A strident alarm. A heavy thud onto the carpeted floor. The rattle of keys. A splash of cold water to the face.
My day has started, and from nearly the first moment that I wake, my life is permeated by the constant presence of media and technology. This exercise has led me to reflect not just on how much time I dedicate to consuming digital information, but also to the different sources that I draw it from. Recording all the detailed usage of technology and media throughout one day has been immensely helpful for me. Here is what I found.
One of my first actions during the day, while I was getting dressed, was to turn on my phone. A few seconds later, the notifications start popping up. As I sat at my desk, groggy and still half asleep, I headed for my first consumption of media during the day; Snapchat. I had three new messages, and I spent five minutes replying to these and combing through the new “stories”. I’d been awake for less than ten minutes, but I was already drawn to my phone by all these notifications that begged for my attention. Personally, this is a part of my attitude towards technology that I would like to change. Opening my phone before even having breakfast usually gives me a headache, and leaves me feeling mostly bad.
However, this is not a phenomenon that occurs only in the mornings. I continue to use Snapchat intermittently throughout the day; in fact, it was the first thing I did after I left every class. This constant use of social media, and the fact that I’m always worrying about whether I’ve got a new notification would break up my train of thought during the day. Having reflected on this, it is a fact I’m going to try and address.
However, there were also aspects of my news and media use that I found more beneficial. For instance, when I sat down for my first lecture of the day, before the professor started talking I spent five minutes going over the usual news websites where I get information on what’s happening around the world. I have linked them below;
https://www.nytimes.com/ https://www.cnn.com/ http://www.foxnews.com/ http://www.marca.com/
These are the four websites that I usually visit, and I tend to read at least one article in each of them. In this regard, I believe that my use of media is healthy because I have a set time every day where I check the news, and so that way I don’t have to be constantly worried about checking the news on my phone for the latest updates.
Overall, this experience was very illuminating. It helped me identify some areas of my news and media use that I hope to improve, while also highlighting some other areas where I believe I have already found the best possible balance.
Juan Vega de Soto
Trifling Works 