WCC COMM 101H reflective project #1 feedback (spring 2019) LUTHER

COMM 101H: 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

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
PROJECT #1

• WORK:
• “As soon as I walked into the store, I realized that the
store played music on the loudspeaker and that I
would have to listen to it for four hours”
• SCHOOL: Textbooks, homework, etc.
• “To pass on the time I went to my anthropology class
which was only a lecture so there was no projector
being used” (WAS THAT LIKE A DESERT?)”
(A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
PROJECT #1

• GOING THROUGH EVERYDAY LIFE:
• “While I was pumping my gas at the gas station, they had
commercials playing on a mini screen that was on the gas
pump. Then when I went into the gas station to get water
they had the news playing on a television above the cash
register”
• “the advertisements that would pop up on my GPS.”
• “Mass media is there to grab our attention and give us
information, no matter its significance. I couldn’t avoid all
forms media messages for that reason; the sender has a
purpose for putting it up and until the message is no longer
relevant, nobody can bring it down, not even a boy and his
communication’s project.”
(A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
PROJECT #1

PROJECT #1
• BECAUSE I’M “ADDICTED”
• “Personally, I couldn’t avoid my music. I listen to music while
doing everything. I listen to music reading, driving, doing
chores, and many more tasks. It was hard not listening to music
because to me it makes me work faster and more efficiently. I
didn’t manage to go without music for a day”
• And now we have media making decisions for us (Bluetooth
automatically connecting)
• “…music was impossible because I love music and I couldn’t
even go thorough the day without music even if I wanted to…I
had to have my mind distracted at all time and even when I did
that I had to listen to music and read and stuff because if I didn’t
I really would have died from boredom.”

PROJECT #1
• BECAUSE I’M “ADDICTED”
• “Another form of media that I couldn’t was avoid was reading.
I love to read. Reading was very hard to avoid since I am always
reading. anytime I have a break from class, or a professor gives
us a break, most of the time I would start reading. I had an hour
break from class so I couldn’t control myself. Especially since
was I very close to end of the book.”

(B) Those you avoided but missed having in your life
•SOCIAL MEDIA (always MASS media?)
•TALKING WITH OTHERS ABOUT MASS MEDIA
•MUSIC IN THE CAR/IN LIFE
•TV TO SLEEP TO
•USING MASS MEDIA WHEN YOU’RE
“BORED” AND/OR IN NEED OF
INFORMATION
PROJECT #1

• STAYING CONNECTED/HABITUAL:
• “I can wholeheartedly say I missed more my phone than anything
else because it literally has my entire life in it.”
• “I did not anticipate missing YouTube as much as I did. I tend to get
a lot of my pop culture news and entertainment from YouTube. I
also realized how hard it is for me to drive without WNYC playing
on the radio. I feel like time took longer to pass in a sense,
because I was so actively focused on everything I was doing
without background noise or distractions.”
• “Music is extremely relevant in my life because of my parents.
Growing up, that was the mass media I saw them consume the
most. Not having it in my day, threw off my rhythm. It reminded
me of how much I love it and how my parents play a role in it.”
PROJECT #1

• “It felt as if the world around me went dark. In one day, I missed
watching a rival soccer team get eliminated from an important cup
match, seeing a news report about a dead body found near my
mom’s job, and checking the release dates of movies and video
games I’ve been tracking for a while. It’s exciting to know that I
can go 24 hours without media, but at the cost of constantly
staying in the social loop of today’s society.
• “The challenge of the project didn’t hit me the hardest until it was
time to sleep, since I usually watch a video to make me fall asleep.
The night became my hardest obstacle, and my media
withdrawal became apparent. I missed my 12-hour sleep aid
video, and the thought of me not watching it, drove me insane.”
COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1

• “Avoiding mass media for 24 hours was one of the hardest
challenges I have ever faced. I woke up that morning and found
my television remotes missing. Mind you, I gave them to my
mother to hide from the night before. As an avid sports fan, I
found it extremely difficult to not awaken and catch Sports
Center. Not even minutes into my morning, I was struggling.”
• “But while driving in the car, walking my dogs, or doing school
work, my brain kept nudging me and saying, “why is it so
quiet?” This has a lot to do with what is normal for me. I am so
constantly filling the silence with music that when the silence
comes back, I’m confused by it.”
PROJECT #1

• “I had breakfast alone which was bad because I pulled out my phone
and put on a video. I can’t eat without watching something. I realize
that I must have something to watch as I eat. I think it’s because
whenever I go out to restaurants, or anywhere food related there’s
always something to watch which could explain this habit. (ARE WE
BEING TRAINED BY MASS MEDIA?)
• The hours and the minutes began to pass, and I slowly faded into
boredom. Instead of indulging in mass media, I would just nap or work
out…What I slowly began to realize, was how much I relied on my
music to push me through my workouts. A lot of my needs daily relied
on some form of mass media or another.”
• “Driving in silence was actually very peaceful and allowed me time to
think.” (NOT THE TYPICAL RESPONSE)
PROJECT #1

(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
PROJECT #1

(C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media time
• “I ate dinner at the dining table instead of in my room watching YouTube
Videos. This made my mom quite curious.”
• “My day ended earlier than most nights, so I ended up sleeping at around 9:30
pm. I haven’t slept at that time since I was in middle school and it was a great
rest.”
• “I spent most of the day with family. When I was at my grandma’s house, I
finally understood why my grandma always complains why our faces are
glued to the phone. My uncles and aunts were all there physically, but none of
them were there mentally. Everyone was either talking on the phone, on social
media, or even checking emails. Eventually, they listened to my grandma and
put their phones away. We all started to communicate with each other. It was
first time in a while where everyone was listening to each other.”
• “I was so bored I decided to use the dusty treadmill we keep in the extra room. I
worked out for about an hour and a half. This was the first time I had worked
out in months.”
PROJECT #1

• “Thankfully, the day I chose to complete this assignment the weather was amazing.
Because of this, I took the opportunity to take my dog over to the riverfront close to my
house to go on a walk. This activity isn’t something totally foreign to my habits, but
typically I listen to music while I walk him, or I may take pictures of him and share them
on social media, or even talk on the phone. Yesterday I left my phone in my car while I
walked him so I didn’t even have the opportunity to do any of those aforementioned
things. I was also able to enjoy a much longer walk than usual. Typically I walk with
him for about 45 minutes to an hour, but yesterday we took advantage of both the
weather and my disconnection from mass media to enjoy a two and a half hour walk.
(CONNECTION BETWEEN MASS MEDIA AND TIME SPEND OTHERWISE?)
• “Project day forced me to be more social and continue conversations with people
instead of retreating to the screen of my phone. The push made me more extraverted in
the notion of seeking out conversations, wanting them to last, and having them as my
only form of entertainment…Becoming more social for the day gave me enough energy
to get by the project and changed my mood to a more positive person; I even taking
out my dog on a longer walk than usual and stopped to start conversations with other
dog owners.” (CONNECTION BETWEEN MASS MEDIA AND MOOD?)
PROJECT #1

• “I used my newly found free time being very productive. I
started by crossing tasks off my list that needed to be dealt
with for what felt like ages. Starting with cleaning my room,
I got through that in about an hour and a half. It felt
amazing to get rid of unwanted clutter and things that I
simply just didn't need in my life anymore.”
• “I read two books that I had in my room collecting dust”
• “I also decided to read which helped me fall asleep faster,
that way I did not try to use my phone.” (WHY DO WE TEND
TO NOT THINK OF BOOKS AS MASS MEDIA/TECHNOLOGY?)
PROJECT #1

(D) Personal conclusions: What did you all discover about
yourselves and your relationship with mass media?
• “I made a conscious effort to follow the rules of the assignment, but there
was multiple times during the day when I found myself mindlessly scrolling
through social media. This really made me realize that the time I spend on
social media truly is mindless. I’m never looking through social media
platforms in search for anything, I really just use it as a way to fill time
gaps in my day.”
• “I had a lot of spare time where I chose where I was or what I was doing, but
it made me much more aware of how on a day when I’m not in total
control of what im doing, or where I am, there are so many outlets waiting
to expose us, as a society, to mass media.”
• “Mass media is not essential for man to live, yet we are dependent by (on)
it. The idea of being bored and doing nothing is unacceptable. Also, life
with mass media is considerably easier. Many things that can be done
without mass media are just a lot simpler when using it.” (EASE =
DEPENDENCE?)
PROJECT #1

• “My personal conclusion regarding mass media in my life is that I would
consider myself an addict to technology or at least my smartphone, which
makes me very susceptible to mass media. To an extent, I was shocked by
my own behavior and habits and how normalized I had made being on my
phone for hours every day. It was almost as though the phone was a part
of me and I began to ponder conspiracy theories of how the movie
“Matrix” is indeed a documentary. At the same time, I am aware that is is
simply my choice to use my smartphone wherever I am because it is a
constant form of distraction in a drastically dynamic world. If ignorance is
bliss, smartphones are spreading happiness around the world. I am
definitely going to try to lower my screen time due to the self-awareness I
gained by completing this reflective project but I know it is easier said than
done.” (CONFLICTING PURPOSES – CONFLICTING IDEAS)
PROJECT #1

• “Mass media is all around us and is nearly impossible to block out without
having to close yourself in an empty room.” (MASS MEDIA IS LIFE?)
• After this project I feel a lot more confident in my ability to remain
undisturbed by mass media in my daily life and I’m going to continue making
this conscious effort as well as share this knowledge with my friends that I feel
may struggle with mass media.”
• “Consuming the media I do helps get through life as I deal with depression and
other forms of social anxiety and mental illness…”
• When I have any form of media in front of me, it creates a sort of safe space
that tells my brain that I’m busy and everything was ok; once I was stripped of
my safe space, I was forced to interact with my surroundings without reading
it or looking at everything, thus making my brain panic and search for a new
safe space to be me busy and happy. Media keeps us in the constant loop of
the world and makes our being have some sort of meaning in that loop. It has
its ups and its downs, but mass media has glue itself as a meaningful tool in our
lives. (MASS MEDIA AS THERAPY?)
PROJECT #1

• “The most apparent personal conclusion that I have after completing the twenty
four hours is just how second nature checking my social media apps is, to the point
where I was shocked and almost worried.”
• “Thinking about my personal dependence on mass media, I would say that I usually
subconsciously make the choice to engage with mass media.”
• “This Project was difficult. It was about 5 times more difficult to accomplish then I
thought it was going to be…it was virtually impossible to avoid the habitual body
movements that gravitate me toward my cell phone, computer and Televisions.”
• “I am addicted to my phone, I feel like even if I couldn’t use it, it had comforted me
to know that it was near me. When it wasn’t near me I felt the need to freak out
every 5 seconds to feel if my phone was on or near me…I had realized that the
phone practically controls my life, I wake up to go on my phone and then when it’s
time for bed I find myself again on my phone.
PROJECT #1

• “When I didn’t use social media, I found out that there’s a lot that I can
do and it makes me wonder what my life would be like without a
phone? …Instead of listening to music I was able to write my own
music…I also recorded myself trying to teach other people how to play a
song. I kind of reverse the role and started to create video content.
When I had writer's block, I would just practice the songs I already knew
and just jam out. This was a way for me to substitute music by just
making my own and it was really fun.” (MASS MEDIA MAKES US LESS
CREATIVE?)
• This project wasn’t terribly difficult to do, I just had to constantly remind
myself to continue to do it. What I mean by that is I did not feel stressed
out or inhibited doing it, but it was an active process.” (MASS MEDIA IS
A SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE/RELATIONSHIP)
PROJECT #1

• “Towards the end of this challenge, I began to reflect on my
interesting day. What an adventure it was. I began to realize
that my undying need to use some form of mass media, was all
mental. It is a need that only exists in my head. It is so easy to
forget that I grew up in a age where most mass media channels
were much smaller in availability. A world outside of a screen
does exist and should be used to its fullest potentials. I also
began to reflect on how much more social I found myself with
my family…This was one of the best takeaways from this
experience I could ask for. I almost want to make this 24 hour
challenge a biweekly experience for myself.” (ONGOING
EXERCISE – WHY “ALMOST”?)
PROJECT #1

• BOTH USING AND AVOIDING MASS MEDIA ALLOWS US TO
BOND WITH OTHERS
• CONSUMING MASS MEDIA ALSO HELPS US BE ALONE
• MASS MEDIA IS A MAJOR PART OF OUR SOCIAL, WORK, AND
EDUCATIONAL LIVES – WE NEED IT TO FULLY PARTICIPATE AND
BE PRODUCTIVE
• ANYTHING WE SPEND THIS MUCH TIME WITH DESERVES OUR
COLLECTIVE ATTENTION AND SCRUTINY
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

• 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!
• MEDIA DOES NOTHING TO US BY ITSELF…
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

WCC COMM 101H reflective project #1 feedback (spring 2019) LUTHER

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WCC COMM 101H reflective project #1 feedback (spring 2019) LUTHER