After two days of logging and observing my social media usage, I realized I use my phone a lot more on the weekends as opposed to on a typical weekday. I made sure to observe my usage on a day I know I would use social media more frequently (Friday) as opposed to days I spent solely studying for my chemistry test (Monday-Wednesday). I frequently used social media apps on my phone when eating at dining halls or when I’m simply just chilling in my dorm room. On a weekday, I tend to not use it as much during the day (when I have classes), but observed my highest usage between the 4-6pm when I go back to my dorm after a long day of classes. This is because I like to relax during this time period and check up on everything I’ve missed during the day. I also tend to use social media before I go to bed as well. On Saturday, I found myself using social media pretty consistently throughout the day, as I was not so occupied with school and classes.

Besides the amount of time I use social media, I also observed what certain platforms I use. I use Snapchat the most, as this is an easy way to communicate with friends, and also use Twitter and Instagram. At the end of both days (Friday and Saturday) while I was out with friends, my phone died. This made me realize how often I actually do use my phone and how much those social media apps drain my battery. While I was still out with friends, I would often attempt to turn my phone on to check a certain social media app, only to remember that my phone was dead. However, it made me realize that checking these apps was not a necessity at the time, as I should be paying more attention to my friends and the current moment we’re enjoying rather than being engrossed by social media.

After logging my media use, I realized that I just use Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram when I’m bored. I logged Thursday and Saturday which are two days that were completely different for me. Thursday’s are always long for me because I have 3 classes. Saturday, I went to the football game in Kentucky. So the two days I chose to log were a lot different from each other.

Thursday I had 3 classes, Government, Psychology, and Math. I’m so rushed in the mornings because I’m not really a morning person and don’t have time to check my social media accounts so I usually check them once I get to class. During class, I used my email, and eLC. In government, my professor uses a PowerPoint to lecture from. I took my notes the night before so that in class I can follow along and pay attention to what the professor was saying. I used my laptop in class to follow along on the PowerPoint. I had also during that time accessed Excel to calculate a grade for a class. In Psychology, I took notes by hand on the lecture. We watched several videos in class that were related to the lecture. We also used this website called menti.com to do like a polling thing that had a few questions on it. On Thursday, I also read some of a chapter out of my government book and listened to my music while reading.  In Math, I had already taken the notes for class. While in class, I listened to lecture and did the examples in my notes throughout class. Throughout the day, I periodically checked my Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. It would only be for a few minutes or when I was bored.

Saturday was a lot different than Thursday. It was a busy day so I wasn’t really on social media that much. I checked my accounts when I got up to see what went on and see if I had any notifications. My parents had the T.V. on in the hotel room while I was getting ready. We tailgated with some of our friends and while doing that I checked social media a lot because I was bored majority of that time. While tailgating, we watched some football games on T.V. While at the game, I couldn’t access my social media accounts because there wasn’t any service in the stadium so I tried to post pictures to Snapchat but nothing would load. There were videos and music played while at the game.

From logging my media usage, it really shocked me. I realized that when I’m busy I try not to check my social media. I normally check it when I’m bored. Before this assignment, I guess I didn’t realize that things like, taking notes in class, reading out of a textbook, watching videos or listening to music was really consider media. So really, I’m constantly using media but didn’t realize it till now.

The first and last thing that I look at every day is media. When my alarm first goes off in the morning, after hitting snooze a few times, I automatically grab my phone and start scrolling through my social medias. I start by checking and messages or notifications that I might have missed during the night and then I make my way from Instagram to Snapchat to Facebook. At night, I get in bed and plug my phone into its charger which happens to be right by my head and then I scroll through all my social medias as I did in the morning. I noticed that many times I would just pointlessly scroll through different social medias while barely even looking at what was on my screen. I wasn’t really paying attention because this was just an instinctive activity that I do before I go to bed each night.

While my morning and nights are full of social medias like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, I noticed that during the day I use school medias like email, eLC, and Microsoft Word to take notes during class more than I use my social medias. Although, I did always notice myself reaching for my phone and pointlessly scrolling through Instagram whenever I got a little bored during the day. I check my phone so much during the day that I usually have to charge it a couple of time during the day because the battery starts to run very low. From logging my media usage, I noticed that almost everything that I do every day relies on media in some sort of way.

After documenting all of my media use for one weekday and one weekend day, I realized just how much time I dedicate towards using media. I knew that I spent a good amount of time on media, but I really did not realize just how much time I spend on my phone especially. I also realized how little apps I use, after documenting both days I only used two different apps, Instagram and Snapchat. During the weekday I was hoping that I didn’t use a lot of media besides books and using my laptop for classes, but it turns out the day I did my documenting I literally did not have any school work to do, so all of my media use was dedicated to my phone and the TV, which made me feel pretty bad about myself! What I thought was interesting about my weekday documenting was I used Snapchat a lot less than I thought, because I realized how much it drains my battery, and I even realized that if I open Snapchat when my phone batter is at 30% or lower, my phone will immediately run out of battery. I happened to go home this weekend, so I my documentation for my weekend day was very different than my average weekend day media use. Since I was with my family, I used my phone a lot less than I normally would, and I watched more TV than I usually would on an average weekend day or weekday because of NFL games, despite the fact that my team the Patriots had a bye week. My TV use topped 3 hours today and my phone use ended up being less than that. Even though it was not a typical weekend day, I realized just how much my entertainment relies on my phone and TV!

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.

Since this came up in class, I wanted to provide links to

• the FYOS event requirement FAQ
• the event calendar that Aly mentioned

When I saw that the two presidential candidates should be avoided, I was immediately hit with a roadblock. I’m not incredibly enticed by politics. Honestly, this country is seemingly run by idiots with a few smart people woven in between. Sure, I know a few politicians, but honestly, I try to focus solely on myself and not about the increasing decline of the US.

I thought of two completely random politicians and googled them. The first was Senator Corey Booker, from New Jersey and the second was the mayor from my home, Mayor Kasim Reed.

I had no idea that Senator Booker had a Twitter, but then again, why wouldn’t he? Additionally, he has a snapchat. Not sure what a Senator would snap, or if he would snap on a daily basis, but he certainly advertises his snapchat with a wonderfully heroic picture of him in the snapcode. All of his pictures on his Twitter show him being out and involved with either a genuine smile or a serious concerned listening face. Overall, he seems warm but also concerned about the issues (including the presidential election).

Mayor Kasim Reed, on the other hand, didn’t seem as welcoming and friendly. His avi (the profile picture) is a dramatic and intentionally lit picture that makes him seem unobtainable and cold. Not many of his pictures show him smiling. Even when he seems to be encouraging the public, he seems more like a stern father than a kind, encouraging leader. Even in a picture at Atlanta’s Pride Parade this year, he seemed stiff and uncomfortable. Overall, he seems stern and unapproachable.

I had no idea that just from the delicately picked pictures on their social media that a political candidate can be made out to be any way the public can perceive them. It’s interesting to see the different politicians and just how their media presence has affected the public’s perception of them.

Although the post guidelines preferred our political candidates not be discussed, I interpreted that as just staying away from Donald or Hillary. I am going to talk about a presidential candidate that most people have not even heard of and surely do not know what he looks like. This man is Evan McMullin. The article in the directions was all about image as a form of self-branding for a candidate. One stout difference today is the effect of social media on a campaign. While the major news broadcasts highlight the main two candidates, McMullin is flying under the radar as a conservative independent candidate.  He has spent many years as an undercover CIA field officer in the middle east fighting terrorism. This man has been trained at the highest level to not be seen, to not allow others to know his image, yet he is running for an office in which public appearance is almost everything. While this stark difference in self branding would seem to be detrimental to a political campaign, McMullin is seeking to join an exclusive group of third party candidates who have won a state in a presidential election. He is currently a top of the polls in Utah, his home state, in early voting. This sudden unheard of surge in backing possibly comes from the very difference in public appearance that McMullin possesses. When voters here a general story about an honorable and respected CIA officer they are more likely to think highly of the candidate simply because there is not very much public information available about him. In a time and age when voters get more and more info about their candidates, perhaps a candidate who is rather unknown can be surprisingly appealing. Obviously Evan McMullin has a very near to impossible shot at becoming our next president(although there are some scenarios that make this possible if no candidate reaches 270 electoral college votes), he is potentially clearing space for other less well-known independent candidates to cause a ruckus in the two-party electoral system of the United States.

I was originally going to ask you to compare the online media presences of two political campaigns (preferably not our presidential candidates’). But since the election is seeming like a less and less enticing topic, and we have a holiday weekend, I’d like to make this post completely optional.

If you’ve missed several blog posts, you can use this one as a make-up, but otherwise you’re free to take a well-earned break.

If anyone *does* choose to do this, however, please take a look at Roland Barthes’s classic (and short!) 1957 analysis of photographs of French election candidates as one possible model for considering the standard ways in which campaigns present themselves.