Term Paper 1

 Taylor Rich

Professor Reppert

MCOM 1003

August 27, 2020

Term Paper #1

According to my iPhone’s ‘Screen Time’, I average approximately 8 hours and 30 minutes daily on my phone and the media it provides me. My dependence on my phone has grown as I have aged. I use it for basic social media needs, updates, and interactions, but it has also become a scapegoat in awkward situations and moments where I am uncomfortable with communicating with strangers. When this happens, I can easily turn on my phone and block out the outside world and give myself a “valid excuse” for the lack of interaction. The effect my media usage has on my life is impactful, and stretches through every day of my life. When I think of my daily media usage, I can confidently say that my routine begins as soon as I open my eyes and doesn’t end until I close my eyes at the end of the day. 

Each morning, I rely on my phone to wake me up at the correct time to ensure I get my day started accordingly. As soon as I can open my eyes and groan until I can finally turn off the alarm, my mind is fully attuned to what new updates are waiting for me that morning. Messages, Snapchats, Instagram posts, TikTok videos, Twitter hashtags, emails, and reminders for the day fill my lock screen and immediately encourage me to check each one. I spend at least the first ten minutes of my day updating my social media and replying to unanswered messages. As I dress for the day, I fill the silence with a Netflix show (most likely New Girl) in the background or my favorite playlist on Spotify. 

As my day progresses, I access my phone as notifications filter in. When messages from my family and friends deliver, I am immediately responding. As soon as I am sitting either procrastinating homework, eating lunch, waiting on a friend, or simply just bored, I instantly refresh my Instagram page to gain new updates about my favorite things. I have post notifications turned on for my best friends along with Marvel Studios, Star Wars, Disney, One Direction (and every member), and Tom Holland so I never miss an update. Pinterest and it’s DIY projects, hair tutorials, and decor tips always catch my eye, especially as the fall season is approaching. I even spend lull moments of my day accessing the Walt Disney World app to make note of the wait times for rides, in preparation for a future trip. 

As soon as I get into my car, Maverick, I connect my phone and play my Spotify playlist as I commute. If my ride is short and I forget to connect my phone, I let my One Direction or Jonas Brothers CD fill the silence. If I am driving for a longer period of time, I am either listening to music or calling my mom or friends to talk to. The radio inside Maverick is rarely touched, and honestly I only hear Sirius XM on the rare occasions I am in my mom’s car. 

Although my media usage is primarily for social purposes, I dedicate time throughout the day (outside of class time) to check my school email, message my golf team about practice, and use educational apps to study while on the go, such as Quizlet, Google Docs, Blackboard, and Zoom. Along with my phone, I use my laptop to primarily check emails, do homework, complete assignments, and even binge watch Disney+ or Netflix. 

Closer to the end of the day is when I am usually open to spend the majority of my time on my phone. This is normally later than dinner time, when I’ve had golf practice and have completed as much schoolwork as my brain can handle. But this is the time where I primarily talk to my friends and family via phone call or Facetime. Since moving 6 hours away, I spend a lot of time on Facetime calls with my family and best friends, and each call is never under 10 minutes. I also spend this time checking the sixty-plus TikTok videos my friends have shared with me throughout the day. 

I can easily compare and find similarities of my media usage with my four sisters, but living with someone in a dorm who comes from a separate background than myself, proves to be more interesting and diverse than my family. My roommate generally spends a good amount on her phone, engaging with Instagram and Snapchat; but rather than accessing Netflix on her computer as I do, she prefers to play games. Everyday she is logged on to ‘Movie Star Planet’ or ‘Roblox’ until about two in the morning (way past my bedtime). And just as I do with my friends and family, she Facetimes her boyfriend continually throughout the day, allowing her to connect with him even with distance between them. 

My media habits have numerous positive effects on my life: I am constantly in contact with my loved ones, I am always up to date with news and activities on campus and in my life, I am attuned with new technology, and I am able to connect with the outside world in a way that wasn’t always possible.  Unfortunately, like most things in life, there are some downsides. With all of this new technology and instant access to the world at my fingertips, I easily lose sight of the important moments right in front of me. Even though I joked earlier about using my phone to escape awkward social situations, it is something that I do too often. Rather than using these opportunities to engage with people I don’t know, I use my phone to escape any possibility of a conversation. My constant dependency on the media definitely contributes to my lack of confidence in a social setting, and I need to learn to wean off of the comfort of my phone. 

Whether it’s positive or negative, media is a major part of my life that has become a necessity to my day to day routine. Whether it’s communicating with loved ones, connecting with the outside world, or simply staying up to date on news and social media, each media connection ties me to the technological age we are living in.