Ten Day Media Use Diary

Ten Day Media Use Diary

In modern day scoiety media forms a broad and integral framework for increasing communication and access to information. My media use at a hyperlocal level demonstrates the relevance of media in everyday life. Living at college on campus heavily dictates my media use. The immediacy and close proximity of our living alongside minimal access to television, newspapers and no commute in which to listen to radio is strongly reflected in my collected data.

 The above graph by showing minutes (y-axis) of media use over ten days represents clearly a massive separation between between old and new mediums for viewing media. Even including the high televison use which was temporary (proven by the sudden drop on day 7) due to an interest in the olympics, old media such as radio and even phone use is vastly overshadowed by the dominating use of online resources and the internet. The accessiblity and flexiblity of almost all mediums for media on the internet has heraled a new age in information consuming and producing. When I first started to pay close attention to news, my consumption was a miscellaneous mix of print, tv, radio and online resources. Today the ability for me to specify, locate and recieve a maximum amount of desired information quickly has seen a complete transition to online sources. This is directly comparable to the gradual move in dependence on online research sources for study/assignments. The wealth and instant access to libraries of information on the internet, for example uq library, allows for increased efficiency and convenience. Due to a busy lifestyle the efficiency of online 'new' resources  can be seen in the fluctuation of the graphed internet research line; study/assignments that need to be completed are usually done within a short period of time, meaning a drop in the following days data.

 

  The difference between my production and consumption of media is massive. Aptly and crudely labelled 'facebook and phone retarded' by my friends, my heavy use of social media, highlights how universally accesible communication resources are. With me being in the  21% of the class not owning an app abled smart phone and therefore not being amongst the 81% who use the Facebook app, I understand how people are frustrated by my ‘inept’ use of social mediums such as facebook.The possibility of a link between the tendency for me to leave my phone at home compared to my friends who have smart phones seems relevant to me. However even though I may not be as instantly contactable as some, the importance of facebook to me as respresented by my data is no less, I feel, inferior to others. Facebook is my main source of communication, organisation and online socialising. Facebook provides constant contact with my friends from home who are now spread across various universities and world destination whilst not subtracting from face value time with college friends due to the ability to 'log in' and 'log out' of both communication circles. All college events (e.g. sport) are organised through facebook and being part of 'groups' with other college kids means I have constant access to academic support.

Overall, my relationship with new media is obvious through the reliance on online resources and the internet. Although my consumption of old media may be atypical, it can be adequately be explained by my college lifestyle and limited access to old media sources. 

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