Tracking My Media – 1/18/2020

Spending 24 hours tracking how much social media, television, radio, books/magazines, and advertisements I was exposed to was one of the most surprisingly difficult things I’ve ever attempted, although I’m sure I missed more than a couple bumper stickers. Overall, the medium I used the most was social media, specifically Facebook. In between seeing a movie, scouring through a bookstore, and running errands, I spent more time on Facebook aimlessly scrolling than I did anything else. This didn’t surprise me, although the sheer amount of advertisements I have become so accustomed to did. For the most part, advertisements in the form of billboards, signs, and other kinds of paper ads fly under my radar on any normal day. Whereas ads such as commercials during television programs seem to capture my attention more easily. My Facebook use throughout the day seems to align pretty well with the textbook’s statistic that 6% of all the time world Internet users spend online is spent on Facebook. In our current society, media use dominates our time and attention in both professional and casual aspects of life. The extreme saturation of media in our lives brings with it new forms of communication, different kinds of language, and ultimately, consequences. Consequences of a media-saturated society can be seen in our overall increased levels of anxiety and low self-esteem related to unrealistic beauty and success standards.