Category Archives: random links about media

blog assignment, random links about media

Blog Post #5 9/26: Media Ecology

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Overall, the media of college in 2016 is shaping the experience and the content of my studies and my life as a college student in multiple ways that I would not have foreseen five years ago. As innovative advancements in media continue to be created and all the different forms of social media have become increasingly popular, I have found myself interacting with media, specifically the technological forms of it, at a much more frequent rate than I ever would have imagined in 2011, or at age 13.

The reason that 13-year-old me would be surprised at how much technology I utilize today mainly has to do with the fact that I have always considered myself behind on the latest devices and social media as each have evolved. In other words, while I’m not completely out of sync with the times, I did definitely start using some aspects of technology much later than my peers. Therefore, the evolution of the role technology plays in my life is definitely existent, but it has been slightly delayed when compared to other people my age. Today I consider the frequency of my use as somewhere in between moderate and high.

As a result of my past interaction with media, I found this week’s topic to be very intriguing because it was one that I had never heard of, yet it is something that poses a very important question for me in my everyday life. From normal day to day phone and laptop use for social reasons, online access to textbooks, eLC, email (both school and personal), and other online resources for homework and in regards to my education, there are so many ways in which I utilize media, without thinking twice about the process of it.

However, I do believe the frequency of my use is something I need to be more aware of. I honestly have no idea how many hours of the day I use both my phone and laptop for non-educational purposes, but at this point I can say it is too much. When I consider my social media use specifically, it’s difficult to say whether or not I need to be using all the different kinds of accounts that I have (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) as much as I do.

As I think about how others use these apps, and the frequency with which they use them, I can’t help but compare my usage to theirs, thinking “well at least I’m not as bad as so-in-so'” when social media becomes a distraction from schoolwork and studying. It’s in scenarios like those that irony is present, especially when I know I may actually may have a problem myself, and could in fact be a hypocrite in my own right.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree that there are many awesome advantages to having social media and other forms of media as such a present part of my own college life. However, I definitely think that I need to start analyzing and considering how much usage is too much, when it’s useful or necessary (for both for the social and educational reasons), and what the best balance is for me personally when it comes to the amount of time I devote to each part of my life.

random links about media

Blog Post #4 9/18: The Email Issue

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While considering whether or not email is a legacy medium, many factors come into play. I do believe that the two pieces for this week tallied with what I have personally experienced or seen happen when young people send out emails. However, I found it interesting that there are so many college students who struggle with email etiquette and the formality of this medium in general because I personally haven’t had many issues recently with this form of communication.

Despite the fact that I was surprised at the number of college students who have never been taught how to “email”, it definitely makes sense. I suppose there isn’t really an opportunity to learn unless one is taught by parents or a past obligation has existed in regards to sending and replying to emails for and from teachers in high school. Because of necessity, I ended up experiencing both and I took advantage of what I learned from each through these opportunities while I was still in high school, which perhaps is something that not all people my age have encountered.

Through my past experience and everything I learned while struggling to use email effectively, I know that is easy to have no idea what the next step is.  This is probably because in the current generation of young people, everything is fast paced. Social media and texting serve as rapid response forms of communicating and interacting with others, while email can take up to  multiple days while one just waits for a response. Therefore, emailing is a legacy media in this sense, but at the same time it doesn’t appear to be so because it is used so expansively, by universities especially.

random links about media

Blog Post #3 9/11: Legacy Media

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Though it may still be considered a residual medium today, it’s definitely possible that hard copy books will become a legacy medium or even an obsolete medium in the future. Somewhat of a legacy medium already, it is easy to see how eBooks might replace and already do replace the physical books and textbooks that are very prominent in every college student’s life.

In fact, this replacement often starts even earlier than college. Many high schools in today’s day and age are making a shift towards online textbooks and assignments as early as freshman year, in order to continue with the idea of innovative “21st century learning” or something along those lines.

For me personally, it was very interesting to read the article on “The End of Legacy Media.” The fact that it was written in 1998, the year I was born, meant that the author of the article predicted that hard copy books would become an obsolete medium by the time I was 10 years old (2008).

However, I would say that this is far from the case, even now in 2016. While perhaps the use of books is inherited from older generations, I know that I, as an individual, prefer physical copies of textbooks to online versions of them. Through my eyes, books are definitely still a very present part of my day to day life.

Part of my reasoning is dependent on how well I can learn the information. While online textbooks have their specific benefits, and I definitely can use them with ease, the hard copies of my textbooks always seem to help me retain information more easily. I think it has something to do with the format of them, which allows for me to focus on the root of what I’m learning because of the very visual aspect that exists in a physical page of reading.

Additionally, when I am just reading for fun, I almost always prefer flipping through real pages. This may sound strange, but because I have a deep love for reading (I have since I was little kid), I appreciate the tangible feeling of turning a page and also the scent that fills the air every time I crack open a book. Since those sensory feelings are linked to one of my favorite pastimes, I feel like something is missing every time I read an eBook.

Overall, though I can’t predict what will happen in the future, I do know that hard copy books will always be something that I will prefer (at least for now). If they do become an obsolete medium, I know I will look back on them with a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart just because of the memories and experiences that they bring me back to.