My Media Diet

Sunday Jan 20:

-       Phone Call (45 min)

-       Reddit (1 hr)

-       Gmail (20 min)

-       Facebook (10 min)

Monday Feb 21:

-       Watching TV on my computer (45min)

-       Gmail (20min)

-       Reading for classes- entire weeks’ worth of reading assignments (3 hr)

Tuesday Feb 22:

-       Gmail (10 min)

-       Pandora Radio (3 hr)

-       Applying to various jobs online (1.5 hr)

-       Homework (1 hr)

Wednesday Feb 23:

-       Gmail (15 min)

-       Playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 with a friend (1 hr)

-       Reddit (1 hr)

-       Phone call (15 min)

Thursday Feb 24:

-       Gmail (20 min)

-       Facebook (10 min)

-       Phone Interview (1.5 hr)

-       Movie on Netflix (1.75 hr)

Friday Feb 25:

-       Phone call (20 min)

-       Watching TV on my computer (1.5 hr)

-       Reddit (40 min)

-       Facebook (15 min)

-       Played Pandora at a party (5 hr)

Saturday Feb 26:

-       Grooveshark (1 hr)

-       Gmail (30 min)

-       Reddit (1.5 hr)

-       Watching TV on my computer (3 hr)

      During the week I also would use my phone for texting. I did not count this in my time because it was too hard to calculate. It was a few minutes here and there.

                  I feel like my average media consumption is slightly different than most people. During the week I never once watched television. This did not surprise me because I almost never watch television anymore. I will exclusively use Hulu, Netflix, or stream a show from a site like MegaVideo. By far my most commonly visited website is reddit.com. Reddit is an aggregator site similar to Digg (except better) where users will post things that interest them. These posts will either be “upvoted” or “downvoted” depending on how well the community likes the content. Because of this I find that Reddit is the best way for me to find the most interesting, though provoking, or funny things on the internet easily.

                  I think my media diet reflects my personality. I tend to like to learn and do a lot of different things rather than focus on one specific task and go into tons of detail about that one thing. Reddit is an example of this. With Reddit I can read topics about programming, quickly switch to videos on YouTube, and then finish with stupid pictures of cats. I also noticed that I do not use social networks very frequently. I would only be on Facebook for at most 15 minutes a day for a total of 35 minutes over the entire week. I think that most people my age spend around 35 minutes a day on Facebook (and maybe even more). I have seen numbers that reflect that on people’s blog posts. I don’t see either trend as being “right” or “wrong,” it just reflects my personality.

                  I also found that my technology use reflects the way that I like to work. On Monday, for example, I did all of the reading and most of the homework that I needed to do for that week of school. I like to do a lot of work at one time and get it all done. Right now I am doing three blog posts at once rather than spacing them out of the quarter. If I do not do this I find that the work will loom over me and make me feel uncomfortable. I also like to get my work done early if possible (even through these blog post assignments have not reflected that…).

                  I think my media consumption reflects America in general; maybe not the times that I used each technology, but the fact that I used the technology consistently. If for some reason the internet went down, or technology was suddenly not available I think that society would not function. I know that I would have a hard time. I don’t know what I would do to replace the time that I once filled with technology, and I don’t think that I would be able to complete my schoolwork. Because of this I do not have any desire to change my current media consumption. What I am doing now works for me, and I do not see any problem with what I am currently doing. I do think that my current social situation influences the media I intake. I am very well versed in using computers so most of my time is spent on the internet. My grandparents, however, tend to consume television media more, because that is what they are used to. When I am older, maybe I will not use the latest technology as much as I would use the internet.

Technology and Social Interaction

Technology has not had a negative impact on my face to face interaction. I do not use social networks very often to connect with people because they are not interesting to me. I mostly use my phone for texting and phone calls to connect with people. I feel like it has been a positive impact on my everyday face to face interaction. Texting makes it very easy to set up a time to meet with my friends, so I see them more than I otherwise would. I use texting also to keep in contact with those that I cannot meet up with physically (such as friends back home in Austin). Technology has helped me keep strong relationships with more people more easily.

In my opinion, technology has had a varying impact on face to face interaction. I do not like to generalize and say that technology has had a negative or positive impact for society in general. I think that it depends on the situation. Using the internet to meet people can be a great thing. For example, in the open source software community, technology such as internet forums has made it possible to do things that would not be possible otherwise. These people can become great friends over a topic that is mutually interesting and work together to produce something amazing. I see no problem with this and think it is only a good thing. Meeting people online can sometimes be negative as well. Craigslist, for example, has a section for “personal encounters” (I forgot the exact name) where prostitutes will basically sell themselves online. I don’t have a problem with people using Craigslist for this, it is there business. However, it can be dangerous because it is impossible to judge a person’s personality or intentions online. I think that a prostitute could get into a really bad situation that they may have been able to avoid if they were able to meet their clients in person. Online dating sites, however, can be great. These sites allow for people to make friends or meet their future husband or wife. These sites encourage more face to face interactions than what would have been possible before these websites existed. I think online dating sites are a perfect example of how online communities are a viable way to create meaningful relationships. There is not a relationship more meaningful than the marriage of two people. I talked about open source development before, but this is another example of how people can pull together and do great things online, even without ever meeting face to face.

I don’t think that society needs to focus on “real” spaces for people to connect and interact. I feel like online communities do exactly this. Online communities will help people connect face to face when it is possible. When it is impossible for the two people to meet, because of factors like distance, then online communities have created more friendships than what would have been possible otherwise. I think that that is a good thing.

Social Networking and Privacy

                Unlike most of the people my age, I do not use social networking very frequently. I have a Facebook account but I do not check it as often as most people. I check it once every day or so and when I log in I do not spend very much time on it. I don’t really post pictures of myself or go through albums and make sure that I am tagged if I appear in the picture. Mostly I use Facebook for the private groups that my friends created so that we can share information and stuff on the internet privately. I actually use Twitter more than I use Facebook. I do not post myself but I do have an account so that I can follow people who interest me such as software developers and comedians. There are lots of good Twitter apps for Android so I am able to see their updates as often as I want. I check them two or three times a day when I have downtime. I have never used Foursquare before and I don’t think that I ever would. The idea of Foursquare just seems creepy to me. I have no idea why I would want to post my location in a public place. When I want people like my friends to know where I am I will just text them so they can meet up with me. I feel like posting your current location on the internet is just asking for your house to get robbed or to be stalked or something. Plus, I don’t want people to always go meet up with me at places. I sometimes want to be left alone. I do use my phone very often for texting my friends. I text more than I place messages on people’s public Facebook wall. I like the immediacy of text messages, and usually if I want to post something like a YouTube video on a friend’s wall I would rather just show them in person. I also like to use my phone for things like Google Reader to read the latest news at my convenience.

                I think that the cultural trend of moving to social networking can be positive or negative depending on the person.  Some people are too young or stupid to understand the problems that the public nature of social networking can bring. One of my brother’s friends, who is a Sophomore in High School, will always post really vulgar and inappropriate things on his Facebook wall and his friend’s walls. I am not offended by his actions but I know that in the future he could come to regret these decisions. I didn’t have a Facebook as a Sophomore in High School but I feel like if I did I would be smarter about it. I make sure that my Facebook wall is clean an inoffensive so that it does not prevent me from opportunities, such as jobs. I am not the type of person who wants everything I am thinking in a public environment, I am more of a private person. I worry about the privacy of social networking site. I have locked my Facebook account down as much as possible in hopes that it will help with privacy issues. Social networks can be beneficial for some people. I can imagine that when I graduate from college I will use Facebook more to stay in contact with my friends. When my friends move away from each other all over the country Facebook will be a great way to stay in contact. Until then, I prefer physically hanging out.