TP 1 - Personal Media Usage

My Media Usage

   Imagine a world without media. It would be chaos. We use media so much, even if we don't realize it. In fact, the average social media user uses media, such as Instagram, for 147 minutes per day (Statista.com). Media is being used from ordering food all the way to listening to music while you sleep. Media is very addicting because you can look up anything you want to in the blink of an eye. 

    There are also so many downsides to this; you can get hacked or tracked. The government in every country tracks its people on the internet for some reason. For example, if you bought a dress on Amazon and you see that very same dress on your Facebook as an ad. With downsides, there are upsides. We can connect to each other like never before, and we can call someone on Facetime and be able to see their face, even if they live so far away. 

    I use media all the time. I wake up in the mornings and listen to music from Spotify on my phone while getting ready for the day. When I ride my bike to classes, I listen to YouTube on my phone so I don't get bored. I watch a movie when I eat breakfast until it is time to go to my next class. My first class on Monday Wednesday and Friday uses Blackboard to outline his lesson plan every day. The class is U.S. History 1.

    My first class on those days is my Speech class with Dr. Murphey. My professor uses PowerPoint to show us how we need to write our next speech and what to do with our speech. My last class is the Freshman Seminar, and we are not on any devices, but my teacher uses her computer to tell us what we need to do that day. 

    My second class is Intro to Biology, and the media we use is an app called Point Solutions. We answer questions that the teacher designed, and I use a journal app on my Macbook to take notes. My last class is Choir, and we do not use media other than the PowerPoint my professor uses to write out goals for us every week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have three different classes that use different types of media. 

    Each day when I go to lunch, I hang out with my friends and watch TikTok and view all of my feeds on my phone. We usually find something to do, and no matter what it is, we eventually watch a movie on Netflix and really just have fun with each other. Each day when I find time to study, I use different apps. I use Quizlet, Blackboard, and much more. It usually takes me about two hours to study and do work each day. 

    On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do not have as much time to study as I do on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My main homework is in Intro to Biology and the Lab part of that class. For the Lab part, my teacher used the discussion board part of Blackboard to write down our answers and to respond to other people's discussions. 

    When I get ready to go to bed, I listen to music on my phone getting ready, and I get comfy. It usually takes me a while to go to bed, so I stay up and watch Netflix. When I am at home on the weekends I spend time with my family. We sometimes go out to eat, and we order using media. When we are at home, we watch television mostly and play games. My birthday is coming up, and on my birthday I get my head smashed in a cake, and my mom posts everything on Facebook.

    My sisters have different media usage habits. The eldest one who is twenty-two uses the television to play video games with the youngest one as well as to put on a movie for my nephew. She orders Sonic a lot on her phone and she drives a lot while listening to Spotify. The next sibling is twenty and she uses media a lot more. She watches YouTube a lot and she draws on her iPad. She is a graphic design major so she draws all day. She also listens to music a lot on her phone. 

    My younger sister is seventeen and she's a senior. Her media usage is more excessive than that and my two older sisters combined. She sleeps, eats, and breathes media. Her day starts off with her not waking up to her alarm on her phone and she's usually late for school. She calls her boyfriend throughout her day as well as our parents. My sister is valedictorian right now and she uses a lot of media to be able to keep up with all of her classes. 

    My youngest sister is even worse than the one who is a senior. She likes to play on her Nintendo Switch. She plays Animal Crossing as well as Mario games. When She broke her switch before getting it replaced, she broke herself. All of my sisters at different ages have many different personal media usages.     It ranges from extreme to not so much. Personally, I do not use media as much as my younger siblings do, but we all have our preferences.

    In all, media is a part of our everyday lives, and it can be detrimental but also unique. In our world, so many people use different media types than our own. Personally, I use so much media it's insane. I use media from the time I wake up to even when I go to bed. My sisters are even more focused on media than I am usually. My classes on all days have incorporated media into their day-to-day teaching and into their lesson. A world without media would be very different than what we have now. Would it be a good thing?