I Need More Diversity in My Media Consumption
The takeaways from my media consumption journal weren’t exactly flattering, but they were at least eye-opening.
The first thing is that I get my news from a limited number of outlets. When I look at them, it’s evident I have a routine from which I don’t much deviate. Since I feel my media needs are being met by these select sites — Deadspin, Yahoo Finance, etc. — I’m not really tempted to look outside my comfort zone. Part of this is due to how limited my overall interests are: Most of the time, I’m just searching for sports or stock market news. There were only a few times over the two day period where I consciously sought out political news, and even then it was a brief. If I had done this exercise a few years ago, I think my pallet would be more diverse, because I was actively looking for different types of news. The journal made me do a little self-inventory and hopefully I’ll start searching out for more types of news again. And, as Sasha mentioned to me, newspapers were concerned several years ago that the internet would allow consumers to only read what they wanted, rather than stumble upon stories. I think to some extent this concern is valid — at least my habits seem to point in this direction — but I believe this is overstated. Gabe mentioned in class how he comes across many stories on Twitter that he might not have actively sought out, and I feel this is not only a common occurrence for many others, but would argue it’s a positive aspect of our changing content experience.
The second aspect is realizing how dependent I am on my phone for information. My “device” category made this evident, but I think it’s even more severe than the log lets on. I was using a computer to browse at work more than usual over the two day period because I was bored. Normally I would just check those sites on my phone when I had a break. And my iPhone is most used simply because of the Twitter app. Nearly all of the news I hear about comes first from Twitter, rather than radio or television (which I don’t even own). It allows me to follow the outlets I’m interested in and follow links that jump out at me. Simply scrolling up and down my feed is second nature at this point, and it would have been nearly impossible to log how often I do this. This exercise gave me flashbacks to last summer, when I didn’t have a phone for five days and felt completely oblivious to what was going on. Instead of my usual routine of sifting through my Twitter feed or apps, I was forced to wait until I got home from work to surf the internet and catch up on everything I had missed.
I also noticed how rarely I actually share anything I’ve just read or watched. It wasn’t until the final night of the project that I retweeted a story and a picture. Maybe this is a reaction to how annoying I think it is when people overly share content, especially when it’s not as enlightening as the sharer believes. Still, I should probably put a little more emphasis on sharing, since it gives the content creator an acknowledgment there work struck a cord, and will be seen by others.
Lastly, my journal is probably similar to how other people my age receive content, and highlights how segmented the market has become. Niche sites and podcasts are capable of finding an audience. The decline of television’s relevance will also continue, as more content can be seen on phones or laptops. Live sports will buoy TV for the time being, but even that is heading online as well — as seen in my basketball and hockey streaming from bootleg sites.
