My Media Consumption Over a Week
Over the last week of my Summer Holiday I have documented my Media consumption, taking note of the amount of time I’ve spent listening to the radio, watching TV and films, reading print Media (magazines and newspapers), consuming online Media forms (social media and streaming services) and gaming.
In my case, I have mainly taken note of the fact that I haven’t actually consumed all of these Media forms. And in addition, those I have consumed are not balanced in their amounts of time, and thus moving forward my aim is to make sure that I have consumed a more ‘rounded diet’ of Media…
What do I consume the most?
It’s clear to see that the Media form I consume the most is radio – it makes up almost half of my overall Media consumption. This might be surprising seeing as it’s somewhat looked upon as a ‘dying art’ but I listen to the radio daily. Capital FM is available digitally so I stream the London station online (as there is no station local to me) whenever I get the chance. I’m not listening intently to what the presenters are saying or pop stars are singing because it acts more as background noise for me, seeing as I’m someone that hates sitting in silence! It’s more convenient than downloading Spotify, creating an account and making my own playlist – everything is done for me. Fortunately, I fall into Capital’s target audience of whom 58% are 15-34year old ‘fans of the world of popular music entertainment’. It’s said they/we (!) are ‘media savvy, on trend and use Capital to be the first of their mates 'in the know' on the very latest glamour, glitz and gossip’ and this all means I can hear the music and news I’m interested in whenever I want, making radio the obvious form of media I do, and probably will continue, to consume the most.
What do I consume the least?
Evidently, the Media forms I’ve consumed the least this week are print and gaming – I haven’t read or played any texts. This is purely down to the fact they just don't appeal to me. In terms of print texts, despite the fact my parents buy and read a newspaper every day, I never gravitate towards them. This is due to a number of reasons. For one, a newspaper is a lengthy read, so there are a lot of other things I'd rather spend my time doing. In addition, I can hear all the day's main news stories on the hour when I listen to the radio. There's no need for me to go out and spend money picking up a tabloid or broadsheet. Time is also not my only justification for not reading any magazines. There is a lot of choice when it comes to buying magazines and I often feel overwhelmed looking at all the genres when I step into a shop. If I'm going to buy a magazine, there will normally be a purpose for buying it - for example, I bought more travel magazines when I was creating my own at GCSE. This week, there just hasn't been a purpose for me to buy a magazine as I've been going out and about doing things, but I'm sure before I go on holiday I'll be stocking up! I should also add that sometimes the front page stories just don't appeal, or they're telling me things I already know from other forms of Media. As for my lack of gaming, I am just not a gamer. The only game I do own and play is The Sims 4 and I think it's common knowledge that anyone who plays the game goes through phases of not playing at all and then binging. This week has just been one of the 'not playing at all' phases!
Of course it’s important to remember that every week is different so my weekly Media consumption is an ever-changing thing. For example, my Media ‘diet’ over the Summer Holiday will be completely different to that of a week when I am back at school because school and homework takes up a large proportion of my days, leaving me with a lot less time to watch my favourite Netflix show or sing along to my favourite song when it comes on the radio.
Moving forward, I will consume three extra texts to bring my knowledge of Media 'up to speed'. These will be:
The Media Show on BBC Radio 4
www.mediawatchuk.org.uk
Click from the BBC
Of course, this will be as well as my 'normal' media consumption and further additions to ensure I consume a more 'rounded diet' of Media than that of the last week I have documented...
An Update | 14th August 2017
This week, I've made a conscious effort to consume a wide variety of Media texts to leave me with a more rounded Media 'diet'.
I've been to the cinema to see Dunkirk as well as watching a few of my DVDs and Pride when it was broadcast on TV, to make up the film portion of my Media 'diet'. Seeing as it is the only game I own, I've spent time playing The Sims 4 on my laptop! And finally, I've read an issue of the travel magazine Journey that's been sat waiting for me to read for the last little while, as well as flicking through The Daily Mail my parents purchase daily to ensure I'm consuming print Media texts.
In terms of bringing my knowledge of Media 'up to speed', I have listened to the latest episode of The Media Show which featured 'Media titan John Malone, newspapers 'ripping' content, and online moderation'. It was very interesting hearing about aspects of the Media I'd never heard about before and I found it insightful hearing from so many experts in the field in a mere thirty minutes. The episode of Click I watched (Unexpected Item in Bagging Area) was also interesting because it looked at not only new technology, but also the history of that which we use day to day. The Summer 2017 newsletter from www.mediawatchuk.org.uk was a good read for a similar reason, as it covered relatable topics from the fire at Grenfell Tower which was covered widely in the news to the Netflix original drama 13 Reasons Why which has been a topic of conversation amongst my peers at school and also something I have thought about watching myself...
So overall, documenting my Media consumption over the last two weeks has been a fascinating experiment and left me not only with a greater understanding for the Media in general, but also my own use of it and how I can make the most of it in the future. It has been a good introduction to the subject at A Level and I've really enjoyed it!