atejauirpamaciauveryga-blog

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Phones are very easy to pick up and hard to put down. They’re with us throughout the day

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Media Detox - Assignment 4

           Having spent a day without any type of media was refreshing. I could finally spend a day without committing myself to knowing everything about the world and keeping up with my friends. I was always under the impression that media makes people less social and only makes the process of socializing more difficult. Four years ago I distinctly remember telling myself I could live without the Internet if only school work wasn’t posted online. I can’t say the same anymore, for social media has taken up way more of my life. Entertainment, studies, friends – everything fits into a screen now that I’ve moved to England. I spend most of my days staring at the same screen and find it hard to look away. But I wouldn’t call myself an addict.

Laura Portwood-Stacer (2012) claims that an addiction is “what takes a “natural” human activity and makes it culturally unacceptable”. In other words, an over-abundance of media could be considered an addiction. It is the nature of my usage of media that I believe separates me from the addicts. I tend to switch between five websites throughout the day mainly to stay informed or entertained. I don’t use social media to stroke my ego, neither do I care about the people trying to stroke theirs. Websites like Facebook and Twitter seem to be the best outlets for narcissistic people according to a study by a study conducted by students from American students (2015). The results of the study showed that these people don’t usually gather more attention than people with lower narcissism. I however have a low tolerance for people who try to direct attention towards themselves and therefore avoid performing the same activities they do. I only find myself using the messenger function on Facebook when I want to text with friends overseas or talk to loved ones through Skype.

Having said that, the modern media makes life simpler and most couldn’t imagine living in a world without it. I am under the impression that life is made more boring with the help of the Internet. Everything can be found in a matter of seconds and the sense of discovery or achievement is lost. If technology keeps moving in the same direction – making life simpler, life won’t be exciting enough to live as many activities that bring joy will become obsolete. Social gatherings are nearly not as fun with everyone at the table nose deep in their phones.

I was not surprised at the amount of media I take in every day (Appendix 1). When I’m not working or the weather is bad, I don’t see a point in going outside. A simple box can give me all the enjoyment I need in a day. I can see my friends, watch whatever I want and play video games. Getting rid of technology would make life more interesting and maybe get rid of a few people who got famous for being famous. Social media is making us less social and we can’t stop the progress of technology.

Reference list:

Portwood-Stacer, L. (2012), “How we talk about media refusal, Part 1: “Addiction”.” Available at: http://www.flowjournal.org/2012/07/how-we-talk-about-media-refusal-part-1/

Choi, M., Panek, E., Nardis, Y., Toma, C., (2015) “When social media isn’t social: Friends’ responsiveness to narcissists on Facebook” Available at:

www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lancs.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0191886914007843