After looking at my media usage last week, I decided to make some changes and evaluate my usage for two days, Friday and Saturday, in order to get my usage on a day when I have school and a day when I don’t have school. On Friday because I only had one class, I had to put in a lot more effort to ensure that I wasn’t spending time on my phone. I spent a lot of my time off my phone by keeping my self busy with homework, or taking a nap or something of that sort. But, I did a pretty good job of it by reminding myself that I should be more productive and the best way to do so was to stay off my phone. I also used PocketPoints which was also a huge factor as to I was not touching my phone, therefore not logging into any social media. I only scrolled through my social media when I woke up in the morning and right before I was about to fall asleep, which is what I do on a regular basis and I don’t mind it. I’ve kept my habit of only being on social media when I’ve gotten a notification instead of the  mindless scrolling that I used to do. I’ve also worked on making sure that my phone is away from me while I’m studying or working on homework in order to further avoid any distractions like notification which could lead me to get back on social media thus leading to wasted time on social media.

It was a little bit more difficult controlling my social media usage on Saturday because I had no classes and I spent a lot of my day at the game or relaxing which gave me a lot of opportunities to be on my phone. Because of the massive amount of free time I had increased, I found that it required a lot more changing to my schedule to ensure that I didn’t spend more time than I wanted to allocate to my social  media usage. I found myself constantly reminding myself to stay off my phone, more than I’d like. However, when looking back at my usage at the end of the day, I found that I used it less than I usually would’ve and I also found that I didn’t mind the limitation I had set for myself and actually enjoyed it because I could spend more time on focusing on the game, or homework, or whatever leisure activity that I was participating in.

Overall, I found it very interesting how much I had to change my usage and how analyzing the usage by hours affected how I addressed it. I think the analysis has given me a new perspective about my personal media usage and what the best schedule is in order to maximize my  usage while at the same time not wasting my time on it.

Through this social media audit, I could instantly see the trends and issues with my social media usage. I visually see the amount of class time and study time that I had wasted. It was most apparent on Friday. I woke up and instantly was on my phone, an obvious bad habit. I would lay in bed on my phone for a while and then go to shower. This immediately starts off my day in a negative manner and is a form of habitual procrastination. I can see that I spent almost 1/3 of my time in class on Friday browsing through my phone for various forms of social media. I certainly did not gain anything from this action; I only lost some notes and words of my professors. Throughout the day, I wasted more time by watching Netflix instead of being productive and studying. Throughout the day I was just generally on my phone and paying attention to media more than I realized. When I went to the gym I was listening to Spotify the entire time, while not entirely distracting, it certainly isn’t healthy. After this I procrastinated more homework late into the night by being on my phone and playing Xbox. This prompted me to turn off my phone and I actually got work done efficiently.

Saturday, I woke up at 1 and was instantly on my phone. I was essentially trying to catch up on the events that I missed in the Social Media realm the night before and that morning. This, I have classified as a form of FOMO, where I actually felt like reading or seeing something on Social Media could make me feel better about missing it in real time. I moved on to play Tennis during the day and was not on my phone or engaging in media very much. Afterwords I played Xbox with some friends, which counts as a form of media. That night at dinner I noticed me and all of my friends I was eating with constantly were checking our phones instead of actually having a good conversation. Then we watched the UGA football game and all were at various points on our phones texting or sending snapchats. The game was a form of media as well. I noticed that this was hours on end of being associated with a form of media. Then that night I spent some time texting while hanging with friends and before bed. Overall a lot of social media usage this day.

Using the double line graph, I was easily able to see the similarities between my social media usage on a Friday and on a Saturday. This was very surprising to me. Even though I woke up much later on the Saturday, the chart still shows how similar the trajectories were of my usage. The trend for both was a lot of social media in the morning, followed by a slight down tick. In the afternoon before dinner I found myself engaged in many other forms of media such as Xbox and Spotify. During and after dinner my usage declined somewhat, but not to ideal levels by any means. Then at night while hanging with friends, or trying to get homework done, I noticed that my overall media usage was enormous. I realized just how much genuine time I had missed out on by being obsessed with social media. Before bed I also noticed the trend of being on my phone instead of trying to fall asleep. Overall, these two days opened my eyes to how much time I waste by being engaged in Social Media.

This prompted me to make a change. On this past Tuesday I turned my phone off and left it in my bookbag. I was instantly so much more productive in class than when my phone was on. I was more socially inclined in between classes and also motivated to get homework done. I hardly procrastinated either. Of course, when I turned it back on at night, I was instantly trying to relive the day. This opened my eyes to how much of a temptation our phones actually are. Perhaps in the future I will be able to be more conscious of my social media habits as a result of this audit.

After tracking my media usage twice last week, I was fascinated to see if the amount of media I used was just a fluke. I decided to track another weekday but this time on Wednesday, so I could see if it was just my Tuesday/Thursday classes that required so much media. After analyzing the data from Wednesday I know realize that media usage is inevitable in one’s life. Wednesday began around 11 am for me with a quick look to my social media. After checking all of my favorite sites, I headed to Bolton for a quick breakfast before my Anthropology class, where I would be lectured for a straight 50 minutes. Constantly looking at projector will never go out of style I guess. I can bet I will be exposed to this style of teaching for the next four years. After Anthropology, I went hope and watched two episodes of a series on Netflix and had to head over to Interpersonal Communications class. During this class we actually had an activity so I had more one on one personal interaction which gave me a slight break from my media usage. After class I headed home and studied in the Creswell study lounge, reading my geography textbook for roughly two hours, and then watched Netflix for another two hours. This is the rough outline of my Wednesday.

I now wonder if it is college that is exposing me to so much media or if it just the lifestyle of the 21^st century. Looking back on high school, you begin to realize that you were exposed to media for a nonstop eight hours. Going from class to class, having lecture after lecture. To take a break from this media, you would try to sneak a look at your social media. It’s interesting to think that, while in college, I actually have more of an option to cut back on my usage, because I am no longer forced to sit in class for eight hours. The media I consume on a daily basis is because I have trained my brain to no longer be pleased with doing nothing. I have to keep myself preoccupied in some way otherwise who knows what will happen. Whether it be on my way to class or simply sitting in my room. I am never quite doing nothing.

After recording my media usage last week, I decided to record my usage again this week to see if I would still use media just as much as I did last week.  In short, the answer is yes.

I chose to log my media on Wednesday, which is the same day I chose to record last week.  I only have one class on Wednesdays, so I figured I wouldn’t use media too much.  Another reason I chose another Wednesday  is because last week I had a test that I was studying for all day, so I decided to see if I would use media in the same amount when I didn’t have anything to study for.  My expectations going into this were that I would use media a lot less this time, or I would use media the same amount but just for stupid things and not at all work related; however, I still used media mostly for school work.

A few things didn’t change at all during this day.  I listened to music for about an hour and a half while at the gym and then watched the same two programs on tv at the end of my day (I do this every Wednesday-it’s the only constant I have in my ridiculously crazy life).  But even without having a test or anything to study for or a real need to be doing school work, I found myself doing work any second I could.  I almost feel like I’m afraid of wasting my time if I’m not doing something, so any chance that I get I try to get ahead on homework or papers that need to be done.  With Wednesday being a day I don’t have much class time, I have a lot of time to just start math or chem homework or do my English papers.  I don’t really feel like there’s anything that I need to change about my media use since I mostly use it for school; I even deleted Instagram off of my phone to see if I found myself having withdrawals, and I didn’t even remember that I deleted it until a few days later when I was trying to show my friend someone I was talking about.  So overall, I don’t really have a feeling that I need to use media less, I’m definitely using it a lot, but I also feel like there’s not much I can do about it

After further analyzing my use of media it really shocked me. I haven’t really ever thought of myself as having an addiction to media but after analyzing and putting the information I recorded into a bar graph has me questioning if I’m addicted or not. Like I said in my last post, I’ve never really thought of reading a textbook, taking some notes off a PowerPoint, and doing examples in class as a form of media. I’ve just always thought of media as technology based actions that we take on every day.

After further analyzing my weekday media usage, I realized that during the week on the days I have class I used media the most. Thursday is one of my busiest days and I chose that day because it was the busiest just to see how it would go. I have 3 classes that day and use some form of media in all 3 which has me constantly using media all day. Media forms I used, ranged from checking my email, using eLC to look at grades and so on, reading out of a textbook, taking notes in class, watching videos in class, and checking up on social media. I used lots of media on that day and every day but didn’t realize how much I used till doing this assignment.

After further analyzing my weekend media usage, I realized that when I’m busy with things that don’t involve school work that I don’t use media much. On that Saturday, I went to the football game in Kentucky with my family, so I was just hanging with them. I tried not to be on my phone much because I wanted to spend time with my family. Media I did use included, watching football games on the t.v. and just checking up on my social media every now and then. When I’m bust or with my family I tend to stay off my phone to take in what’s going on around me.

This assignment made me realize I use more media than I think I do. Before this assignment, I just thought using media meant, using social media sites on your phone, watching Netflix, listening to music, just watching tv, or using your computer for email or something. I use more media when I’m doing school work than I do any other time.  I’m constantly using media in my day to day life and not even realizing it.

After my post last week about my media use, I became even more interested in how exactly I use media throughout the day. I have always known which form of media I use most often, my phone, and even more specific, which apps I use most. Since I already knew these things, I did not want to graph which media I spend the most time on, but instead how often I use media throughout the day. My media log gave me a visual of which forms of media I use for how long and for how often I use media, but it still was hard to compare the different times to each other. After graphing my weekend day and weekday, I really realized the differences between the two and how media use really varies depending on the day. On the weekday, I realized that when I am not in class, I am usually using some form of media for an extended period of time. I also realized that from 8-10 PM I don’t use a lot of media, but from 10 PM on is when I use the most media by over 40 min. My graph for my weekend day looked very different that the weekday graph. On the weekend, I use media a lot more than during the week, clearly because of how much more free time I have. On the weekend, I use the majority of my media after 6 PM, but less media at 10 PM on. Since I logged on a Sunday, the Patriots were playing so that explains why I logged so many minutes while they were playing! Overall, graphing the different days really made me realize how much media I use throughout the day, and also how much media I use at very specific times during the day.

This week I logged my media usage again on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, as usual, I was using media in both of my classes of the day, using my laptop to take notes referring to the slideshows presented on the projector. Walking to these classes I was, of course, using my phone to listen to music to keep myself preoccupied. After classes I had breakfast while watching an episode on Netflix and working on assignments that were due next week. For the rest of the day I was back in my dorm doing laundry, but I was still using media to work on a PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet while waiting for my laundry. After my laundry was finished I was able to wind down and watch another episode on Netflix.  I even took a nap before dinner so I didn’t use media for about 2 hours.

I noticed that my media usage on this weekday was significantly less than my media usage last Thursday where I was constantly using media. I think the circumstances of having so many tests to prepare for last week impacts the media usage because this time I did not need to be studying as much for something. I had assignments to work on Friday but they did not take long because I was working it in parts whereas studying for a test is long and treacherous.

Saturday was gameday so the circumstances for the weekend were skewed again since my typical weekend doesn’t consist of attending home games. My media usage this Saturday compared to last was significantly less again because I didn’t have to study for a test. Instead I could enjoy a football game in person. During the tailgates and football game I was using my phone occasionally as one naturally tends to do, but the service was terrible so I actually wasn’t using my phone that much. I socialized with my friends and watched the dawgs win. For the rest of the night I watched Netflix and hung out with a friend.

Logging my media usage again this week just confirmed my discovery last week– that I actually use media way more on the weekdays than on the weekends. Though I do have to do schoolwork on the weekends, I still find the time to put it away and enjoy the real life company of my friends and other events happening around me. The weekdays I found are solely dedicated to mostly schoolwork which requires media, and the weekends are more for face-to-face contact and leisurely use of media.

After logging my media last week, I noticed that I use media a lot more than I really thought I did, so I thought that this week I would try and use media less.  This started off going pretty well for about a day until I suddenly got really sick on Sunday. There is not much to do when you are sick expect watch TV, scroll through social media, and listen to music, which all require constant media usage. I found myself constantly being glued to either my phone, the TV, or both at the same time because there didn’t seem like there was anything else for me to do. The media sort of served as my sole entertainment and distraction for this week that I was sick. I did not count how long I was on media, but if I had, it most likely would have been 10.5 out of the 12 hours that I was awake each day. After a while my eyes would start to hurt probably from staring at screens for too long, but that didn’t stop me from checking my social medias or watching a new movie.

While this may have been an unusual week, I still think that I use media way more than I should. One thing that I learned from trying to use media less is that I am addicted to media. The more I tried to stop, the more I wanted to check snapchat to see if anyone had updated their story in the past twenty seconds or watch yet another episode on Netflix. Even while writing this blog post, I noticed myself reaching for my phone and scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat to see if anything new was happening. Even though I knew that there would be nothing new to see, I kept checking out of instinct.

I inputted my media usage observed last week into bar graphs and included a trend line to note any patterns in my usage. As I had noted in my previous blog post, my media throughout the week gradually increases as the day goes on. I tend to take a break from school after I’m finished with classes, either watching Netflix or checking my Twitter updates. On the weekend, with more free time on my hands, I tend to use media more consistently, as illustrated by the trend line. My average total numbers of hours of media usage on the weekends exceeds that of the amount on a weekday.

This past week, I also tried to modify my media usage. I started off strong, attempting to avoid any sort of unnecessary form of media (usually a social media platform) while doing my homework. Even though I tried to “avoid” media, I still ended up having to use different forms of media to complete my homework assignments, including eLC, WebAssign, etc. As a result, I ended up getting work done more efficiently, but this only lasted for a day or two, as a result of the election. The election results made staying away from an excessive intake of media almost impossible. I was always either watching the news, checking Twitter, or watching Snapchat stories of the election results. I found it interesting at how active certain social media platforms become and how users come together as a result of these nationwide matters.