The document outlines an assignment for a class project on understanding mass media. Students are instructed to avoid all mass media channels for 24 hours and then report on the media they could not avoid, what they missed, substitute activities, and personal conclusions about their relationship with mass media. Mass media is defined as using technology to deliver the same message to many people at once who typically do not know each other. The assignment asks students to reflect on how mass media both allows bonding with others but can also be used to avoid introspection, and how mass media has become integral to participation in social, work and education life.

1. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
• Avoid ALL direct and indirect contact with
MASS MEDIA MESSAGES sent/received via the
7 mass media channels for one 24-hour period:
• Print
• Recordings
• Cinema/Film
• Radio
• Television
• Internet/Video Games
• Mobile

2. YOU THEN REPORT ON THESE 4 AREAS:
• (A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
• (B) Those you avoided but missed having in your life
• (C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media time
• (D) Personal conclusions about the role of mass media
in your daily life
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

3. REMEMBER THE DEFINITION OF “MASS MEDIA”:
• “Mass Media” channels always use technology of
some kind to deliver the SAME message to a great
number of people at widely separated points who
typically don’t know each other.
• This only applies to mass media MESSAGES – you
may still engage in personal communication via
technology also used for MASS MEDIA (phone
calls, texting, emails, etc.) – just be aware when
interpersonal communication slips into mass
communication and you’re receiving “mass media”
messages.
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

4. (A) The media contacts you could NOT avoid and
why:
• WORK: Stores, Restaurants, Bars, etc.
• SCHOOL: Textbooks, homework, etc.
• TO BE WITH OTHERS: Family time, friend time, etc.
• GOING THROUGH EVERYDAY LIFE: Gas pumps,
GPS, etc.
• BECAUSE “I’M ADDICTED”
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

5. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

6. (B) Those you avoided but missed having in your life
• STAYING CONNECTED: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Snapchat, email, etc.
• COMMUTING: Driving/riding without music
• WORKING OUT: Music as a motivator
• INFORMATION: Immediately knowing something
• DISTRACTION: Media while doing something else
(homework, laundry, chores, etc.
• AVOID BOREDOM: Media while waiting, etc.
• SLEEP AID: Media to go to sleep, help sleep, and stay
asleep
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

7. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

8. (C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media
time
• TIME WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, & PETS (often outside)
• MAKING MEDIA (ALL KINDS)
• SLEEPING/NAPPING
• WORKING OUT
• CLEANING ROOM/CHORES
• CATCHING UP WITH HOMEWORK
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

9. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

10. (D) Personal conclusions:
What did you all discover
about yourselves and your
relationship with mass
media?
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

11. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
Just because I got bored, it does not mean that my life has no
meaning without media. It's due to it becoming a habit of being
on the media so much daily. Also, it is simple to just be on my
phone rather than go be productive when I feel lazy. Going online
to watch a show or scroll past social media may be the easiest
thing since you can do it from the comfort of your bed.

12. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
Overall, it ended up being a quiet day, and I don't mean the good
kind of quiet. I never really thought so much about the fact that
almost every activity I do is driven by or centered around a
cultural production or commodity. By and large, the only thing I
do with any regularity that's insulated from mass media is
spending time with my friends, and even then mass media still
sometimes rears its ugly head.

13. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
Mass media plays a major role in our society. It consumes the lives of
young adults and has created an unhealthy societal expectation for
people today. For the sake of my mental health and personal
wellbeing, I prefer to stay away from most mass media channels
because I see how consuming and unhealthy it is for the people close
to me. With that being said, I do occasionally check some of the 7
mass media channels stated above, however I don’t let it consume
my everyday routine like most people my age do.

14. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
I tend to listen to music often when I'm doing something that's
uninvolved with media, thereby making it media-related. Part of
me might be inclined to say this indicates that I can't stand to
be by myself and have become dependent on a never-ending
stream of content in order to tolerate my own presence, but
that seems melodramatic and inaccurate.

15. COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
While it's true that everybody is more or less an addict to some degree, I
absolutely can not stand it when I feel like one, and that's exactly how I was
made to feel during this exercise. Periodically, I'd absent-mindedly reach for my
phone to play some music before realizing what I was doing and stopping myself.
I'm concerned about the effects that are caused by such easily accessible and
instantly gratifying cultural production. I can't help but think it changes people's
brains for the worse. At the very least, it certainly can't be helping my ADD. I think
the lesson is that I need to meditate more.

16. •BOTH USING AND AVOIDING MASS MEDIA
ALLOWS US TO BOND WITH OTHERS…
•…BUT CONSUMING MASS MEDIA ALSO HELPS
US TO BE ALONE, SOMETIMES EVEN TO
AVOID LOOKING TOO DEEPLY WITHIN…
•MASS MEDIA IS A MAJOR PART OF OUR
SOCIAL, WORK, AND EDUCATIONAL LIVES –
WE NEED IT TO FULLY PARTICIPATE AND BE
PRODUCTIVE…IN OTHER WORDS, WE NEED IT
“TO LIVE”
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

17. • MASS MEDIA TECHNOLOGY INEVITABLY IMPACTS
OUR SENSE OF PERSONAL FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY IN DIFFERENT WAYS; WE EITHER
ACTIVELY CONTROL IT OR FEEL AS THOUGH IT’S
CONTROLLING US…SOMETIMES BOTH AT THE SAME
TIME!
• ANYTHING WE SPEND THIS MUCH TIME WITH
DESERVES OUR COLLECTIVE ATTENTION AND
SCRUTINY SO WE CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND ITS
ROLE IN YOUR OWN LIFE AND THE WORLD AROUND
YOU…
• BUT MEDIA DOES NOTHING TO US BY ITSELF…
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

18. SO WHILE YOU’RE USING MASS MEDIA NEVER FORGET THAT MASS
MEDIA IS ALSO USING YOU…