Self-Narrative - A Media Diet

An Inactive Audience Breeds a Passive Response

    Wednesday morning, I awoke at 7:00 AM and immediately reached for my phone. As I scrolled through Instagram, I realized I made a grave error. It was now 7:13 AM as I came to the realization that I failed to start my media diet for 36 hours. Once I realized my mistake, I exited the app and went on about my day.

    You probably thought I would be experiencing symptoms of withdrawal, but I did not. Despite the statistics of “…four-in-ten teenagers feeling anxious when they leave home without their cell phone and more than half (56%) associate the absence of their cell phone with at least one of these three emotions: loneliness, being upset or feeling anxious.” (Kari Paul, MarketWatch), I was able to disconnect from the media in all its forms, but I felt a disconnect, not from my device, but from the world. I was able to disconnect from the media in all its forms, but I felt a disconnect, not from my device, but from the world.

    This past week, I tried a new diet, one that did not eliminate carbs, but limited my intake of the media. This media diet and binge was in preparation for my class MCOM 142 Multimedia Foundations, throughout this experiment we were to journal and reflect on our interactions with the media, all media from social media to the news. For 36 hours, I fasted, and what followed was 36 hours of binge-eating any type of media I could get my hands on. What should have been a time of self-reflection was overshadowed by boredom. After this experience I was left with an empty feeling.

    On one hand, I acknowledged my unhealthy coping mechanism in the face of boredom and on the other I gained a sense of what the world has become, a marketing strategy where social media has become a battleground of online shopping instead of connection. Before this experiment, I was already aware that I turn to the temporary fix of scrolling through social media to pass the time, but throughout the experiment I wonder who was at fault for my high amount of screen time? Was it mine? Considering what felt like a few minutes liking posts from family, friends, and the few influencers I follow, I somehow manage to rack up hours of screen time. I wondered where the time goes and does the media, I interact with add to its value. For instance, music is part of the media and it is often the defining trait of one’s personality. It is a question on first dates, what is your favorite song, artist, or genre? On other occasions, music has been studied as a great way to stay focused and relieve stress, so there is an added benefit when interacting with this particular media as shown through my media diet.

    I noticed that music made schoolwork tolerable and while I got caught up with homework; I struggled to pay attention to my assignments. Regarding “optimal arousal,” a psychology term that evaluates effort and the amount of stimulus needed to maintain attention and information throughout a task. So, when effort is low, more stimulus is needed and when effort is high, less stimulus is needed/wanted. This perfectly describes my interaction with music when I am studying or completing assignments for class, since in regard to homework the effort is often low and listening to music creates enough stimulus to pay attention and help me get my work done. You, yourself, may experience “optimal arousal,” when you turn your car radio down when you are trying to find an unfamiliar destination.

    While we want to be active members of society and interact with the world, many see technology as a beneficial tool to expand our communications. However, nowadays technology and the media are deemed a distraction; something that gets in the way from the real world. I do not 100% agree with this assessment. The reason we are on our devices and somewhat mindlessly scrolling through our social media is because the world is closed off to us. There is not anything to break up our days anymore. We go to work, school, commute to and from and fail in other areas of our life: socially (making friends), physically (working out), and emotionally/mentally. This has been a problem before social media, and it will continue to be a problem if we continue to use social media as a scapegoat for our inaction and lack of interaction with the outside world. Throughout my binge, I noticed that I would cycle through the same three apps and this was an act of boredom as a result of a lack of enrichment; I became a passive consumer of the media and the media became something just to pass the time. Throughout my media diet, I did not feel withdrawal; I felt left out, excluded, and uninformed. While social media has been villainized as an app that drains us of our motivations and attention spans, I see social media for a great tool for information, trends, and communication, but we must be mindful of what and how interact with content on these sites, do not be a passive observer, be active, like posts, comment on threads, and share content that you find interesting. All media is not inherently bad, but it does have flaws, in this case, filters on social media that distorts beauty standards and its impact on mental health.

    In a world that uses social media to promote and publish content to attract consumers to certain businesses and products; it is necessary to maintain a social media presence for both work and life. This experience reinforced that belief, since I felt I was ignoring people's texts and messages if they sent me links to videos and news articles that were unavailable to me during my diet. I miss being able to read articles that I found interesting and to be able to hold a conversation/discussion with people about those topics. I do not miss being tied to my phone, but I do appreciate it since it does give me some sense of comfort and feeling of safety and by interacting with the media, even passively, can introduce me to new ideas and offers me a chance to experience the real world.

    While this experiment gave me a much-needed break from social media and the 24-hour news coverage, I acknowledge the importance of social media to promote content and connect with others. It made me more mindful of how I interact with content in the media. While my habits will not likely change drastically after this experiment, I recognize the importance of disconnecting from online to experience the real world.