2. To log my personal media use and production over a period of two weeks. Analyse this data with an explanation of the types, and amount of media I use and produce. To do this I will look at when, where why and how in relation to key media uses. Task
6. Assuming that each text took 1 minute to type; I participated in 5349 minutes of media in the the 2 week period That is 89 hours 9 minutes. An average of a little over 6 hours of media a day The three biggest contributors to my media use is TV as a whole (1,790 mins), Facebook and text messages. This is clearly shown in the following graph Brief Stats
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8. The previous graph indicates that comedy, and drama are the two biggest sources in my use of TV media. Out of all my TV use there is only one definite pattern to me. Law and Order: SVU is on Thursday nights, showing two episodes from 8.40pm to 10.40pm, however I only watch the first hour, as my parents then watch their favourite show. From 6.30pm through till 7.30, numerous comedy shows including Seinfeld, Friends and that 7o’s Show is on over 3 different channels. These account for the majority of the comedy I watch as I flick back and forth. I believe I watch these show regularly out of boredom, and convenience as they are timed with the end of my day, and are light hearted humour to unwind too, a different reasoning to watching SVU. This then makes another pattern in my TV use, less obvious then the first however. T.V
9. Youtube There was a dramatic increase in my use of Youtube in the 2nd week (190 mins) compared to the 1st (120 mins). I made a blog post recently about the NBA lockout, and professional players competing in street leagues. During the second week of my media logging, highlights from these leagues were posted on Youtube, which I was checking daily, thus the increase in use. There is no pattern in my use of Youtube, it was purely coincidence there was an increase.
10. Out of the 1070 minutes I spent on Facebook over the past 2 weeks, 675 of those were done through my iPhone, roughly 63 %. That majority of which takes place on the train and bus on my way to UNI. I can confidentially say that this use is out of boredom, and addiction. I recently listened to an interview on Triple j’s ‘Hack’ explaining that generation Y has an addiction to being entertained, that we expect to be entertained at all minutes of the day, and if we are aren’t, we sought for more entertainment. This theory is evident to me in my use of Facebook. The time spent on the train and bus, is continual checking of Facebook, I’m not having conversations with anyone, or updating my profile. I am purely checking to see if I have any notifications, or if someone has posted something I find interesting, and ultimately find entertaining. This entertainment is short lived, and I go searching again. Facebook
11. Despite not using radio as much as Facebook, or TV, I believe radio is my largest contributor of information to me The majority of radio listening takes place at work. I spend a lot of time driving while at work, and always have the radio playing, this evident through the table of data; my two biggest work days are Tuesday and Wednesday, which over the 2 weeks account for 455 out of the 810 minutes. The main radio station I listen to is Triple j. I rely on Triple J quite heavily, not only for music, but it is where I am informed about the majority of news I hear. They have hourly news updates, and have a show in the afternoons called ‘HACK’ which discusses the latest issues concerning the youth of Australia. I chose Triple j radio as my main news source as it is aimed at younger viewers, and targets issues of more interest. Radio
12. Before undertakeing this class I watched minimal news on the television, and very occasionally read the newspaper and checked online news. We are encouraged to take a greater interest in the news, so the majority of my interaction with news, either online, newspaper or televison is my making a decision to watch and read, as opposed to out of habit, interest or enjoyment. My use of news is quite random. If someone in the house hold was watching news, I would duck in and out of the room listening to every few stories. Online news I would check on my phone on the bus and train, and or at uni, when I felt I obliged too. These results aren’t to say I’m not interested in the news, it just enforces the point I made before about Triple j. It is aimed at younger viewers and therefore is more interesting to me. News
13. Texting is my largest media output. It is how I do a high majority of my socializing. An obvious pattern to me is the increase in texts approaching and during the weekend. In both weeks it has roughly doubled, this is quite simply due to the weekend being the busiest time of the week in terms of meeting with people, going out and making plans. All of which is done by texts. My e-mail use is only in shorts spurts, as I only check it once a day, respond to anything necessary and don’t look at it again till tomorrow. My twitter use is much like that of news, it was something I was never heavily involved in before, but as part of this course, I am trying my best to check and tweet as often as I remember. Towards the end of the two weeks, I felt as though I was checking it more, and can easily see how it could turn into an addiction, like that of Facebook as it so easily accessible and designed to be convenient Text/E-mail/Twitter
14. While putting together this slide show, I started to notice more and more, the majority of my media use is based on habit or addiction. The key contributors, like TV, Facebook, texting etc are all normal parts of my daily life, and I imagine I would ‘struggle’ without them But would it really be so bad without them? While they are enjoyable and entertaining, are they a necessity? Despite older generations, news reports and university studies, it wasn’t till I saw my own media use in a very basic presentation,that I realised just how scary it can be. I spend a little over 6 hours a day using media, and it was quite easy to conclude that my life wouldn’t be dramatically different without it. Addiction!
15. I'm not saying that media is bad or unnecessary, I am however saying technology makes it addictive. We know more about anything than people did 20 years ago. But are we better off from it? Do we really need to know, and are our lives any better knowing that Peter from facebook is at Melbourne Airport? Or that Kate Middleton's sister is just as attractive? Do I really need to contact my mates on a Sunday morning after spending all Saturday night with them? I think that technology, and the growth in technology is continually changing our media use, and as much as it is helpful, and informs and educates us more than ever, It also is addictive.
16. I compare my own media addiction to that of a smoker. Obviously there aren’t the health risks involved, and media use isn’t looked down upon in society, but I believe they have more in common then we first think Both exclude us socially from situations. A smoker removes themselves from a group, and while someone checking facebook might not physically remove themselves, they zone out of a conversation to see what conversations are happening online Like a smoker, I think of media while I’m not using it, and ‘crave’ it. I check facebook, or the news or watch tv out of boredom, and then its quite hard to stop, like cigarettes. The mentality of ‘just one more’. I believe giving up media use, would be just as difficult as giving up smoking They may not have the same results as each other, but I think this clearly proves that media can be an addiction
17. However useful and entertaining media is, lots of my use of it is unnecessary. I honestly feel like if I halved my media use, my life wouldn’t be any different to it is now. It can only enhance my life so much before I rely on it to entertain and amuse me.
