Media Overconsumption: Moderation is Key

By Meredyth Staunch on November 18, 2017

When my parents bought me my first smartphone in high school, I subconsciously knew my media consumption would skyrocket — but, I told myself I would prioritize finishing a paper over completing a text, read a paper book to pass time instead of surfing the web, and refrain (although as hard as it may be) from creating Facebook and Instagram accounts. It worked. But for only about two years.

As a junior in college now, it is difficult to revert to a time where I did not have a social media account let alone when I had a flip phone in middle school, and I could only use this flip phone for emergencies to call family and friends. Now, the thought of singularly utilizing a phone to call seems absurd. I, for one, never realized how prevalent technology has become ingrained into my daily routine until completing a media diary to track the occurrences I was on the internet, the TV, or the web reading instead of using a paper book. I would like to think of this as the first step in my “media cleansing,” but, like others, I am reliant on technology. Jobs are formulated around it, and daily activities would go awry without its prevalence.

Before completing the diary, I knew I wasted time checking my phone for the text, the Snapchat, the Facebook notification. However, by physically logging how often I spent on these platforms, I understood to a greater extent how much time I wasted throughout the day. This past weekend, I would’ve liked to think of myself as productive with completing my school work in a timely fashion — and by many college students’ standards, I was.

But, the frequent checking my phone for text messages and notifications dragged on the process of finishing a reading or writing assignment. Sure, maybe the studying and homework were not easy to begin with, but tackle on the extra distraction of a vibrating device that lit up beside my study materials, and my mentality had shifted 180 degrees. I am not the only person who this happens to. Frankly, most, if not all high school and college students, myself included, get side-tracked by technology that is supposed to make our lives easier. What we fail to accept, though, is that by redirecting our attention to a mindless text or post, it takes more energy to re-channel to that original task at hand.

This brings me to my next point: All of my homework was centered around technology. I read online. I wrote a paper online. I looked up information online. The library and physical handwriting have become obsolete in the 21st century. Heck, grade school students are not taught cursive anymore — an art that was drilled into me from second through fifth grade. Laptops are a college student’s best friend. Most bring them to class, to the library, to study rooms. It does not matter where you study unless you have your laptop. It cracks me up how college campuses have libraries and hardly anyone checks out books. Now, it seems almost “Stone Age-esque” to open up a book in search of information. After all, we have the internet instead. I might seem old school and unpopular in saying this, but while technology is very important in my day-to-day tasks, I wish it was scaled back to when there were not as many advancements.

But, after growing up around the internet and phones during my late middle school days until now, it would be incredibly difficult — if not almost impossible — to backtrack to a less technologically advanced time. However, I believe this media cleansing would force me to think more freely on my own instead of being reliant on technology to instantaneously feed me the answer.

I am not a neuroscientist nor have I grown up around any, but I do have a science background and do enjoy reading. Some of these readings elicited the fact that children’s creativity levels have plummeted because they looked to their phones, iPads, or TVs as boredom breakers, a method to keep themselves occupied when they didn’t know what else to do. Instead of utilizing the right, creative-filled hemisphere of the brain, these children were looking for easy fixes, and their parents were not helping the cause.

When toddlers misbehave or have a temper tantrum, I have personally seen parents put their phones or iPads in front of their children to shut them up. This is not solving anything. And by subjecting a small child to such technology, he or she is not engaging all of the senses in order to sufficiently develop the brain to its full potential. More parents are placing devices in front of their kids instead of engaging with them. First, how is the child going to properly develop interpersonal skills if he or she only looks at a screen? I see people’s personalities becoming bland due to the increased screen time and decreased socialization.

If I were to cut myself completely from technology today, I don’t think I could successfully do it. Not that I don’t have the willpower, but because all of our daily activities and general knowledge center around it. I have the BBC app, where I get my news; I have an alarm clock on my phone; I take pictures with my phone. But, if this was not the norm, I believe I would have an easier transition in weaning myself off of devices. All of us are largely influenced by the majority because of a need to fit in, so if a prominent person decided to go on a media cleanse and another one followed suit and so on, maybe I could possibly hop onto the trend.

Although, it is easier said than done. We instantaneously retrieve an answer with a click of a button with the help of the internet. By cutting ourselves off entirely from the get-go, I interpret many people wouldn’t know what to do. Problem solvers would catch on easier and start looking for information, which would be tedious, but that’s how others found out information years ago. We would actually boost our critical thinking skills. With the increasing rate of media consumption and technology breakthroughs, maybe civilization will eventually end up like those in “Wall-E”: fat and closed-off to the world except for the screen right in front of them.

I want to revert to when kids and parents alike were always outdoors or on their feet moving. One of my favorite movies is “The Sandlot.” Yes, it’s funny, and yes, I do enjoy baseball. But, I also love the concept of kids just being outside of the house the entire day and playing ball together. That was their pastime to keep themselves out of trouble and out of their parents’ hands.

While I was growing up, I was close to all of the kids in my neighborhood. Like the boys in “The Sandlot,” everyone in my subdivision turned to a sport, but ours was swimming. I miss the sense of community in which “everybody knew everybody,” and if you weren’t in your house, your parents knew you were probably at the pool or biking around with a friend down the street. I like to think of this community as a current state without technology, but I am too optimistic.

Maybe I get my ideas from my parents, who are a little bit older than most parents of the people my age, but I believe all of us are suffering to some extent from media consumption. Certainly, it is useful in keeping ourselves informed, and my career path is journalism (which might sound counterintuitive to many considering my stance on the overuse of technology), but everything should be utilized in moderation.

This media diary helped me realize how I use multimedia platforms for simple tasks that I don’t need to use them for. Certainly, they help me complete tasks quicker, but I also strongly acknowledge that it is not the most healthy and helpful for social interaction. This is especially true for the younger generation.

https://www.imaginationward.com

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