To prove that mass media are evident everyday in practically every individual’s lives, a Mass Communications project was assigned: two logged days with media, and two days without. Far before this assignment, I knew I could classify myself as an addict to mass media, but I did not realize what a large portion of my life is spent consuming media.
On Sunday morning I woke up, back home in Hagerstown for the weekend for a baby shower. I didn’t have to be anywhere specific Sunday so I slept in. Once I woke up, I headed to the shower and turned on the radio that I keep in my bathroom. This played the entire time I got ready- though the showering, blow-drying, straightening, make-up applying, getting dressed, everything. This is a daily ritual for me. It gets me moving in the mornings when it’s six a.m. and I’m wishing I were still in bed.
After I got ready, I watched television with my mom and we went shopping. During both activities I was exposed to advertising. On television it was previews, commercials, and news. Around stores it was signs, logos, and posters. After shopping my day was completed by some more television and some facebook surfing. That night I drove back to Towson, passing numerous billboards, signs, and trucks with logos on them.
I came back to my apartment and found my roommate thrilled when I walked through the door. “We got coupons in the mail again!” she squealed, happy to have the chance to save a dollar. As we turned on the television, it only took one Pizza Hut commercial before we called in and decided to put our coupons to use. Shortly after I ended up popping in a movie and going to sleep. I have to sleep with the television or radio on because I can’t stand trying to sleep when it’s completely quiet.
During my second day observing my media exposure, I woke up to my cell phone alarm going off, playing one of my favorite songs. I got ready with my usual music routine playing in the background. On the drive to school I listened to the radio and heard all the details of the music awards the night before since I missed them. Between classes I went to the library and used the computers, partially for my daily facebook check and partially to look on youtube at all the drama I had heard happened at the music awards.
Later, I walked into the gym. A boy at a booth greeted me. He was giving out samples to promote a type of nutri-grain bar. I went out with some friends that night to Fridays because people had seen on TV it was a night with drink specials. Not only was media surrounding me, it was even dictating what I did that night.
After realizing I spend…or waste… a lot of my time with mass media, I realized also that though the chances of me wanting to cut media out of my life is slim to none, it might also be impossible as well. Mass media surrounds us; it is completely unavoidable living in today’s society. It has become a part of our culture. Jobs, school, even traveling from one place to the next are all circumstances that subject you and even force you to media. I realized that not all exposure to media was voluntary after I tried to go my two days without media. It was still everywhere – even was I wasn’t looking for it.
My media free day started off horribly as I woke up to the most annoying beeping in the world on an alarm clock. It was a good thing the piercing sound woke me up as much as it did… or I would have been late; I was moving so slow getting ready. I had no music to sing along to, just silence, me thinking about how tired I was, and how bad I wanted to turn on the radio.
Since it was the day of my late class, I was riding the bus because parking is impossible. I fought the urge to pick up my phone and text as the bus headed towards school. I noticed signs in the bus about places to eat on campus and great deals they had. My first involuntary media of the day! I looked out the window and saw other signs and billboards.
I walked into my Mass Communications class, only to be greeted by a webpage with music playing. We watched a video also- so I was forcibly exposed to media. That night, I helped my roommate cook dinner and some friends came over. Without any TV, we had long conversations and it ended up being really fun. After awhile they decided it was time to play guitar hero. I managed to decline and did homework instead. I tried to go to bed, but it was so hard to sleep in silence and all I wanted to do was check my facebook or text someone. Eventually, I fell asleep without giving in. I wasn’t going to be dependent on mass media.
It was around eight the next morning when I realized I was dependent on mass media. My alarm clock was set wrong because I’m not used to using it (I use my phone) so it didn’t go off till then. I ended up being late, really late, for my class. Since I couldn’t get online between classes, I had lunch with some friends. When my classes were over I came home. I ended up falling asleep because I hadn’t slept much the night before and I was bored and felt like I had nothing to do. Eventually, my roommate came home and we went running. I got a shower, in silence, and got ready for work, in silence. It was really starting to annoy me. I drove to work, singing to myself in place of the radio. I really didn’t like driving in silence. At work I was exposed to signs, posters, and music playing. (Thank God!)
At the end of the project it was clear that I was definitely one of the many in a high tech society addicted to the convenient and common mass media. I realized that the things I’m involuntarily exposed to aren’t as important to me as the things I choose to expose myself to. It’s hard for me to go a day without those things. Sometimes I literally would have to pick up my phone and look at it because I was sure I had gotten a text message while it was on silent. From being unable to fall asleep, to being unable to get up in the mornings, mass media definitely plays a large role in my life. In situations such as school and work… it is necessary to have Internet access.
I feel like if we have all of this instantaneous technology, we might as well use it. I don’t plan on cutting back my mass media addiction unless it ever gets to the point where I can’t accomplish what I need to in a day. It’s a great past time. Unless the consuming of media is to a completely ridiculous point of obsession, I think it is something society should continue to use and take advantage of.
