Introducing: The Pop Culture 180

In our last podcast, Ben and I unveiled and discussed our participation in The Pop Culture 180, a special feature that will begin Monday (or now if you count this post) in which Ben and I write 3 articles in relatively real time about an experiment we are in the midst of. What’s the experiment? To give up the medium we most enjoy for a medium we have neglected for a week. For me, it means giving up video games for reading. For Ben, it means giving up reading for social media. This began midnight last night and will run until midnight next Saturday night. The specific rules are as follows:

For Rich

• You may play zero video games of any kind.
• You must read two books, specified by Ben, during the course of the week, in whichever way you choose. Those books are Howard’s End by E.M. Forester and Hidden History by Daniel Boorstin.
• You must find at least 45 minutes to an hour one day of the week to browse a used book store. You must find at least one book related to either of the two above for your enjoyment.
• You must create a list of 5 books to recommend to someone else explaining why it is a good list for them. You may not use this as an opportunity to introduce them to your favorite books.

For Ben

• You must read all of the feeds on both Twitter and Facebook throughout the day, every day.
• You must allow Rich to specify a few people to follow on Twitter, including a few of your own choices.
• You must reply to at least four people on Twitter and comment on at least four Facebook items a day.
• You must post at least one status to Facebook and Twitter every 2 hours, excluding when you are asleep or working.
• You must post one link a day to Facebook.

Monday and Tuesday you will be able to read our introductory thoughts on the experiment. Wednesday and Thursday we will provide an in-the-moment view of how the experiment is going. And next Monday and Tuesday you will get to read concluding thoughts about how the experiment went and what we learned.

In the meantime, you can read both of our twitter updates about how the experiment is going! Ben’s Twitter, which will obviously be more interesting, is located here. You can read mine here.

See you Monday!