The "Deprivation Experiment"

The Gubbins Experiment joins "the Compact" and "A Dollar A Day" in this week's Time Magazine. The article "Cheap Thrills", on page 48 in the print edition or readable online, discusses how "deprivation experiments" are apparently all the rage with some people pledging not to buy clothes (underwear excused, though I don't know why!) for a year, spending no more than $1 American a day, or not riding in a car for a year. I like this quote from the article: "It's like everyone is doing their own version of Lent", according to AJ Jacobs, who lived for a year strictly according to the Bible (did he end up in prison??).

I doubt that's true. It's just these pledges have gotten more media attention recently, which is a good thing. I'm a bit bummed that my mention in the article boils down to saying that I "got ribbed by commenters after he [I] revealed that he had a friend pick up stuff he had bought at a lumberyard while he rode his bike home. One scathing commenter wrote that Greenfield's yearlong endeavor "proves nothing except that one individual can Rube Goldberg around getting in a car."", but the gist of the article is still a worthy entrant into the cultural dialogue. For the record, I don't remember getting ribbed by any commentators for that. I've always pointed out the "holes" in my experiment, which are, in my eyes, opportunities for consideration and refinement.

Even if I'd been ribbed, such a ribbing would remind me of the criticism directed my way when I first became a vegetarian back in 2006. Why was I giving up meat but not eggs, for example, which also come from the foul industrial food complex? Well, true, but perfection on the first step is unlikely. The point is to begin the journey and see where it takes you.

Before I started to think for myself, I did observe Lent for a few years as a child. The most sweat-inducing year was giving up my Sega Genesis for a whole month at the height of my love of the machine. At the time, it was, surprise surprise, probably (Catholic) guilt which motivated me, but looking back, I'm glad I did Lent. In a culture where consumption is the norm, people who actually restrain themselves are something of a rarity.

And there is much benefit to abstinence. People who look down on you for purposefully "punishing" yourself miss the point. Cutting things out can be great for health, time-management, the environment, or purely for appreciating how lucky you are to have what you have.

In fact, I've been conducting some other deprivation experiments this month. Recently, I've become frustrated at the addictive qualities of certain websites I frequent daily. Spending as many hours as I do at a computer, I've developed a twitchy instinct for checking back to those website far too often. Temptation is always dangling in front of me and has become a serious irritant. So, for a week, I'm abstaining from visiting those sites. One is the big Prince fansite Prince.org, the other one is a videogames website (which is good, since I no longer buy nor play videogames, but still follow the market, for some reason). Already, it has been a relief to have those sites out of my week. Maybe I should try this sometime with... gasp... the whole Internet.

So, dour as it sounds, deprivation experiments can be very positive. Any ideas for one of your own?