After logging my media usage for two days, I have come to the realization that almost everything I do/use is media. My log was almost completely full, not just from scrolling through my Instagram feed but also from taking notes and attending my lectures.

This log sheet showed me just how relevant media is to everyone’s life. My log began with mw tracking me media usage of my average Tuesday. My Tuesday begins by waking up at 10 in the morning and instantly turning off my alarm and checking my social media. I begin with Instagram, then snapchat, and finally look at my email to make sure I still have class. After checking all of my platforms I once again take to media to text my friend Kelly to go to Bolton to grab some breakfast before class. After breakfast I walk to class and will once again check my social media. Lately I have been trying to not rely on my phone as much while walking to class because our campus is so beautiful and I want to take it all in. Once in class I sit in the second row to see a massive screen with the PowerPoint of physical geography projected. And once again I am faced with media. After an hour and fifteen minutes of constant note writing and staring at a screen I am free to walk back home and scan my social media. I repeat this process two hours later, but during this gap I take the time to relax my brain…with more media. I watch about two episodes of Sex and the City then head back to class. Once I am done with class for the day I go in and out of my phone, texting my friends, searching Facebook, scrolling through Instagram, and sending snapchats. In reality, I never escape media usage. It is a never ending stream of media.

The next day I logged was Saturday. My Saturdays are typically very relaxed to recover from the long week. This Saturday in particular I decided to binge watch an unhealthy amount of Sex and the City. During the weekends I find that I am exposed to even more media, because if I am not cramming for the next week’s tests, I am watching television or scrolling through my phone.

It is mind-blowing to alter your understanding of what you thought media is. Before tracking my media usage, I simply though media was solely what I did on my phone. Now I realize that media is all around us and is almost unavoidable. With the technology and access, we have today, media is a part of everything we do and does not always deserve the negative connotation we give it. The media I exposed to when sitting in lectures is extremely beneficial, making me expand my knowledge and earn a degree. Without media we would not be who we are today.

I chose to log my media use on the days that I thought I would use media the most.  I was also expecting to have some sort of revelation on how I was on my phone way too much or that media was somehow getting in the way of my life.  However, after logging what I was using media for, I realized most of my media use was necessary, not just mindless scrolling.

On Wednesday, I used media pretty much from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep.  When I woke up and throughout the entire day, I checked my phone.  In the morning it was mostly to see the notifications I missed while I was asleep, and the throughout the rest of the day I was continuously checking my phone whenever a notification popped up, but I almost always had a purpose in checking my phone.  I was never on it just to waste time or because I was bored, I actually needed it, whether I was checking email or texts.  I also had a chemistry test the next day, so about 4 and a half hours consisted of me going over old power points and practice tests on elc.  Wednesday nights are also the time that I watch tv (other than Saturday football) so the last two hours of the day I was finally able to relax and watch Survivor and American Horror Story.

Surprisingly, on Saturday, I feel like I used media a lot less.  I started watching college football at around 1, and it was on until the end of the Georgia game, but I wasn’t actively on media as much as I was during weekdays. The only times that I was actively using media were while I did math homework and then bought a book that I needed for my English class; I also had to complete an online orientation for work, but after that I just laid in bed and watched tv.

So while I used media almost continuously throughout the two days i logged, I don’t feel as though I had any other option or like I could really change how much media I use.  Almost all of my media use was for school or work, and when it wasn’t something that was necessary, like tv or music, I was using it as a way to relax and feel like I wasn’t having work.