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.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.