I love reading about pop culture, haute couture, and soccer. I’m addicted to binging dramas and I can do it all day every day. However, everything is only good if used in moderation, and moderation is at the moment not a particular word I would choose to describe my habits, unfortunately. I’ve always found it incredibly difficult to change any aspect of myself, but a media consumption log I did recently tells me it’s time to try, for my own good.
Upon kickstarting the day, the first media I found myself checking was neither Instagram nor Twitter, but rather emails. I checked my two Gmail accounts for messages from professors and TAs, the status of my online orders, and newsletters. Apart from the New York Times, the rest of my subscriptions are all fashion/entertainment-related: Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, etc. This round of information fulfills my need to feel updated just enough because there is nothing else I’d rather wake up to than reading about the seven ways Hollywood stars embraced lingerie dressing.
As I normally continue with my day, checking social media is a necessity. I consider this incredibly important because it is how I keep up with friends I don’t see very often and keep myself updated with other types of news. Each of my social media account is dedicated to a different purpose: Instagram for friends and even more entertainment news, Twitter for current events, political news, and soccer, Facebook for all kinds of news in Vietnamese. For example, my favorite soccer team, FC Barcelona, had their first game under a new manager on the day I did my media consumption log, so I spent a lot of time on Twitter during the match to read people’s comments and reactions.
And after the match to find interesting articles.
After that I spent almost 10 hours watching Gossip Girl. I know. It’s the best thing in the world.
As iconic as the show is, binging a series for almost half a day definitely had negative effects on my productivity and adherence to schedule. I was able to read a few chapters of a book called The Home and the World, thus only completing one of the assignments set out for that day, and that was it. The media fulfilled my need for entertainment but I definitely overused it to procrastinate from fulfilling the more important tasks.
All in all, upon reviewing a day of my media consumption, I find myself both passive and proactive when it comes to utilizing media platforms. I would actively seek news related to fashion, entertainment, soccer while being rather passive when it comes to more serious matters. I also tend to take advantage of the activities I enjoy to procrastinate from what I must complete. I think that there’s nothing wrong with watching shows and enjoying reading about celebrities more than political unrest, but moderation is always key, and I need to find that to become a better citizen of the world and to be able to make better use of my time.
Days Like This 