Media Diet

For the past seven days, I have tracked all my media intake. This includes everything from the computer, to the phone to the T.V. I have found that I, like many others are, addicted to media. Hours out of my life everyday are solely dedicated to quality time with a monitor. As soon as I wake up in the morning, I reach for my phone. As soon as I'm done checking or any missed calls or texts, I grab my computer and hop on facebook and then proceed to check my e-mail. 

For Christmas, I received an iPhone and this has definitely increased the time I spend connected to media. With an iPhone, it's like you're connected to the computer 24/7. Which can be great, but also very distracting. Basically, whenever there is a lull in my daily routine, I'm connected to the media one way or another. Even when I'm engaging in watching television, I'm usually on the computer or my phone. I feel as though I constantly need to be connected. But to what exactly?

Why am I so concerned with media? What is it, that it does for me exactly? The one thing that I believe all media tries to give is connection and communication. The internet, facebook, my cell phone and it's apps. They all promote communication. I can call, text, write on someone's wall when less than 50 years ago, someone would call another person's home phone, leave a message and just wait to hear back. Now, we are all instantly connected. I can get a call from my mom who wants me to come home for the weekend, and while talking to her, look at my calendar on my iPhone to see if I'm free. Or I can be texting a friend all the while, I can be on facebook at the same time seeing how my friends who are abroad are doing.

Technology has revolutionized the way we communicate and interact with the world around us. However, it's funny to thing that with all this technology, we find it difficult to sit and talk to someone with no other distractions. It becomes difficult to have face to face conversations. We do not directly interact with anyone, our phones and computers do. Like all things, everything is fine in moderation. As long and we respect technology and limit our uses now and again, we will be able to interact with the world on many different levels.