Media Diet

Monday Feb, 28th
-Wallstreet Journal (30min)
-Internet Surfing (3hrs throughout the day)
-Various NBA blogs
-Various Laker blogs
-Formula 1 news
-Read twitter of NBA reporters and players
-Check scores for NBA and tennis
-TV (3hrs)
-House
-NBA games
-Jeopardy
Tuesday March 1
-Wallstreet Journal (30min)
-Internet Surfing (5hrs throughout the day)
-Various NBA blogs
-Various Laker blogs
-Formula 1 news
-Read twitter of NBA reporters and players
-Check scores for NBA and tennis
-Facebook (10mins)
-Stream NBA games
Wednesday March 2
-Wallstreet Journal (30min)
-Internet Surfing (3hrs throughout the day)
-Various NBA blogs
-Various Laker blogs
-Formula 1 news
-Read twitter of NBA reporters and players
-Check scores for NBA and tennis
-Hulu
-TV (2 hr)
-Basketball games
-Modern family
Thursday March 3
-Wallstreet Journal (30min)
-Internet Surfing (6hrs throughout the day)
-Various NBA blogs
-Various Laker blogs
-Formula 1 news
-Read twitter of NBA reporters and players
-Check scores for NBA and tennis
-Research for term papers
-Watch Top Gear Show
Friday March 4
-Internet Surfing (2hrs throughout the day)
-Various NBA blogs
-Various Laker blogs
-Formula 1 news
-Read twitter of NBA reporters and players
-Check scores for NBA and tennis
-TV (3hrs)
-Various sports
-Seinfeld

Analyzing my media diet one can easily see a pattern emerge. The amount of time I spend reading sports articles, blog posts, and comments daily is amazing. I am a big sports fan, and I love how the internet is able to provide constant updates, analysis, or news to feed my sports appetite. I can recall ten years ago the only way to watch your favorite basketball teams was to wait for nationally televised games. The only way to have an idea whether or not your team won was to wait for highlights on ESPN, or keep refreshing websites that slowly update the score. Today there are around the clock updates provided by news reporters that follow the team to their home games, on the road, practices, and post games via twitter. In terms of TV use I consider it light and for the most part used to watch sporting events.

Two things that are lacking in my media diet compared to other people my age are heavy Facebook use and texting. My lack of use of these two forms of media makes me an outlier in terms of weekly use when compared to a similar demographic. However, most of my friends do not use Facebook excessively either, and think the reason behind this is our passion for sports. I personally do not care for corny status updates, liking comments, or commenting on peoples profiles. I have a facebook mostly to organize with friends a time to get together to play basketball. In terms of texting I use it more than Facebook, but not for ongoing conversations throughout a day. I average 200 text messages a month, which is nothing compared to other students who sometimes average in the thousands.
In terms of making changes to my media diet, I believe a decrease on time spent on the internet can increase my productivity. The basketball season conveniently coincides with the school year and is on break during the summer. I should prioritize the essential media outlets I want to read and try to avoid spending hours on end on the computer. Another important idea I would like to implement is setting certain times I use the computer, and not use it as a tool to prevent boredom. However, it is more difficult with several school assignments requiring the use of a computer. When doing research for essays I can easily spend six hours on the computer. However, during those ours I am constantly side tracked by checking scores and sports twitter updates.
My media diet may not speak to the majority in terms of how my demographic utilizes different forms of media. Although we may not share similar activities done on the computer, we do utilize the computer for long period of time. Several research studies have pointed to the decrease in productivity of college students because of increased distractions. I think the move to e-books, and the ease of using the internet for research will continue to prevalent in today’s society. It will be important to possibly implement techniques that help keep people focused on one task only and not be sidetracked.