Our Media Consumption

           The media has become a part of our lives and these days it's even easier to stay connected to it because of technology becoming more and more advanced. With that in mind, how long do we (teenagers) spend dealing with the media? Let's take a moment to really think about it and think about all the attention we give the media such as the Internet, our phones, watching television, listening to the radio, even something as simple as reading a magazine or the newspaper.

         When I get up at six in the morning I watch music videos on MTV or VH1 while I'm getting ready for school for about half an hour to 45 minutes. That's how my day usually starts. Then I would say that I spend about five minutes on my cellphone, usually sending a text, between my classes everyday. So that would be five minutes before school starts then five minutes between first and second period and so on. In total that's about 30 minutes on my phone before the school day ends and maybe even more if my teachers let us have our phones out or if I feel like I need to send a text during class. So in total maybe about an hour everyday on my phone, just for texting someone, if not more. Meanwhile I'm texting my friends I'm usually listening to music on Pandora, YouTube, or usually my own music which is another form of media. So on top of my hour of texting throughout the school day and listening to music accumulates to about two to two and a half hours. Sometimes my classes require me to get on the computer so we'll say about one hour every once in a while. When I get home, I work on my homework at my desk in my room which happens to have my computer in there. So I'll spend about two to three hours on the computer doing homework and checking social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr. Afterwards I'll watch television for about two to three hours as well. So far, starting from my day to the end I would say I spend about 8 hours and 15 minutes dealing with the media a day then add some additional time when I'm on my phone while I'm at home, we'll say about half an hour. So in total that is roughly 8 hours and 45 minutes to 9 hours everyday dealing with the media, which seems outrageous now that I'm really thinking about it. Take about 9 hours by 7, you get 63 hours a week dealing with the media out of the 168 hours in a week.
             An article here shows that the average time kids spend watching television each day is about 4 hours. 54% of kids have their own T.V in their room which most definitely would be easy access for children to the media as well as a computer in the room. 
         What I'm trying to say is I think it's very possible to spend so much time dealing with the media. If you think about it a majority of us are always on our phones in between classes, during classes, before and after school. Because there are intervals and we're not constantly on our phones, or listening to music, or watching T.V as much as we like it feels like we aren't getting on the media often when the truth is we are on it more than we probably should be. 

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