Media Diet

The following is my media diet for 5 days. It spans from Friday, November 26 to Tuesday November 30. It includes TV usage, Internet usage (with division for "heavy hitters" like Facebook and iChat), as well as phone time.

Friday: 
TV: None
Internet: 20 mins. (15 mins. Facebook, 5 mins. email)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of calls
Saturday:
TV: None
Internet: None
Phone: Used it to listen while skiing and took a couple of pictures along the way
Sunday:
TV: 30 mins.
Internet: 20 mins. (15 mins Facebook, 5 mins miscellaneous, 20 mins iChat)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of phone calls
Monday:
TV: 10 mins.
Internet: 30 mins (10 mins Facebook, 20 mins for studies)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of phone calls
Tuesday:
TV: 20 mins. (Warriors game which they got spanked in, hence why I only watched 20 mins.)
Internet: 40 mins. (20 mins. Facebook, 20 mins for studies)
Phone: Not much, a couple of texts and a couple of calls

As I reflect on my media diet for the past 5 days two thoughts become immediately highlighted: 1. I don't like how much I use Facebook and 2. I don't like how much I text message.

Completing a media diet made me realize that I (and maybe all of us) under use the Internet for its benefits and overuse it for what I think are silly tools which keep us reasonably entertained. Often, when I open my laptop the first thing I click on is my "booksmarks bar," is the bookmark for Facebook. For some reason I am highly compelled to see if anyone has written me anything or if I've been tagged in any photos, etc. This is to me is simply weird. When I think about how many times Facebook or Facebook related things come up in conversation or social situations, I realize how much of an impact it has had on today's world, especially the youth. When I look around classrooms where students are allowed to use their laptops, I see many of my peers flipping back and forth between and taking notes on Word and lurking on other people's Facebooks or having a conversation with someone on the Facebook "chat" application. Last time I checked the purpose of attending class was to learn something about the topic the class was based on...chatting is not only disrespectful to the teacher, but also detrimental to one's educational experience and ability to focus (don't lie about it you self-proclaimed multi-taskers!).

Many of today's youth who are using the Internet, are using some form of a social networking site. Many use these sites as a way to connect with other's and keep in contact, but I also believe that many people are using Facebook as a way to lurk on other peoples lives. People will go through albums of 100's of photos checking someone out trying to learn about the persons life and who they are/what they're about. Get a life!!!!!

In regards to my texting, I'm not proud. I text more than I'd like to. I've noticed that I enjoy my days slightly more when I am disconnected from my phone and more connected with the non-digital world around me - I find the non-digital world more stimulating, just as I find real sex more stimulating than something like second life sex (I haven't tried digital sex yet, and mark words: I will never!) Texting, while sometimes efficient for making plans is starting to replace lengthier, real life or telephone conversations. These days, companies manufacturing phones are designing them so that longer texts and emails can be authored faster and quicker...great! Anyway, I plan to budget my texting significantly in the months to come. Hopefully it will bring me greater peace of mind.

Other than my Facebook and texting addictions, my media intake is fairly minimal. I don't watch much TV. I usually just watch TV when Entourage and Californication are on. I've also been known for catching a sports game here and there. I use iChat to talk with friends far away - it's as close to real life interactions as you can get (I'm still waiting for teleporting to be developed). I try to read the news online (from a variety of sources) for a few minutes everyday so that I have some idea of is going on in the world (I read BBC and The Daily Best mostly).

Moving forward, I hope that my media intake remains balanced: I hope to text less, go on Facebook less. I also aim to use the Internet more for its rich educational opportunities. I've started listening to some of Ira Glass' radio programs from the archives and they're great (check it out!)

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my remarks about Facebook usage or sex. I see the digital world and the Internet starting to solidify its place in our world and our societies and it scares me. I hope in the years to come that the Internet develops and grows into something that can be used to inflict positive change in our communities and  world as a whole... isn't that what we really need after all?

Thanks for reading!