Whoa. How about this? It's an article in the journal Health that "makes an in-depth examination of one digital daily practice, photo-a-day, using a practice theory framework to understand the affordances it offers for well-being. [...] We conclude that this practice has multi-faceted benefits for improving well-being."
Under the "Results" heading, the article states, "Many people who conduct the practice start out doing a defined 365 project—one photo per day for a year. Sometimes, the availability of materials (wanting to use a new digital camera) or a desire to gain new competencies (to learn to take better photographs) opened up this practice as a possibility. However, it was the meaning afforded to these practices and their linkage to other practices (leaving the house, mindfulness[,] and community interaction) that enabled the persistence of the practice and was seen to have an impact on well-being."
I might point out that another "digital daily practice" that might "provide an unexpected benefit of improving well-being" could be checking in with your favorite blog every day! (You'll have to be the judge of that. The study has not been done scientifically.)
Also on the subject of health in the space of 365 days, check out what happened when Dan Green followed the Federal dietary and exercise guidelines for a year. Interesting!
As you might know, health resolutions begin on May 1, not January 1. (In the Northern Hemisphere.) Who can get motivated in January??
Mike
(Thanks to Richard Newman)
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Kenneth Tanaka: "Well, to be honest this wasn’t a very scientific 'study' even as ethnographic research. Buried under the fog of nonsense we find this: 'Participants were recruited via an open invitation shared on social media, including via the "friends of Blipfoto" Facebook page with over 6,000 followers. A total of 33 people responded via social media or email. Three potential participants were excluded because they were not currently engaged in the practice. All others were provided with further information about the research. The first eight respondents to provide written informed consent were selected as a convenience sample.' Eight people. You couldn’t use this as a master’s thesis at even a second-tier college. Eight people who are already engaged in the activity being studied. Not even a control group of another eight people. Still, I’m sure there’s much to advise doing anything one finds an enjoyable and creative social diversion each day. But beware the daily rain of Internet bull."
Mike replies: Well stated, but consider an anecdote Tom Fangel recently shared: "Niels Bohr had a visitor from a US university. They went to Bohr's summer cabin north of Copenhagen. As they approached the house the visitor noticed an old horseshoe nailed above the door frame. 'Do You really believe in this kind of superstition?' asked the visitor. 'No, of course not,' answered Bohr, 'But I have heard that it works even if you don't believe in it.'"
In other words, I think it's pretty clear this study is true even though there's no good evidence it's true. :-D
Bahi: "This report describes my experience, though I don't aim for a photograph a day. When I read descriptions of the effects that meditation has on practitioners, I'm reminded of the effect that walking around my neighbourhood with a camera has on me. I usually have no goal or shot list. I'm often wearing headphones and listening to some kind of podcast. After a few minutes, I reach some kind of flow state and when I get back, not only are own problems less stressful and urgent but I'm actually more productive. (And I have photographs that I like but which would strike most viewers as very mundane.)
"The odd thing about this: if I'm at my desk, stuck on a problem, it's very difficult to persuade myself to get up, pick up the camera and go out. It somehow seems counter-intuitive. When I do it, though, there's a 100% success rate. I get more more done when I'm back and I feel better. Also, people I don't know come up and chat every so often, which is nice.
"I'm hoping you haven't crossed podcasting off your list, by the way. I'm hoping for your company on future photo walks!"
JohnMFlores: "If you add up all the healthy things that I (allegedly) do, I'm fifteen years old and will live until I'm 256."
Kristine Hinrichs: "Having completed almost seven years of Project 365 I can say I’m very happy. This has been a great bridge to retirement, made me more aware of my world, introduced me to new people, and greatly improved my photography. Over time it has become pretty easy to find something unusual and interesting to share every day. I am also very careful about my captions. Year 8 starts July 1."
Someday's I do wonder, and struggle, but it can be addictive... says he after several years here:
https://www.blipfoto.com/PeninsulaLight
The Blipfoto community is a friendly place for anyone considering having a go at a 365 type challenge. I heard of the site via a comment here, long ago. Be warned, once you get into the swing of it, you may not be able to stop!
Posted by: Dave Stewart | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 10:45 AM
Perhaps even more beneficial to your health if you use a view camera.
Posted by: Tom Duffy | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 11:15 AM
I guess I’ll live to be a hundred. Probably outlive the camera.
Posted by: Speed | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 11:38 AM
I started in late December. I am currently down 16 pounds but have hit a plateau at 233 (stuck for almost a month now). My primary goal is to be in shape to climb Whiteface Mt in the Adirondacks on the 25th anniversary of completing the 46 high peaks on Whiteface 7/17/93. A longer-term goal is to get under 200#. 190 would be good.
Posted by: James Bullard | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 12:06 PM
I'll buy the daily blog check-in idea. And happy International Workers Day. Bloggers are workers too, even if you have to pay small business taxes and can't go on strike.
Posted by: John Krumm | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 01:02 PM
I'm currently laid up, recovering from a hip replacement. About two weeks into this boredom started to set in (I'm easily amused) and I discovered a corollary to this idea: showing somebody a picture you like every day is fabulous therapy. Need to remember this.
Posted by: Paul De Zan | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 01:16 PM
There's something to this idea! I don't stick to the "picture a day" thing, but I do go out any time I can for "shutter therapy" (as Robin Wong calls it) as often as I can. I'm luck to live near some interesting natural areas so I get the dual benefits of "shutter therapy" and "nature therapy" at the same time.
This is also a good ways to stay photographically limber. Several recent projects have emerged from more casual photos made during these jaunts. It's the "hey, I could put a bunch like this together and make a project" phenomenon.
Posted by: Rob de Loe | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 02:46 PM
Another timely post Mike. May 1st is literally New year's day for me, as it's my birthday. So I always try out a new set of resolutions and many of them are health based. This year's list is long, but manageable. There are also photography and writing goals.
Posted by: David Maxwell | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 05:16 PM
Does everybody in that line of work write/speak (?) like that?
I find corporate-speak a very good motivator for putting the material to one side and moving on; it makes me think of what life must be like living with one of those robots that are advertised on tv these days - tin or plastic creatures that switch on lights or something. Folks need that in their life?
I certainly believe that communication is vital for keeping alive an interest in, well, staying alive; making images is perhaps also quite helpful in that direction, but only if you know what you're doing and have a critical audience of one. Expecting the rest of the world to understand what you see in what you shoot is one hell of an expectation! Even further out is the supposition they may actually care. If you have hopes of engaging others in the deeper aspects of your little idiosyncrasies, visual expressions of emotion, intent or even the pure aesthetics of your work, best to forget it.
On a good day you will get an emoticon or even a +1, should somebody else leap in first with something nice to say.
All in all, I rather suspect that the digital world is perhaps more likely to offer another source of stress rather than of fresh, chest expanding and exhilarating motivation to fight the good fight, whatever that may be.
The photographic part may be relatively benign, that's really up to the guy with the camera, but the moment those images leave your private world, they can screw with your peace of mind, making you hope and expect amazing reactions that probably won't happen.
I don't think those kinds of emotional jolts can honestly be thought of as beneficial... but hey, I'm not a doctor who writes; I'm no kind of doctor at all, come to think of it.
Posted by: Rob Campbell | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 05:21 PM
And when you're checking in to your favorite blog, be sure to buy something through the links ... That will help a different kind of health for the blogger in question.
Posted by: Bill Tyler | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 06:57 PM
The best time to make health resolutions and commence applying them is neither 1 May nor 1 January but now.
Posted by: Bear. | Tuesday, 01 May 2018 at 08:46 PM
The conclusions of this "study" may be valid. However, as one who spent a career having to present statistically valid (and defendable) data and conclusions, I can state with some assurance that 8 is not a large enough sample size. Never mind the selection process.
Posted by: David Brown | Wednesday, 02 May 2018 at 04:40 AM
This bears repeating: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2015/09/a-plea-to-photography-teachers.html
Posted by: David Owensby | Wednesday, 02 May 2018 at 11:27 AM
What Ken Tanaka said.
There's good reasons Science, Nature, The Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, aka PNAS, etc., don't publish "anecdotal" papers.
Even in this era of disinformation-campaign-based "fake news".
Posted by: Stephen Scharf | Thursday, 03 May 2018 at 12:53 PM
It seems Niels Bohr had a good sense of humour. Another quote you might know, when he was asked what he thought about something not yet known: "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future".
Posted by: John | Thursday, 03 May 2018 at 04:48 PM