Due: Tuesday, May
29 at 3:00 pm
Please read Article
#3 (See the syllabus for the link to the electronic course reserve). For an entire 24-hour period, keep a diary of all of your interactions (or
uses) with media (in any form). How have the media influenced the way you work,
play, study, sleep, eat, and socialize? I want you to really think deeply about
this. In what ways would your typical day be different from the typical day of
a grandparent when he or she was at your exact current age? How is the medium
the “message” in your life?
Notes for today.
Notes for today.
Brett Lee
ReplyDeleteIn the past 24 hours, I listened to music on my IPod while walking to and from school for 45 minutes with an additional 20 minutes of time while running in the morning. I listened to music on my Laptop while doing homework for another 2 hours. I also listened to music while driving to Macey’s for groceries for another 15 minutes.
Before going to school while getting ready for the day I listened to two talks on-line for a total of 30 minutes. After getting home from school I watched an episode of a TV show for 20 minutes. I also watched a 2 hour movie with my wife before going to bed.
As far as print media is concerned, I spent 15 minutes reading the scriptures, 1 hour reading news stories, and another hour spent reading academic articles for school.
All in all, I spent a lot of my time either committed directly to media use, or as a supplement to another activity. In a lot of ways, my choice of media has dictated what I do on daily basis which basically defines who I am. You can see how committed I am to certain things by how much free time I allocate to certain activities.
I think it would be really difficult to identify exactly what I would be like if I were raised in the 1940’s like my grandparents. Their media options, and opportunities for basically everything in life were so limited and simple. I would still be listening to music and watching TV shows, but most likely not as much. I also wouldn’t use music so much as a supplementary entity to other activities like running or doing homework. I also think that I would commit a lot more time to other things I love like hiking and other physical activities.
Although I don’t define myself by my media use, I feel that it accurately represents who I am and what I stand for, thus becoming the “message” in my life.
Almost every time, when I do homework, business emails and talking to people, they are all electronically. I am planning for my wedding right now. All the contacts are through emails. I have skyped my parents and friends to discuss about reception in Japan yesterday. I thought that was so incredible to have the technology that I could still talk to them for free even if they live on the other side of the world. During our discussion, they had many questions about how I wanted to do the reception there. It was hard for them to picture some of the ideas I've had, so I decided to email all the images to my friend's email while we were talking over Skype. They were able to look at all the images and as a result, planning went very smoothly. We talked for two and half hours about this topic for free!! At the end, I was very amazed how much we were able to get it done without a physical face-to-face contact with them.
ReplyDeleteEveryday, I check emails, Facebook, bank account and news. That is my pattern when I turn on the computer. I always check the same websites before I do anything else such as homework or other plannings. I believe that everything is related to media. Media definitely influenced the way I work, play, study, sleep, eat and socialize.
I am not sure if I could even live in the time of era. If I did not know any idea about the technology, then I would be fine. I would read books, cook more and have slower days. I think media makes my days busier. I am constantly checking something online which takes some time of the day. Without media, I can cut those extra hours of checking things online. However, we live with media. We are progressing with the media at this time. I do not see myself living without media.
In the past 24 hours I have watched a movie that last 2.25 hours. I listed to music this morning at work for 1.5 hours. I watched several youtube videos that last about .75 hours. For print media I read a number of blogs and newspapers for about an hour. Yesterday I visited the SLC Olympic Park Museum and was exposed to several types of media over the course of .5 hours.
ReplyDeleteMedia to me is a way to separate myself from my immediate surroundings. At work I listen to music so I can focus on projects that I'm working on. At home I watch TV or movies to focus on that rather than thinking about school or work. I read to immerse myself in the life of someone else, and try and learn out different cultures and people.
My life is probably very different from my grandparents in the fact that they I can get news from anywhere around the world and any point in the day. I can learn about cultures and people from Fiji to Argentina without leaving my bed. Knowledge about the world and everything is more readily available then it ever was for them.
For me media is a supplement to my life, not the definition of my life. It is the "message" in my life in the fact that it teaches me about the world.
Andrea Wise
ReplyDeleteFor the past 24 hours, I have watched T.V., jumbled around on the Internet, listened to music on my iPod, read books, and I did a workout video.
I started out my day doing a workout video while I watched a T.V. show that I had recorded the previous day. This means I am watching two things at once. This helps me to feel like the time goes by faster while I workout. Then I went running outside for about 45 minutes. I listened to my iPod while I ran. When I came home, I just sat around on my computer and looked up different websites on the Internet such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Yahoo News for about 45 minutes. Then when I was getting ready for the day I listened to more music which took about an hour. When I went and did some errands, I listened to my iPod in my car which lasted about 20 minutes. Then I came home and watched a movie on the T.V. while I did homework for about 2 hours. Then when I went to a barbecue where music was playing in the background. I was there for about 3 hours. Then I came home and watched the Bachelorette on T.V. with my roommates for about an hour and a half. Then at the end of the day I read The Book of Mormon and a Harry Potter book for about 45 minutes.
The media has influenced me a lot because I feel like I am constantly using some form of media. Whether I am listening to music or watching T.V. or being on the Internet. When I do my homework I have to either listen to music or have the T.V. on. I love having noise in the background while I do things. It helps me to get what I need to done. It also helps me to socialize because I can keep up with my friends on the Internet, I can watch movies with friends, or we can dance to music. Using the media during social activities really makes things fun.
My days are so much different than from a Grandparents younger years because they did not have these types of mediums. Thy only had the radio and record players as far as music goes. They were not able to listen to any song they would like in their car or while they got ready for the day. There also were only a few channels on the T.V., so they did not have as many choices as we do now. If I grew up back in this day I feel like I would do a lot more things that I do not have much time to do now, like reading books, cooking, and riding bikes. I probably would go and do more things with my friends like going to drive In movies or doing things outside.
I feel like the medium is the "message" of my life because it shows the kinds of things that I like and it shows what kind of a personality I have. I doesn't define me, but it shows the kind of person that I am.
Spencer Cornett
ReplyDeleteI did a very similar exercise last semester for another class and I was very surprised just how much media I take in during a 24 hours period. This time around it was a bit less shocking, but it still surprised me just how much time I spent in front of a screen. I had television on in the background while cleaning around the house for 2 hours. I watched another 2 hours with my wife while working on this assignment and other work related affairs. I played on my Xbox360 for close to two more hours when my wife went to go work on her thesis on campus. I actually cannot remember a time where I didn't have the TV on for background noise. I had my computer out nearly the entire time I was home as well. I was interested in the idea of the medium being the message and I tried to to think how this might apply to my life and the messages that are important to me. We live in a world where we expect results instantly. Not only do we want something now, we want just about everything now. For this reason I do believe the medium to be the message. The main media of the day and the media I used most (TV and internet) are all about providing whatever we want, exactly when we want it. If all I want is to watch sports I turn it to ESPN. When all I want is food I turn the TV to the Food Network. When I want news it is CNN. When I want to watch a show I go and stream it from my Xbox with no commercials. I cannot begin to imagine what my life would have been like back in the days of my Grandparents. I do believe that they have a lot more patience than I ever will though that much I know for sure.
The media is so ingrained in my life that it was hard to discern all the different ways I used it. Something I noticed was that no matter what I was doing I always had a song in my head and it was usually the song I woke up singing. Whenever there was silence I reverted back to playing it in my head and somewhat dancing to it. I probably look crazy to an outsider, dancing to nothing but I could not help it. Another thing I noticed was that if I ever had a free minute I was playing on my phone looking at apps, news, and facebook. I eat in front of the TV and have to study with music on in the background and to fall asleep I have to wind down and play a game on my phone. Whenever I had time to myself I was watching TV, reading, or surfing the internet. I always tell people I never would have been able to survive before the internet. I always wonder what people did with their free time! I’m guessing they went outside a lot more because there was not as much to do inside. They probably listened to the radio but if they wanted to talk to someone they either had to call them or go see them. I hate talking on the phone now because I would much rather Skype and see the persons reactions and such. The older generation was brave and probably much more creative than we are now. We now get information and entertainment so easily that we mindlessly follow what is given to us but back in the dark ages. I should be just thankful that I have electricity because my grandparents did not have any on one side of my family but I have become an ungrateful child that expects things to be available instantaneously. Maybe the next generation will be less spoiled and more adjusted…
ReplyDeleteChase Lucero
ReplyDeleteOver the past 24 hours i have been influenced by a couple different forms of media. I watched a movie which helped to give me many different influence both those in which i was aware to those which i did not realize i was viewing, i.e. styles of dress, ways of talking, maybe even brands...
I drove from Arizona to Utah and in that time i listened to musi the entire time. I was driving during this entire time and if it hadn't been for the music i would have fallen asleep at the wheel. I was extremely tired but due to my music selection i was able to maintain my consciousness and deliver us to our point of destination.
Along with that is stopped at gas stations where many products are being soid: food, magazines, videos.. I also saw billboards and posters throughout my entire journey.
This is something that differs from people such as my grandparents because they were not so immersed in the media. The media is evertwhere we go. It is something that we can not avoid in our day, whereas, possibly in the times of my grandparents they could go for a time (when in the proper location) that no media was being viewed. The television was not yet invented and niether were ipods and jukeboxes. All of these things facilitate our ability to hear, listen, and experience media.
I still feel that media is just an asset to our lives. It has not yet become a decider of who we are and how we act. It does not control us.
Although, I do believe that in the future it will not only be an asset to our lives but it will be the decider of everything we do.
Even though I spent the better part of the past 24 hours either outside or sleeping, I have had a constant interaction with media. I started the day by checking my email, Facebook and Twitter for any updates with my friends or in news. After reading a few articles from the WSJ and NY Times, my wife and I drove out to my parents’ house for a Memorial Day barbecue. On the way I listened to music on the radio, while my wife read from her Kindle. When we got to the barbecue we ate some food and played some Frisbee, which made my father-in-law think to show us a Frisbee trick shot video on his laptop. On the way home, we used our GPS to find a Walmart so we could pick up some groceries. When we finally got home I turned on ESPN to see the result of the Heat –Celtics game. Unfortunately the Heat won.
ReplyDeleteBecause it was a holiday, I’ve actually spent less time than I normally do around media, but I still was constantly connected. Because the media has become global and mobile, ALL information is instantaneous. Now I find myself constantly looking for the newest thing, whether it be strategies of playing Frisbee, restaurant reviews and discounts or the advertisements for all the grocery stores to take to Walmart for price matching. Even my social life has changed: the best way to get a response for me isn’t by calling my cell-phone, it’s through email.
As I think about how my grandpa interacted with media, I imagine that it was very one-sided. For example, his bank could reach him through a television ad, but he had to go into his local branch himself in order to request money or get a question answered. Now I can do all that online or through an ATM. While my grandpa was only able to hear news from one of the big three networks in the evenings, I can get instant first-hand news about any story by searching for specific keywords on Twitter.
The medium as the message in my life is mobile Internet. I have the ability to connect with anyone or any information, anywhere in the world, instantaneously. It gives me an incredibly powerful tool that I can use to either waste a lot of time (Netflix), or improve the quality of my life at home (LDS.org), work (Google) or school (HBLL).
The medium is the message.
In the last 24 hours I have interacted with the media a lot. Last night when I was studying from 10pm to 2am, I used spotify to listen to music. (This is an online playlist of sorts). I also used google docs to save my study guide material. Then, this morning as I was finishing up a response for a class assignment, I used learningsuite and lds.org at about 10am. Then when I went to work from about 10:30am to 12pm and 2p to 6pm I used spotify to keep music going as I edited and organized articles and information. The last couple hours (6:30-8:30) as I have been studying for another class, I have been using google docs, learningsuite, google translate, dictionary.com, wikipedia for my studying, as well as spotify and my email. I also check my email about every 20 minutes as I work or study. My email is always open when I am on my computer. I also didn’t notice how much I check my facebook and how integral it is to my social life. Almost all my friends’ social invites are sent by Facebook as event invitations. I probably check it every 30 minutes or hour as I study. However, when I am at work I only check it right before I start working to make sure I haven't received any important messages. My close friends know that I check it frequently so they use it as much or more than texting.
ReplyDeleteI would say compared to my my grandmother at my age, my life is completely different. She didn’t have Facebook, pinterest, twitter, or even email or google! She actually looked up information in the yellow pages or an encyclopedia or dictionary. She communicated with her friends in person, by mail or over the phone. She was not able to maintain distance relationships as easy as I do. I keep in touch with friends in New Zealand, Australia and Sweden through Facebook. This is incredibly foreign to my grandmother. Also, she had to learn how to navigate roads better. She couldn’t rely heavily on google maps, gps or smart phones with these aps.
This really is the Information Age in which we have information at our fingertips. It is a great time to be alive because we have so many resources for learning, however it is easy to become distracted from that which is most important. I love to spend time outdoors because I work in front of a computer and I take notes usually with my laptop or staring at a professor’s screen. I normally drive my car and listen to the radio but today I rode my bike to save gas money and be healthier.
-Sara Anderson
I listened to music and was on Facebook and my email Monday evening. Then this morning the radio on the way down to BYU, alternating between talk radio and some music stations. I got to work, and again was on my email and listened to music. I then went from work to class where my teacher showed us PowerPoints and pictures. While I was in the cougar eat I also noticed the advertisements that were placed on the table. Again, while driving home I listened to the radio, talk and music. I guess I should include the billboards I went past as I went.
ReplyDeleteOverall, media is everywhere. You really can’t live in today’s world and avoid it. You walk and see it, you walk and hear it, you hear others talk about it—media is everywhere. I talk about media with my friends, and I talk through media to my friends. It is a connecting point and its something that we can relate to because it is a shared experience. I don’t know whether it is good or bad, but information travels so fast now and everyone can have access to information particularly because of the internet.
I actually visited my grandpa today, and it is interesting because the media really didn’t have such a profound influence in his life. He had the radio that he would listen to and advertisements in magazines and billboards that he would see. As he got older they began to have TV’s, but before then media seemed to have a much smaller influence. Messages don’t seem like they could be disseminated as easily.
When my group sent out a survey about media consumption and self image we received 50 responses and of those, the average media consumption per day was 2 hours. Due to the nature of college student's lives this average seems a little low. The responses got be curious about my own media consumption so I kept track for about a week to see what trends I practiced in my personal life. I don't watch TV but maybe once a month, and I love movies but I generally don't have time for them. My main media consumption is in social media (Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), music from my iTunes library or Pandora, magazines, blogs and news online. It is hard to track exact times of everything because when I check something on my phone it is anywhere from 3 seconds to 30 minutes. Usually closer to the seconds side... I can say that my phone is within arms reach quite literally 24 hours a day. I actually can't remember the last time I turned it off. This doesn't mean that I check my phone every 5 seconds but it does mean that every time a notification from Instagram, an email, a text or whatever pops up I do check it. The media can completely consume your life if you allow it, so I purposely don't allow Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest to send notifications to my phone. This way I have to open the application on my phone if I want to see what is going on with my friend's lives. My grandparents would write handwritten letters and walk to each other's homes. I send quick text messages. I believe that both the medium and the message have changed. A handwritten letter can be a couple words or a couple pages long, there is no limit. A tweet cannot exceed 140 characters. The message then must be altered to fit the conditions.
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