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Media Blog #7

Over the last few weeks, I have been adjusting my routine and schedule due to this pandemic. It’s crazy to think that campus is shut down for the rest of the semester. A couple weeks ago, I would have never imagined something like this happening. It’s been challenging to motivate myself to get up and follow my schedule like I normally would if I were to be physically going to class. On the bright side of things, I don’t mind getting schoolwork done in the comfort of my own home.

As far as my media use, being home, I have been spending a significant amount of time on my phone. I have noticed a major change in my social media. On almost every platform, there is news about COVID 19. In fact, there is so much information that I began to quickly feel overwhelmed and almost deleted my social media. The reports on the coronavirus reminded me of a term we learned in one of our readings, “online citizen journalism”.  Online citizen journalism is referred to as people that publish information online that is meant to benefit a community. During this pandemic, there have been multiple sources posting unverified information, which is causing conflict on media platforms. Although online citizen journalism can be good, it can also be very bad.

I’m hoping that this all clears up soon so everyone can get back to their routine schedules.  

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Media Blog #6

.Since this class started, I began tracking my media usage. On my iPhone, I actually have an app that tells me the exact amount of time I am spending on social media. I learned that my average phone usage per day is three and a half hours. It’s hard for me to process that I am spending such an excessive amount of time doing absolutely nothing productive. 

Another feature of this app determines how long I am spending on my favourite apps. It turns out that most of my time on social media is spent scrolling through instagram, for hours a day. I can’t help but to wonder why instagram is so addictive? With that being said, I decided to do my own research on the addictive properties of instagram.

According to the article “The Psychology of Why Instagram is Addictive”, Drake Beer breaks down the pieces as to why people enjoy instagram so much. One of the most significant key points that I got from the article is the “reward gratification” that comes with posting a picture on instagram. The process of editing a photo, sharing the photo, and the comments that come after triggers rewarding feeling in the brain. This totally makes sense. 

Along with the reward, comes with insecurities, especially when the photo doesn’t get as much love as you hoped for. I think the most toxic part of social media is comparing yourself to other people. Specifically on instagram, people compare themselves to others with the amount of followers, pictures, and likes. 

Moral of the story, I am going to try to spend less time on instagram and start focusing on other things. 

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Media Blog #5

Over the weekend, my Fiancé and I spent the week in New York. During our travels, I decided to record my media usage throughout our five day vacation. As soon as we hit the border, both of our phones went on airplane mode, as we wanted to prevent international fees as much as possible. Needless to say, navigating around the states was extremely difficult without our google maps to look at... but we managed. 

As soon as we got to NYC, we came out of Penn Station and I immediately noticed hundreds of people with phones in their hands, snapping pictures left and right. I began to think about how prominent phones are in todays society. This got me thinking about a term we learned in class called “technological convergence”. Phones are not just phones anymore, they are cameras, maps, music players and so much more. 

When we arrived at the hotel, I felt eager to get onto wifi to connect with my friends and family in Canada. I scrolled through facebook and instagram for about an hour and also posted a couple pictures from our trip. Before I knew it, we were back outside, exploring the city. After a couple of hours, I began to wonder what was going on in media that I was “missing” out on. At each cafe we stopped at, I checked to see if there was wifi connections open. I quickly realized that I needed to put my phone away and enjoy the rest of my trip without the distractions of reality.

Overall, my trip to NYC was incredible and I enjoyed not using media as much as I do at home. 

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Media Blog #4 Claire Tufts

Social Media Update

Yesterday, during our second tutorial, we talked about how social media percieves/alters our outlook on reality. This discussion was interesting because everyone had a different outlook. Following our discussion, I spent the rest of the night reflecting on what I am seeing on social media and analyzing the impact that it has on myself.

Out of all my social media accounts, I think Instagram alters my outlook on reality. As I scroll through Instagram, I am constantly seeing models, selfies, vacations, and overall “good times”. People tend to post the positive highlights of their lives on Instagram, hiding the negatives. Don’t get me wrong, I do it too; the last thing that I want to post is what goes on behind closed doors.

I can’t help but compare myself to others on social media. I find myself scrolling through Instagram and saying “I wish I had that..” or “I wish I was doing that”. This brings me to the conclusion that Instagram is addictive and can be toxic if you allow it to be. Along with constantly comparing your life to others, I get self-conscious about the “likes”. In all honesty, there has been many times that I’ve deleted photos because the photo did not get enough likes/comments. It’s pretty sad that I and many others are in this unhealthy cycle of comparing lives and the need for verification.

Needless to say, I definitely think social media doesn’t have an overall good impact on my mental health, but I also do believe that it can be fixed with a changed mindset. I know I am choosing to think the way I think and can change my thinking if I really wanted too.

Claire

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Blog Post #3 Media Impact

Good morning and Happy Tuesday!

I am continuing to moderator my media usage and I am starting to pay attention to how media is affecting my everyday life and mental health. In the last couple of days, I spend the majority of my time scrolling through instagram, facebook and watching netflix. Over the weekend, it was announced that a famous basketball player by the name of Kobe Bryant passed away. This absolutely blew up on social media. There were multiple reports that claimed that the family of Kobe found out about his passing directly through TMZ. Wow, that must be so hard on the family.

I do not watch basketball often, nor am I that familiar with Kobe Bryant, but I felt the impact of his death from the hundreds of posts that were shared on social media. Bryant’s passing was plastered on just about every form of social media. It’s sad and it is a dark time for a lot of people, considering many people looked up to this basketball player. This got me thinking about how fast media travells and how much it impacts mental health. It’s crazy that someone who passed, that I know nothing about, has caused so many emotions to pass through me.

Unfortunately, there is always upsetting news on social media. I am seeing terrorist attacks, crashes, abuse cases, and much more that are popping up on my newsfeed on a regular basis. I can’t help but wonder what this is doing to people's mental health. I mean, you can unfollow news pages, but friends and friends of friends are still going to be sharing these articles.

I find myself in this constant cycle of wanting social media vs deleting social media. I’ve taken breaks from media, but never for too long. It’s crazy how addictive social media can be.

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Blog Post #2 -Mickey Mouse Monopoly

After watching the documentary “Mickey Mouse Monopoly”, it enlightened me on an entirely new perspective of disney films. The film jumped into the racial tactics and utterly sexists characters portrayed in these films. It was absolutely shocking to find out that almost every single film by disney puts an emphasis on gender discrimination towards women. For example Beauty and the Beast. In this film, Belle was held captive by an abusive character, while she relied on her physical looks and seduction to get herself through life. What is this showing our youth?

After watching this film, I began to think about how this is going to affect to children in the long run, specifically girls. Disney films are sending an awful message to young children about the need to rely on men, fulfilling mens needs and emphasizing a women's “beauty” coming from the physical body. Disgusting.

Along with gender discrimination, disney films are extremely racist. For the most part, disney lacks coloured people in their movies. It seems as if every princess is caucasian. They also use stereotypes for cultures, for example: Indians “chanting” with paint all over their face.

After reflecting on this film, I have decided that I will choose not to show my future child/children the older Disney movies. Forunately, Disney movies seem to be getting much more appropriate for children.

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Blog Post #1- Claire Tufts

Over the weekend, I began tracking my media use. For the most part, I am typically scrolling through instagram, facebook, or watching crime shows on netflix. On Friday night, I probably spent around seven hours binge watching the crime show “Don’t F*** With Cats” on netflix. Needless to say, after completing the series of episodes, I could barely sleep that night!

Since our first COMS 2102 class last week, I began thinking about how time and energy that I am spending on social media. After reading the article “The Longest Day“, by Danna Walker, I began to ponder the thought of taking a break or getting rid of social media. On Saturday, I went on an overnight hike to a rustic cabin in Fundy National Park. During this trip, I proudly made the decision to leave my phone on airplane mode the whole time.

Leaving my phone on airplane mode felt like a disconnection from life and reality. The further we travelled into the woods, the more I felt a sense of freedom and peace. Once we settled in at the cabin, I felt the desire to check in on my social media. Despite my tempations, I put my phone away and we opened up some boardgames and got a fire going. During this social media break, there were multiple times I could swear that my phone would buzz or make sounds.. talk about major phantom vibration syndrome! The hardest part of resisting the temptation to look at my phone was right before bed. I am in a habit of scrolling through social media right in bed, so breaking this routine was challenging.

When I got back home on Sunday, I felt excited to turn my phone on and catch up on what I “missed out” on. Being such a social person, I tend to struggle with FOMO (fear of missing out). After reflecting on my trip, I realized that having a social media break was beneficial to my mental health. This break helped me realize that technology is not the center of my universe. Spending quality time with the people you love without the distraction of the outside world was an eye opening expirience.