For the last 24 hours, I have been tracking the media I consume from watching TikToks to long-form content. I tracked Saturday 3/28 because I felt a weekend would show my habits the best. I have found that I flock to social media for periods to reset from doing school or work, which I would like to try to replace with reading a book, yoga, or something else more productive.
Let’s begin!
7:30a.m.: Woke up and quickly checked my phone, before lying back down to rest for a little longer. I tend to be guilty of this quite a bit.
8:00a.m.: Started my morning with TikTok and Instagram and noted it was a lot of random funny clips that didn’t pose much significance. This goes on for about 45 minutes before I get up to make some breakfast.
9:30a.m.: Picked up my phone again and saw a recently posted article about the No Kings Protest. I noted that this was going to be the third No Kings protest and was centered around the current issues about the United States going to war with Iran and the Trump administrations planning to put ICE detainment centers in multiple locations in Arizona.
10:00a.m.: Researched some dinner places in Scottsdale for my birthday coming up. I tried to find a balance of an inexpensive and nice restaurant- It’s harder than you might think. I landed on Pasta Brioni as my first choice. Then I did some homework for about an hour and a half.
12:30p.m.: Took a break from homework and started scrolling on Pinterest for some cute nail and hair inspo. Decided to watch some YouTube and enjoyed the Royal Court interview with Elijah Wood. I love this channel because the host, Brittany, always has a fun themed show with humorous questions before diving into her deeper ones. It does a great job in humanizing the guests where many of them are famous celebrities who deal with an onslaught of public opinion and extreme idolization.
1:00p.m.: Continued doing homework for my Digital Audiences class. One of my assignments included finding a social media post by a certain brand and discussing it from a marketing standpoint. I chose Dutch Bros because I work there and have a great understanding of how they incorporate marketing to grab the attention of consumers. Within doing research for this assignment, I read this article about Dutch Bros’ attempt to grow within the next couple of years.
2:00p.m.: Finished the last of my homework and decided to watch some TV. I started the next episode of a show I am currently obsessed with called From. I am on season 2 and loving the mystery/horror aspect of it. From does a great job in representing how being stuck in an unknown place with strangers can affect someone, and what they might do to get out. After watching an episode, I had to get ready for work to sling some coffee.
3:30p.m.: On the drive to work, I listened to part of a podcast episode from Murder With My Husband. This podcast was created by the couple Payton and Garrett Moreland, where Payton talks about true crime stories while her husband listens and adds commentary. The podcast has over 300 episodes now and each one is crafted with careful research and attention to detail.
10:30p.m.: Got home from my shift at Dutch and began to get ready for bed. I scrolled a bit on Instagram and TikTok again and noticed there were a ton of videos of the No Kings Protest that popped up. This video is just one of many I saw before going to bed. The TikTok shows how many people showed up to the protest in multiple cities and the caption explains that 9 million people participated in the protest nationwide. The caption also mentions that the movement “just became the largest day of political demonstration in U.S. history.”
Reflection
Through tracking my media usage for the day, I noticed how much media I consume, but don’t remember. It made me curious and I found this Time’s article about the issue. With so much use of online media, people are forming less precise memories of what they have seen or experienced. I found this to be true in my daily life as well. While going online feels like a break from homework or work, it just feeds into an addiction that no one wants to admit they have.
I also noticed that I have recently been enjoying more long-form content on YouTube that breaks away from quick exposure and relies on opinion that is backed by research. I found this video while scrolling on my feed about AI generated content and how unreal things have gotten with people feeding into this kind of content. I believe that long-form content has provided me with more knowledge and a base to do my own research versus the “mindless” scrolling that short-form content provides.
While I do believe that my usage for this specific day wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I did have a busy schedule with homework and my night shift. If I had a free day, it would most likely have been spent scrolling through hundreds of videos and failing to do something else more productive. Besides enjoying long-form content, my most used app is TikTok, and I noticed I do end up on a side of the app that can get very intense about politics or conspiracies relating to current issues. This 24 media tracking has opened my eyes to being more conscious about fact-checking what I see and not falling into agreement too quickly with comments.