Media Binge and Fast

I challenged myself with the media binge and fast by first reflecting on what medias I constantly use. With this, I use my phone and the computer for social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. I also use these two things for professional communicating purposes in work and class on apps and websites for emailing through Yahoo!, Gmail, YouTube, Facetime, GroupMe, Slack, Fitbit, and Facebook Messenger. I never quite realized the specifics of media that I used until I wrote this list out. With finals and especially group projects coming to a peak as well as an end, this was already a time of the year where I would be binging on these medias to prepare for studying and final communications for presentations.

Oddly, my media binge had me step up to the plate when it came to group projects. With this strange take, it is ironic after our discussions in class about the media being a distraction that sets us back rather than pull us forward. With my dedication to paying extra attention to the media, I was able to contribute more to my group projects in classes such as Account Planning in which we were wrapping up our final research pieces and putting together a PowerPoint presentation. With this, I also figured it would be wise to use this media binge to watch YouTube videos and learn new skills for software such as Photoshop and Illustrator. As an advertising major, these skills are encouraged to learn. Rather than using my time to focus on the media binge on stereotypical things that millennial college students do such as Netflix and video games, I spent my time learning new skills and viewed it more as an opportunity rather than a chore. With this, I have learned basic skill such as how to crop, make my own logo, and even made a new creative resume through Illustrator.

The media fast was a difficult task for me, and something that I did not exactly succeed at. I am involved in an organization on campus called Jacht Agency, which is the student-run advertising agency on campus. With this, I am an Account Executive and my job is to communicate with both the client and my team constantly. Today, the most efficient way to communicate with others is through of course email and apps such as Slack and Facebook Messenger. It is almost discouraging to think about how much we rely on these products to communicate with one another. With this, I also attempted to delete the apps on my phone that I did not necessarily need such as Twitter and Instagram. While I did delete these on my phone, there would be times I noticed I would type these websites into my computer while doing homework to take a “break”. This irony is that catching up on other’s life is not what one would usually consider a break.

Overall, I do appreciate the media and the ways it contributes to communicating and research. With this, I do thing it is it important to take a step back and reflect on why media could also be distracting to our every day lives and how we could go without it.