Amber’s Media Diary
September 9, 2014 - September 15, 2014
Written by: Amber Allen
Digital Communication Theory
Writing Assignment One
MY MEDIA DIARY
For the week of September 9th through September 15th, I tracked all of my
interactions with media. The week that I chose to measure and document was a
very typical week for me. I worked 8am-5pm Monday through Friday and spent my
weekend engaging in social activities. I tracked all media usage through use of the
“Notes” tool on my iPhone. After the first day of the Media tracking I downloaded
a time tracking application on my phone, but found it did not suite my needs for this
project, so I did not use it. The Notes tool was a quick convenient way to take notes
on my media usage. The downside to the Notes tool is that it took quite a bit a time
to type in the information because I did not have the convenience of a full keyboard
and I did have to abbreviate quite a bit. The nice part about the Notes tool was that
I could export my results to my email. I took my notes and then formated them into
a google excel document. In retrospect, I believe the media diary would have been
better tracked if I had typed everything directly into the google excel spreadsheet at
the end of each day. I realized that I had to rewrite a large majority of my notes to
better fit the format.
Time spent on media
vs
47.8%
52.2%
time spent away from media
over 7 days
Total time spent off of media
Total time spent on media
My Week of Media
Over the course of seven days I spent 4,822 minutes on media use. That’s roughly
80.5 hours, which averages to 11.5 hours per day spent on media. A typical day for
me begins at 6:30am and ends at 11pm, that’s 16.5 hours that I’m actually awake. So,
on average I spent 70% of my day consuming some form of media. This number is
not too surprising to me, because I do spend the majority of my time at work behind
a computer and when I come home I am usually behind a computer for something
relating to school. My top three categories of media usage were Computer, TV, and
Phone.
Amount of media consumption by day
Phone Use
Only 22% of my time spent on the phone
was for making phone calls, the rest was
spent doing other things. This is not
surprising, but it is interesting that the
majority of the time spent on the device
is not for what the device was originally
created to do.
I was surprised to learn that 40% of the
time spent on my phone was to listen
to music. I like to listen to music in the
morning while I’m getting ready for work.
I used to listen to the news while I got
ready, but my room is located upstairs
where I am unable to hear the TV, so I
switched to music. I used to listen to
Pandora, but my friend introduced me
to Spotify and since then I have only
used Spotify for my music needs. If you
combine the time spent listening to
Spotify on my phone (360 mins) and the
time spent listening to music in my car
(215 mins), you’ll see I spend nearly 10
hours a week listening to music. I tend
to be a passive listener of music. When
I’m getting ready for work I like to listen
to something upbeat to help wake me
up. When I’m in the car I don’t like to
think about choosing a song, so I prefer
to listen to the radio. I often switch
between genres for variety. The downside
to listening to the radio is dealing with
commercials and overplayed songs, but
my drive to work is so short that I rarely
am affected by this.
Social Media
Phone call
Text
Music
Internet
Email
THEORIES AT WORK
Hermeneutic Theory
I believe that the Hermeneutic Theory is my primary orientation towards media use.
Hermeneutic Theory is the “study of understanding, especially through the systematic
interpretation of actions or texts”(Baran, 2012). When analyzing my media usage
“criticize[d] old and new cultural practices” of media use (Baran, 2012). When I
think of myself 10 years ago, it’s hard to believe I didn’t have a smartphone, I shared a
desktop computer with three other members of my family, and I shared use of one TV.
I try to think back to what I did to fill my time back then and it’s hard to fathom that I
went a day without constant checking social media on the hour or watching TV while
doing other media activities simultaneously.
Priming Theory
I think that I experienced some priming theory as well through my music usage
(Laughey, 2010). For the most part every day, I wake up, watch the news for 20
minutes while I eat my breakfast, then go upstairs and listen to music while getting
ready, then drive to work and listen to the radio. I found that when I listened to a
good playlist on Spotify, that I was in a better mood at work that day. On the flipside,
when I chose a playlist that had songs I didn’t care for, or if the radio only was playing
songs I didn’t like on the drive into work, I found I was in a worse mood at work.
Another great example was at the Gator Football game on Saturday. At the end of
the 3rd quarter the band always plays “We are the boys” and it puts the crowd, myself
included, in a great mood. This song reminds me of all the tradition that comes with
being a Gator fan and brings back good memories of being a kid and tailgating with
my family.
Social Cognitive Theory
I experienced some social cognitive theory as well, using “TV and other audio-visual
technologies” for “observational learning”(Laughey, 2010). I spend quite a bit of time
on social media and often that’s how I’m alerted to breaking news stories. I can
connect with my friends on social issues and better absorb the media this way. After
watching the news on September 11th, I was sad to remember what happened 13
years ago. Then I went on Facebook and saw many of my friends had dedicated their
posts to memorials remembering 9/11. While I was sad to think of all the lives that
were lost, I am happy to know we are still united as a country and support each other
after all this time.
RESULTS
I was hoping that someone would have a reaction to my journal keeping during my
diary keeping, but because I logged the time entries on my phone, I think most people
just assumed I was texting. If I found myself in a situation where it was taking an extra
long time for me to write my media journal entry, I would let the person who I was
with know what I was doing. I engaged in a few conversations about the amount
of time we spend on media use, but nobody had much to say regarding the act of
journaling.
After the first day of the media tracking, I was very much affected by the realization of
how much media I used in a normal day. After a full week of tracking, I knew that my
daily habits needed a change. As a result of the Media Diary, I am making a conscious
effort to not engage in media usage when it is not a necessity. I tend to check social
media and emails out of boredom while doing other things and I don’t think the
amount of time I spend staring at media screens is healthy. The biggest change that
I’ve made is to stop watching TV or going on my phone for an hour before bed. I
found that “unplugging” from electronics has helped me to relax after a long day and it
has also helped me to sleep better and wake up refreshed. I also have started reading
for enjoyment again. I used to read all the time, but between work and school I felt
like I don’t have the time anymore. However, what the media diary has shown me is
that I do have the time, I just was spending it doing meaningless web surfing or TV
watching.
Works Cited
Baran, S., and Davis, D. (2012). Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, ferment, and
future. 6th Edition. UK: Thomson.
Laughey, D. (2010). Media Studies:Theories and approaches. UK: Kamera Books.