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As I began to log off my social media accounts, I didn’t think it was a big deal. One by one I was off and I continued my day as normal. To make sure I didn’t log on, I deleted the apps from my phone. Once logged off, I didn’t feel the urge to go on my accounts and check what was going on. I did however find that I periodically glanced at my phone. It was strictly out of habit and not out of need.
For my test, I chose to log off all sites except my email and Linkedin. Towards the end of day one, I found that I substituted my social media sites for Linkedin, so I decided to log off that platform as well. Going into day two, I didn’t feel the need to log on, I just found that when I was bored I found other ways to take up my time. I did find that my productivity increased, I didn’t procrastinate as much and I got more work done. As the final two days came to a close, I still didn’t feel like a need to log on. I did sort of feel disconnected from my friends, but it did not affect me in a significant way. The biggest change I saw was the increase in my work productivity. Since I didn’t have a constant distraction, when I became bored I simply did my work. Once my test was over, I realized that my social media accounts were nothing more than a distraction. They aren’t necessary in my daily life, but I continue to use them diligently. I did find that once I logged back into my accounts, I didn’t check them as often. I actually became a bit annoyed at the fact that everything I read on Facebook or twitter was the same. This experiment has further shown me that social media isn’t necessary, it is something that keeps me distracted when I don’t have anything to do. I found that I spend too much time on media that I don’t need. I found a pattern of constantly refreshing my social media sites when I’m in awkward situations or just don’t want to interact with people. It’s a pattern of constantly finding an out for things I don’t necessarily want to deal with at the moment.
Although I am on social media often for work, I am going to log off my personal accounts from September 22-26. I am choosing to do this during the week because this is when I find myself using social media the most. I want to see my reaction to dropping off from my social media network for a couple of days and whether I actually miss anything important. It’s exciting to log off because I’ve always had a thought about doing it but never actually had a reason to follow through with it. This will also give me the opportunity to focus more on important things with school, work, and my close friends. By testing this I think I will find a better understanding as to why I am on social media so often. Throughout this test, I am going to log off longer on certain websites than others. For example, if I find myself being on Facebook more and more, I will log off for a longer period of time. It’ll serve as a sort of punishment for using social media when I don’t need too. I plan on logging off from my personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I will still remain active on Linkedin and email because both of those are necessary for me to check on a daily basis. I’m excited for this log off period. I’m hoping to receive some sort of refreshing realization that I don’t need constant social media. As I go along I will record the activities I get done and the timeframe it takes to finish these items. I will then compare to past times and what the difference is between the two. I essentially want to see how much more I get done without the distraction of social media. As the test continues until the end date, if I find other ways to test my “log off” period I will continue to update this blog. After taking the time to analyze my media habits I have come to several conclusions. 1. I spend too much time reading unimportant things online.
2. I don’t realize how much time I actually spend a day wasting away online. 3. Media is amazing, but can be addictive. 4. I need to slow down my media use. I found myself constantly surprised at how much I spend on media. My habits require me to continuously be online and “connected” to all my followers and friends on my social media profiles. It didn’t concern me at first, until I started to see the true time wasted on things that don’t do anything for me. I was surprised that I would lose track of time so easily and allow myself to continue doing it over and over again. It is an endless cycle of mind numbing social media use everyday. I found that I had a pattern of checking media sites in a specific order. I always check my email first no matter what I’m doing, second I check twitter which leads into Facebook, next I look through my snapchat and then repeat until I’m bored and then start the cycle all over again. At first I believed that I was doing this because of some sort of habit or preferences but when I really think about it, I think it’s because of the position of my apps on my phone. There is also a pattern to how I share stories on social media. I tend to only share/retweet/and favorite certain things from specific companies. Although my might follow several companies, I tend to choose one that I always interact with. As far as responses from friends, I always interact more intensely online with my fraternity brothers and friends from back home. I will post on their page or share their post more often than those friends who I only seem to see on Facebook but never in person. The relationship between people and myself determines how much I will interact with them on a daily bases through media. Friends who I have known the longest are always active on my post and aren’t afraid to be edgy or funny when commenting on something I have posted. My media use was most active when I was commuting somewhere. When at home or at school, I don’t look at my social media as often partly because I keep busy. However, on my commute back to my apartment I will refresh all my media sites over and over again until something strikes me as interesting. It is mostly due to boredom. When I’m bored I go on social media sites just to realize that those are also making me bored. I think most of the use of media is for boredom. Aside from doing research for work or school, I don’t see any other point in the Internet except for when your bored. I use new media to keep myself “interested” in what’s going on in the world, or rather in my friends and people I follows world. There isn’t much gratification except for when you find something worthwhile or are given the opportunity to connect with someone you haven’t connected with in a long time. Media is a powerful entity and can be very beneficial when used for the right reasons. For example, it is gratifying for me when I’m able to connect with my cousins in Mexico through Facebook and Skype. I get to see my nieces and nephews in Mexico grow up from far away. I use media to keep in touch and in the now with everything going on. Scrolling through Facebook and Twitter really wasn’t that exciting. It’s a continuous update of the same things over and over again. For example, I just saw the same video shared about 4 times. Did I press “like” on one of them? Yes, I did. I contributed to the same recycled things (which we can probably consider garbage) for no reason in particular. When I am on Facebook or Twitter, I don’t necessarily look forward to anything. I sit there and read about peoples lives and how much they work or how much they love their cat. Everyday is the same thing.
When I use new media, I like to think I’m positively contributing articles that actually mean something. On twitter I follow a lot public relations and advertising companies. When something I find interesting or helpful, I retweet it. As much as I can complain about new media and how dull it is, I actually really love it. It’s a form of instant communication between you and people from all over the world. Its interesting to see the connection with people you might have never met in person. When I’m making a decision to post/retweet/like/share something, I make sure it is something that I know is interesting. There is a lot of stuff on new media that does nothing but contribute fake laughs an educational facts. Its not a complex thing, but rather a strategic platform. New media can reflect a lot about a person, especially when they have strong views on a certain topic and feel the need to tell the whole world. New media is a reflection of your image and your life online. (VIDEO COMING SOON) Video Capture Reaction
As I began to download the program Camtasia, I began to imagine what I thought I would look like while surfing the Internet. I imagined a very boring stream of Facebook, YouTube, homework, and work related tabs. I imagined a very concentrated me listening to music and drowning out outside noise. What I got was close to what I imagined except I realized I became more distracted during certain times. After watching the initial intro video and pressing the record button, I went off to do the work that I had been assigned. I began by debating whether to start my work assignment or to finish off some homework. Instead, after about 2 minutes of debate, I decided to “unwind” and watch some YouTube. I was on YouTube for 40 minutes when I decided to finally start my work. I noticed that when I was watching YouTube, I was focused and rarely distracted by anything else. As I started to do my work, I became distracted very easily. I would constantly check my phone, tab out to different websites, and find ways to distract myself from the actual work. I always knew that I would get distracted when doing homework, but I never realized how much I actually became distracted. It was fascinating to see the time I wasted doing things that were not necessary. Instead of taking 4+ hours doing homework and work related assignments, I could have easily finished in 2-3 hours. I also realized that I would get up more often and walk away from the computer to interact with my roommates. I eventually forgot that the program was still running and left it on for about 6hrs. I didn’t watch through all of it, but it was practically the same over and over again. I found that I was not only easily distracted but I would go out of my way to become distracted. Tracking my media usage: September 8-13th.
My daily habits tend to be very bland. Wake Up-Check email Shower- Listen to Spotify Get ready- Listen to spotify-check all social media website (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) Leave for work: Continue listening to music while on the Redline train towards Grand/State. Continuously and mindlessly check social media accounts all while ignoring pretty much everything that is going on around me. Get to work: I tend to stay off social media during this time and finish up work projects but I do find time every now and then to check my Facebook or snapchat. Leave work and head to class: He comes the same mind numbing routine on my way to school. At school: while at school I do a lot of pointless fb/twitter/instagram checking throughout the day. I do however, read aa lot more news articles—tech updates—and and sport news that might be relevant or somehow important to me. After classes are over: After classes are over I get back on the train only to continue drowning out all the things around me. After really analyzing and recording my media use, I found it a bit depressing to know that I constantly have my head phones on and checking things that don’t need to be checked. My routine is awful to say the least. I rely on my phone for entertainment that really isn’t there. Checking my Facebook/twitter/snapchat/instagram every 10minutes isn’t entertaining, its boring. Even as I write this, I’m annoyed at the temptation I have to stop and switch over to Facebook and see what new “social” trend is going around. It’s literally the same thing over and over again. Nothing new is keeping me entertained. Its not that I don’t like social media or any media for that matter, its that I lose a sense of human interaction when I’m glued to my screen thinking of clever things to post. These past five days have been dull, the same routine and media use. Granted, somedays im not on the phone or laptop as often due to work that must be done, but I usually find the time to get on my media usage at the most inconvenient times. It distracts me from doing things I should be doing For example, the second day of this media trial watch, I was supposed to be working on a important assignment for work. I decided to take a “breather” from “critically thinking” and stressing out so I started watching YouTube. I went from watching my favorite Youtubers to watching music videos, to watching The Wanderers (hyperlink) I spent about 4hrs wasting time. I felt remorseful at first when I realized I would be staying up later than normal to finish my work assignment but I continued to watch youtube. Media has doe nothing but waste my life away! So after having trouble with another site, I have decided to transfer all my work onto here again. |