My 5-Day Media Diet
Internet | Television | Reading | Music | |
Day 1 | 3 hours | 0 minutes | 4 hours | 2 hour |
Day 2 | 2 hours | 15 minutes | 2 hours | 4 hours |
Day 3 | 1 ½ hours | 1 hour | 1 hours | 3 hour |
Day 4 | 30 minutes | 0 hours | 5 hours | ½ hour |
Day 5 | 45 minutes | 0 hours | 3 hours | 1 hour |
My media diet for the past five days does not reflect my usual media consumption. I have been spending less time with the media because I have been busy with other aspects of my life that do not involve the media. What I have realized though from recording my time with the media is that it is subconsciously embedded in my life. I operationally defined media as the time I spent on the Internet, watching television, reading, and listening to music, but I am aware that media is incorporated in my life in ways which I cannot measure. For example, I walked into Benson to grab lunch and saw that what was being served today was on a television. My friends’ car I drove this morning has an electronically GPS that helped me get to my destination. The PowerPoint slide show I observed in class this morning was controlled by a form of media. I found it nearly impossible to record every time I encountered forms of media especially in a place like Santa Clara University. My point is that media is embedded in the society we live in.
After reading the assignments for this week I realized that my media diet reflects that I am very privileged to be exposed to so many different forms of media and have them be so readily accessible. I feel that the “other” section of my media exposure reflects that I am in the higher percentile of media intake of my generation because I am in the Silicon Valley where media flourishes in comparison to other places in the nation and around the globe. If I were to compare my media diet with other students on campus I would be below average on TV watching. I have never been drawn to TV because I am preoccupied with my own reality. I envy people who have time to relax and watch their favorite TV show, but I would rather spend my free time around people or sleeping. I did notice over these five days that when I was in a room hanging out with people the TV would be on, but we were engaged in each other's company, not what was on the screen. My media diet reflects that in my free time I would rather be on the Internet than watching TV. I like using the Internet because it is another way of interacting with people. Santa Clara also requires students to use the Internet for classes and assignments so that time is reflected in my media consumption. I feel that many people in my cohort would choose Internet over TV, which reflects our generation’s fascination with the World Wide Web.
One thing I would like to change is the reading section of my media consumption. Although I have spent a significant amount of my day reading, I cannot remember the last time I read a book that was not required for a class. I occasionally flip through a magazine or read an article from a friend or family online, but I lack the recreational time I used to spend reading. When I was younger I used to spend some of my free time discovering and reading books, but now that free time goes to interacting with my friends in reality or on the Internet. Music is a form of media I cannot live without and is something I can utilize while using other forms of media like searching the web, watching TV, and reading, which maximizes my media time.
I found the part of your post very interesting when you talked about media being imbedded so far deep into your life it was almost impossible to record every time you encountered it. i feel the same way. it feels like we as a society have become so dependent on these technologies that we could not survive with out them. Its funny to think about our lives if we lived in the twenties. How would the facebook whores survive with no one to comment on the pictures of their abs? My point being, media like the internet and TV has become so imbedded in society that pretty soon there will be no thought or question about it. The media will simply exist so flawlessly that people will forget that at one point, life wasn't like this.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way.
What a creative title for your blog! It's true that oftentimes we take for granted the vast amount of media we are exposed to on a daily basis. As someone who once lived on your residence hall floor, I can vouch for the fact that you are not one to sit around and browse through different TV stations or aimlessly search through different facebook pages. Even without engaging in those forms of media, your blog accurately summarizes the different way media exposure flies under the radar here at SCU. I'm glad that you consider this constant media exposure as a "privilege" and acknowledge it's presence, for there are many people out there, especially students our age, who lack the advantages that media exposure gives us students here at SCU.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the blog I wrote for this assignment is somewhat similar to yours in the sense that it seems so hard to escape the media these days. It's so discretely incorporated into our society today that it almost seems unreal for someone to not use media to accomplish everyday tasks. Personally, I could not imagine my world without media; it'd be extremely difficult not being able to receive the benefits of the internet/music/television/cellphone after being exposed to it for so long. However, I do think our society (specifically being in the United States and in the Silicon Valley)does have a lot to do with why our mindsets are the way they are. I don't know anyone at SCU who doesn't have a facebook. However, Robinson talks a lot about less autonomous individuals and how difficult it is to even get on the internet for 30 minutes. Also, I'm sure 3rd world countries aren't prioritizing media as their number one necessity. They have to think about food and their health before anything else. What I'm trying to say is that although our opinions and everyday media consumption may be similar, it's not the same for everyone who doesn't have the same privileges that we do. However, we do tend to forget this since media is becoming more and more dominant.
ReplyDeleteI think that you put a good twist on perspective when you talk about how we are unable to really record every form of media we use on a daily basis because we are constantly using media in different aspects of our lives. I definitely agree with you on the reading. I remember when I used to be able to read for leisure instead of there constantly being a textbook in my face. I get book recommendations all of the time and I wish that it was the way it used to be where I actually had time to read them. We are so consumed in all of these other forms of media that it seems almost as if we are unable to appreciate the raw forms of entertainment anymore. Loved this blog!
ReplyDeleteI never really noticed all the media that surrounds us at SCU until recently, but since you mentioned it, i agree that it is almost impossible to record media usage. and is there diferent kinds, like mandadory, voluntary, and indoctrinated? i agree that reading for leisure once in a while would be amazing, and it is almost a luxury in todays fast pace society.
ReplyDeleteI like all the points you made in the blog! In regards to TV and reading, I am the same way - I am too involved and interested in my own reality to watch someone else's or something else on TV. I also wish I allotted more time for "pleasure reading." I am currently in my room sitting next to a my bookcase and in the case I have a small library of books I have been given and have been collecting to read just for fun. Unfortunately, by the time I finish reading all my school assigned books, my eyes or too tired or my brain is too tired! Good on you for the music passion - I can also relate to this because I often find myself veering off from my studies to check out some new tunes.
ReplyDelete