Media Diet

Your task for this assignment is to record your media consumption for 5-7 days straight. Take note of how many hours you spend reading, watching television, using the Internet, or engaging with any other forms of media. While you do not have to give an exhaustive account of every TV show you watch or website you visit, do note what types of books, TV, websites, etc. that you consume. You can also describe which particular shows you watch or sites you visit daily/on a regular basis. After listing your media diet for each day of the week (length of time, types of media), you should provide a brief analysis. Questions you might address in your analysis include: What does your media diet say about you? How do you think it might compare to the media diets of other people your age? What might your media diet suggest about American society more broadly? Are there changes you'd like to make regarding your media consumption? How might your social location influence your media intake?

My Media Diet

Sunday 375 minutes / 60 = 6.25 hrs
180 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
30 minutes – YouTube
90 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
15 minutes – playing games on iPhone
60 minutes – reading journal articles on PsychInfo

Monday 360 minutes / 60 = 6 hrs
180 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
90 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
45 minutes – listening to the radio
45 minutes – watching a show on Hulu

Tuesday 300 minutes / 60 = 5 hrs
90 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
60 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
30 minutes – listening to the radio
120 minutes – reading journal articles on PsychInfo

Wednesday 285 minutes / 60 = 4.75 hrs
120 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
75 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
45 minutes – listening to the radio
45 minutes – reading journal articles on PsychInfo

Thursday 330 minutes / 60 = 5.5 hrs
60 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
60 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
30 minutes – listening to the radio
180 minutes – watching soap operas online

Friday 345 minutes / 60 = 5.75 hrs
120 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
120 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
45 minutes – listening to the radio
60 minutes – reading journal articles on PsychInfo

Saturday 330 minutes / 60 = 5.5 hours
90 minutes – doing assignments and readings on Angel/Eres
90 minutes – checking and replying to emails, reading the news on Yahoo and NY Times, social networking on Facebook
90 minutes – reading journal article on PsychInfo
60 minutes – AIM

My media diet says that I spend a good amount of time on the internet daily. A majority of that time consists of doing something related to school. At the moment, the things that I do almost ritually include visiting Angel and Eres since several of my professors incorporate using those sites in their curriculum. In addition, I spend a good amount of time doing various things for this class (listening to the audio from The Company, watching the videos posted by Professor Armstrong, etc.), so I’m sure my media consumption has gone way up when compared to that of the past. Also routinely, I check my emails throughout the day. When I do that, I find myself caught by current headlines in the news. I also confess to diverting my attention towards Facebook thereafter. It does appear as though I spend quite some time on PsychInfo.

When compared to the media diets of other people my age, I think that it’s pretty inaccurate. For example, for a person who works full-time and isn’t a student, I estimate that they average the same number of hours as I do. I notice that people tend to go straight home after work and sit in front of their computer/laptop for the rest of the evening. They’ll probably spend roughly 4-6 hours online easily within any given day. As far as students are concerned, I think that I spend less time online than most. I get tired of gluing myself to the front of my screen, so I try to minimize it as much as possible, often printing out hard copies of the journal articles just so I could spend less time online. If I were to spend any more time than I already do, I’d probably be a zombie. Keep in mind that I do share my time outside of class with work and various volunteer activities.

My media diet suggests that the American society is moving towards a virtual sphere. People have transitioned to doing many things online. For instance, in the past, education took place within the classroom. Back then, teachers used to Xerox papers and passed them out in class for students to read. Nowadays, they simply post it on a certain site and have us visit the site in order to get the material. Education used to take place solely in the classroom, but today, people can take online classes and graduate with a degree without ever having to step foot on campus. In addition, it used to be common for people to physically sit in front of the television to watch cable tv, but now, those shows are available online. Newspapers are struggling to compete with the news that’s available on the web. Today, people play computer games. In the future, I picture a laptop serving as a game console that will replace all the PS3’s and Xboxes out there; a consumer would simply need to connect the controller wirelessly through some kind of Bluetooth capability or whatever will be invented then, and badaboom, they’ll be able to experience the same kind of game play they’re getting now. Through the power of the internet, we are doing a lot of things we weren’t doing before. Eventually, having access to a computer would be vital because that’s where everything will be.

If anything, I’d like to spend less time consuming media in general. Our society has become dependent upon it, and I feel sucked into it as well. Even if I didn’t want to be connected, I have to be because the internet is where everything is. I find it impossible to decrease my consumption, especially seeing that third-world developing countries are, in fact, connected as well. I think that it’s unavoidable due to the convenience of it all. For example, my mom did not know how to use the computer at all. In the past, every night, she’d wait for the 10 o’clock news and sit through all the news stories just so she could listen to the meteorologist. After I showed her how to check the weather online, she was determined to learn all the processes of using a computer because she knew that if she learned, she’d be able to check the weather at any given moment. I taught her how to open up Internet Explorer on the desktop and type in a web-address in the address bar; she’s now a wiz at it. Realistically, even if American society tries to avoid it for the time being since it’s merely an alternative to doing things, eventually, it’ll become a necessity.

Obviously, I’d like to decrease my media consumption because I feel as though I’m missing out on other things. Unfortunately, it’s not an option at the moment, being a student and all. However, once I graduate, I’m pretty sure my consumption won’t change much since I’m keeping up with the times, and at this time, technology and mass media are huge players. When I no longer have to spend time using the internet for school-related things, I’m sure there are plenty of other things I could do online to keep me occupied.

I do think that location plays a huge role. We are, in fact, in the midst of Silicon Valley. For example, I saw a video about MIT. I can’t imagine what the students who attend that school’s media diet would look like. Because location is a major influence, being in the bay area has definitely contributed. We are surrounded by Cisco, Google, etc. I’m sure the way in which we consume mass media is different from those who are in rural areas.