A typical weekday:
10:00 am- I use my phone for an alarm to wake up in the morning
11:00- If I’m walking with my boyfriend, I don’t use my phone, but if I walk to class alone I usually will text someone on my “commute”
1:00-3:00- My boyfriend and I squeeze in an episode or two of 24, SouthPark, or Dexter, since we started watching them from season 1
3:00- I go to my next class; if I’m not in class I go on my computer for an hour or two to use Facebook, check my email and to mostly do homework (most of my classes demand computer access); if I’m not doing homework I will maybe have the TV on in the background while I do some arts and crafts project
11:00-12:00- Usually this is when I spend another hour catching up on the shows with my boyfriend before bed.
So my media diet is definitely different at school than when I’m at home on break, which I noticed over Thanksgiving. Also, my media diet on a weekday is VERY different than my media consumption on the weekends.
I don’t actually go on Facebook that much throughout the weekday, but I do check my Gmail account a lot through my phone which does send me update (it’s killing 2 birds with one stone!). I check my Gmail and my Groupwise email a lot, and realize I read the mass emails we get in Groupwise WAY more than any of my friends haha. TV is a very rare occurrence at school, though there is one in my room. I have a DVD player and have only used it once all year (to watch Toy Story 3- if you haven’t seen it yet, shame on you! Haha.)
Now let’s compare to a weekend, where my media consumption is pretty much only of the TV shows I watch online with my boyfriend. Otherwise, my computer is away except for school purposes. I use my phone a lot, usually to call home or to get in contact with people about parties, dinner, and other weekend activities. I do realize that my phone is pretty much like a third appendage haha. Even though I’m not necessarily using my phone, I ALWAYS have it on me. I use it the most for access to things and information, and not solely as a portal of communication.
I think that my media diet is actually somewhat atypical to my friends. I am really not on Facebook that often, and I check updates through my email which really cuts down that Facebook time commitment. I think my interest in Facebook faded with age, not that I don’t love it, but that I use it as more of a “keeping myself in the loop” device about friends, events, etc. I think I definitely use my phone more than my other friends; I am definitely the type of person to be playing solitaire on my phone while I am watching television. I think that my media diet represents a dependence almost on these technologies that is prevalent in society. We utilize them to their fullest: looking up the weather, an alarm, a love note to your boyfriend, and a game system. They’re certainly a distraction, but if you use it responsibly so it’s not sitting at your desk when you’re writing a paper, then you are definitely monitoring it’s affects; that’s personally something I make a conscious effort to do, in order to maintain balance between technology and other important tasks or people I need to spend time working on.
The only difference that I find interesting is that when I am home on break, I use the computer a LOT more. I use it because I miss my friends and talk to them using Facebook chat, Skype, etc. Over breaks 3 of my friends and I have a set Skype date every 3 days just to all catch each other up; in aspects like this, I really rely on my computer to connect me to my friends. This is the only time my media diet is a little hectic, but I don’t necessarily it’s being done in an unhealthy way. I think it becomes unhealthy when you can’t be away from your laptop and stop interacting socially, and that’s one issue I’m very determined to avoid.
