Saturday, April 30, 2016

MEDIA FAST / MEDIA BINGE

To start things off I will begin with my reflection on the media binge. All to be said in full honesty I didn’t change anything in my daily life. I am at a high level of media intake on a daily basis, and I think it’s safe to say I handle it responsibly. I’m studying advertising, and as you probably know this major sculpts its students into social media junkies so they are able to keep up with the fast moving nature of this career. Therefore, the first half of my week consisted of numerous daily Facebook and Instagram checks, music playing close to 24/7, keeping up to date with CNN and local news and daily to hourly pop-ins on my five different emails. I was always in front of two or three screens, and if you ask my roommates, that is normal. 
            I enjoyed the media binge. I do feel like I use the time I spend viewing media semi-productively. Monday I spent about 2 hours on Google and Pinterest looking for ways to improve my graphic design portfolio for one of my finals, and Tuesday I spent a bulk of the afternoon reading photography blogs trying to figure out the best way to market my photo page via Facebook. I spent little time watching Netflix, but a large amount of time on social and Google as an information hungry young professional trying to improve my advertising skills, or to promote my personal business.
            Moving on to the media fast I wouldn’t say it was the worst thing, but it definitely threw a curve ball into my daily routine. Yes, I was still very active on social media for school and photography reasons, but I tried to limit it to more necessary things. One of my main goals for the fast was to limit my time on social media via my phone. I only got on Facebook, checked emails and used Google when I was on my laptop. Granted I’m on my computer a good portion of the day, I still weeded out the unnecessary Instagram checks while walking to my car, and the mindless Snapchats to my friends.

            To get things straight, I do think there was a part of me that enjoyed the media fast. It forced me to think about original things rather than fill my head with my Facebook friend’s current events, BUT I was very distracted at the same time. I constantly had to force myself to find an alternative way to receive information. I was constantly trying to convince myself that what was on my computer was not something I needed to know right here and now as I study for my stats final. With some time I’m sure I could break that habit, so with practice I think I would be able to enjoy the media fast a little more.

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