Over the past week I have been keeping track of my media use. I discovered I lead a pretty repetitive technological lifestyle. Weekday mornings I start my media consumption via my alarm clock on my cell phone. Why not use the regular alarm clock? Because with a cell phone I do not have to get up and out of bed in the morning- the snooze button is even closer to my barely awake fingertips. After hitting the snooze button at least once I make a point to check out Facebook because we all know everyone is constantly updating at 5:45 every morning. After getting out of bed, getting ready and entering my car for my 90-minute commute I turn to one of the older forms of media my car radio. I listen to “Elvis Duran in the Morning” each morning. When I first started my media consumption list I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include radio then I realized how much I take in from this wonderful talk show. They provide news updates, celebrity gossip (which is a guilty pleasure), treading items off of the Internet – which occasional spark my interest. The crew talks about Belvita Breakfast Biscuits ev...
Having a daily routine is a great way to keep track of obligations and engagements, but so is a cell phone. You can add events to your calendar, send alerts to yourself, take notes, and have the world at your fingertips. These days’ electronics serve
When I come home from a tiring day at work, I lie down to rest, but soon after my iPad and iPhone both start ringing to alert me of emails, text messages, phone application updates, and others responding to my social media statuses. So, I take nearly an hour to respond to read and respond to my emails and text messages. Next, I log into my social media accounts (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) and check my notifications, respond to these notifications, and usually someone sends me a message via Facebook, and a long conversation commences. Afterwards, I might spend an hour playing a game called Bubble Witch Saga on my iPhone, thinking that I have to keep playing to achieve level 700—I am only on level 112. By the time I escape all these distractions, I noticed that I haven’t called my girlfriend and I haven’t eaten dinner or completed any house chores. My example confirms the author’s point about how many people are unfocused and distracted as a result of technological distractions.
Over these past 5 days I have been asked to not only record, but check my consumption of my media intake. At first I thought “ this assignment seems odd, I certainly don 't use or interact with media 8 hours on average like studies say. There 's no way”. But after these five days I can say without a doubt that my initial observations were way off target. Thought the monitoring and recording process I found that on a daily average I am exposed to about 7 hours of media a day. A number I thought I would be nowhere near at the start of the 5 day process. But by digging deeper and deeper into my actual recordings I found many of the answers to not only why my consumption was so high, but also what forms of media were making it such a high number.
As humans, are we allowed to determine our own individuality? If we are, how much of an impact can we make on our own originality? The answer to the first question is yes, however, the answer to the second question is one that has changed over the years due to the advancements of our world. Identity is, in a sense, “an unfolding story…continually recast in the course of experience” (Sennett 175-176). In other words, a person develops their identity through experiences they have in their lifetimes, usually while growing. Nowadays, people have more choice over who they become than they have had in the past. Some examples of this “control” are due to advancements in science and technology, curriculum in education, culture, and what is shown in the media. Because of (but not limited to) these factors, a person has more control but also more influence on the development of their own identity.
Cell phones have crept into an owner’s possession at all times. “The mobile phone has become a part of us: our best friend who will save all our secrets, pleasures and sorrows” ("Exploring"). Teens have developed the need to know the latest news on social media every minute of every day; they do not want to miss any little detail. Since the beginning of smart phones, high school students have felt the need to have their media open on their smart phone in front of them so they do not feel empty. Once someone has become attached or addicted to something, it is hard to change their habits. Cell phones have changed people socially, especially with the availability to social media with electronics.
Social networks, like Facebook or You Tube can keep someone updated with world events and even local events. It has become part of everyday life in which people can’t live without. But what lies beneath is the evil of how addictive technology can be. The above chart demonstrates that almost 60% of students use electronics more than two hours a day. This shows us that technology can be addictive. Jonathan Mandell’s article Are gadgets, and the Internet, actually addictive, recalls a time in April 2007 when BlackBerry users could not send or receive emails for 11 hours because of a glitch in the system. Many people reported this as a natural disaster (Mandell, 2007). People are relying on technology so much, that it is becoming a major problem in our society when it becomes temporary unavailable. Being able to plan your whole day on your smart phone and lock your front door to your house at the same time contributes to society laziness and dependency on technology. On the chart picture below I surveyed fellow ECPI Students on the question does technology make us lazy and or smatter and this was the results. From this pie chart it’s clearly shown that more than half of the students at ECPI agree that technology is making people lazy. Also the ratio of yes to no is about 6:1, certainly showing that the wrong effects of technology are starting to show up in our society. Choices people make about using their
You are on it every day. It has become a habit to check it every few hours or even every hour. Have our cell phones taken over our life? “Ninety-one percent of American adults and 60 percent of teens own this device that has revolutionized communication in the 21st century — the cellphone” (“5 Reasons Why”). That’s a lot people who own one type of technology. Some think that phones may be ruining our life, but others think that they have helped us connect to others by making texting, calling, and access to social media, a lot easier than in the past. Are cell phones really helping us, or just hurting us?
One thousand six hundred and eighteen minutes. One thousand six hundred and eighteen was spent by me, on my computer, in three days. That seems to be a lot of time when you think about it, probably just about twenty seven hours. How could all that time be spent at as single machine like a PC. One of the best features of the PC is that you can use many different media forms at one time. I use my PC for communication with my boyfriend who goes to SUNY Albany, to check my email for letters of annoyance from my parents, and to provide me with entertainment. Sometime i also use it for work, but that doesn’t happen to frequently. The best part about that though is that i can do all those things all at the same time. Usually i turn my PC on when i wake up and off when i go to bed. My computer saves me time and money and makes my life so much happier.
A beautiful commercial, “Disconnect to Connect”, which was made by Thailand DTAC Company, shows that there are many people always focusing on their cell phones. The commercial shows a man ignoring his girlfriend who is walking with him on the beach, another man neglecting his friends who are playing piano, and a father overlooking his children who are playing around. Then, they smile and find the happiness of life after they turn off their digital devices. These things happen constantly around us every day. Nowadays, the functions of digital devices are stronger, and our eyes and fingers contribute more time on it. There is no doubt that the digital devices make our life more convenient and easier because people can connect with each other immediately. Nonetheless, people should not spend too much time on digital devices for three main reasons: having less face-to-face communication, depriving people’s brains of needed downtime, and negatively influencing people’s health.
Audience reception is a critical area of focus and research when approaching media audiences. It is dependent on the context of viewing, making media use and media consumption within the home environment and other contexts an interesting area of study. During the 1980s the emergence and increasing use of television increased media research into consumption in an everyday context, addressing the domestic, the family and its contribution to daily life. The importance can be displayed through the centrality of the position of the television and how the arrangement of a living room is commonly based around this. According to David Morely (1986) patterns of television consumption can only be understood through the context of ‘family leisure activity’ (Schroder, Drotner, Kline, Murray, 2003: 8). Therefore in order to discuss whether the aspects within the home environment and other contexts differ in terms of consumption, it is fundamental in exploring family viewing and the patterns of everyday life. With the rise of new media and constant technological developments, media within the home have succumbed to fragmentation. Televisions can be used as an illustration, traditionally located in communal areas to the shift of location in every bedroom, along with the vast amount of channels available, the different platforms we can watch it on and developments that allow catch-up. ‘Furthermore the set has acquired a range of accessories and attachments such as videocassette recorders (VCRs), personal computers and remote controls, which have significantly modified the way it is used (Lee, Becker and Schonbach, 1989: 71). The diverse amount of media platforms available both in and outside our homes has somewhat merged, making it difficult to d...
Stereotypes is a big issue within the media industry. Representation within the media is to show someone or something, using a process of depicting, descripting and symbolization. Stereotypes, as described by Stuart Hall, is the “production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language which enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects, people and events”. In his research Hall has suggested that there is two systems of representation, the first system regarding direct associations of events, people and objects that have certain mental representations and concepts that people have in their minds. Meaning is therefore
Many people keep their phones, or other devices, on through the night. They use them as alarms or wake up calls but when messages come at night, people “…wake up with the sound of their phones vibrating…” (Sleep) or ringing with a new message in their inbox. Many people say that they sleep lightly because “…the sound of their devices wake them up…” (Thaker) constantly through the night. If there is a message, no matter what time of the night, people have a compulsion towards it and check immediately. “It is almost as if checking messages and posts has become a part of our life today” (Thaker). It is something that has taken over the mind and it is putting a toll on the amount of rest we are actually receiving. Researchers have said that over “f...
According to The Huffington Post, people are on their devices for, on average, about eleven hours and fifty-two minutes a day. That is almost half a day and a lot longer than most people sleep or work. People have not yet realized how they or their families are being affected by this constant use of technology. As a result of technology increasing, children are experiencing health problems, school issues, and social problems. First and foremost, health problems due to the increase in technology usage is becoming a bigger issue than one might think.
Raise your hand if you’re one of 44% of Americans that sleep next to their phones at every night. It’s true, so many of us are dependent on our mobile devices, that psychologists are now calling it the “Invisible Addiction”! Since its invention critics have debated every inch of the cell phone. From its usefulness and size, to its effects on health after prolonged usage. The conversation has since shifted. The cell phone market today is flooded with a plethora devices to choose from, sporting top of the line materials and industry leading software, but this just scratches the surface. With over 968 million worldwide smartphone sales in 2013, consumers are feeding into the latest technology that the market has to offer. Though they may become
If one asked “What is media literacy?” a majority of people would be puzzled. Some would say that it is the ‘written’ part of media that is not usually seen or a written layout of how media should be produced. The bulk of people would say they have no idea what media literacy is. People in today’s society should be informed about media literacy. Society should be informed of what media literacy exactly is and how it applies to the field of communications.