instagram Reels. Is it a good usage of my time? Absolutely not. But I waste my precious minutes anyways on that platform.

The Age Rule

To alleviate this issue, I’ve come up with The Age Rule, a simple set of rules to optimize my media consumption in my life. It is quite simply:

My age determines the amount of quality media that I consume per year.

In other words, since I am 22 as of writing this, before I turn 23, I should consume 23 pieces of quality media. For me, this doesn’t seem to difficult. If we measure the media in movies, I’ve easily seen 30 movies in the last year. But movies aren’t the only form of media that exists, and that is the beauty of that rule.

I can replace the word media with any genre or combination of genres that I want. Maybe media is measured in books, or movies, or movies and books that have been turned into said movies. And lets not forget other mainstream forms of media: video games, anime, scientific papers, blogs, etc.

But what makes something quality? To me, that answer is subjective upon what the experience is. For example, I don’t watch cheesy romance films alone because I don’t think they are worth my time. But when I’m with my girlfriend, and we are both watching the movie, laughing at it, and spending time together, all of a sudden that movie became a quality experience. So I won’t try and define quality here, instead I’ll leave it up to you to figure that out.

Adapting The Age Rule

The Age Rule doesn’t just apply to media consumption. Maybe donating to your age number of charities in a year is fulfilling. Or running your age number of miles or 5Ks in a year would be fulfilling. Completing your age number of projects in a year is also totally valid as well.

But regardless of the task you want to complete, the amount of times that you do said task is determined by your age.

The Problem With The Age Rule

The problem with The Age Rule is that it is determined by your age, and the older you get, the harder it will be to obtain your goals. As I mentioned earlier, I’m 22. Therefore, doing 22 of anything should be easy. But when I’m 80 (hopefully), watching 80 movies is going to be far more difficult.

So what’s the solution?

… I don’t have one, yet. As unsatisfying as this is, I also didn’t intend this post to set strict rules or guidelines with respect to The Age Rule. My current working solution for this problem is that as we mature, so too will the tasks that we want to accomplish.

This year, I want to watch 22 quality films. When I’m 40, maybe I’ll want to visit my parents or siblings 40 times that year. I don’t know yet, because I’m not there yet.

But hopefully the ideas and stories that I consume through media while following The Age Rule will guide me to create more mature, more insightful, and more mature tasks for the next year.