Ever track your media consumption?
Never before have I been asked to track my media habits, which as a journalist seems almost like tracking everything I’ve eaten for a weekend (a task my ninth grade health teacher has already had me do). I, like most of my peers consider myself an avid reader of the news; I can almost relate not knowing the top headlines and breaking stories to having FOMO- the fear of missing out. In today’s day and age, keeping on top of the news is like a rat race, and it actually can make my heart beat as I’m scrolling through an article, scanning it as fast as possible to read the result.
This is probably not healthy.
Spending the weekend with a background mindset that I would be reflecting upon my media consumption made me think a lot about why I’m drawn to certain news organizations rather than others. For one, I start practically every day reading the daily briefing from the New York Times. On days when I have less time, specifically weekdays with class, this is usually the only thing I’ll read before I eat breakfast. I often go back to read up on interesting news headlines when I have a minute to breathe in-between classes or while waiting around. I also noticed that as the day went on I tend to continue with the New York Times before going to other news organizations. I am a frequent visitor to both the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, but I suppose the jaded New Yorker in me has to have loyalty somewhere. Once I feel thoroughly well-versed in headlines for the time being I’ll occasionally open up Buzzfeed, rarely will I ever read their news stories, but they often have entertaining short articles and I pick up on a lot of pop-culture references just by scrolling through their headlines.
On weekends, and especially leisurely Labor Day weekends I spend more time reading in depth articles, and more features- the travel section of the NY Times is my absolute favorite! If I’m home the newspapers are usually spread across my kitchen table and I can take as much time to physically flip through them (often trying to track down the second half of the article when someone has already taken it to another room). I love being able to take the paper outside on a warm summer day, or lay it across the table under a warm plate of muffins in the blistery cold winter months. However, when I’m at school, my news consumption is probably around 99 percent online. I also enjoy reading articles on my phone, iPad, or laptop because of the ease, and the ability to email and share them. This weekend in particular I started reading a few articles from Medium. Often I unsubscribe from all mailing lists because of the inbox clutter, but since I was fresh to join Medium I had several long stories suggested to me in my inbox, which I read on my phone.
All in all, I recommend to everyone to take a few days ofbeing cognizant of media consumption. It certainly made me more aware of how much time I spend glancing at my phone when an Associated Press notification pops up, and how little I actually need (but still enjoy) to scroll through Buzzfeed while waiting for friends in line.