Professor Gillmor asked us to keep track of our media use in a 24-hour period, and I chose this past Wednesday as my diary day. Upon reading the assignment last weekend, my mind immediately went back to a specific instance when I was in high school. We received an envelope that my father was getting ready to tear in half – he didn’t recognize the sender, and it appeared to be junk mail. I opened the envelope and inside was a crisp one dollar bill, along with a letter asking us to keep track of our television viewing details for a week. That was how the Nielsen Company used to track viewer ratings, unless you were one of the families chosen to have a monitoring device hooked up to your television.
Okay, back to the present… Here’s how Wednesday, August 25th shaped up as far as my media use is concerned:
My alarm goes off at 6:00. After snoozing for another 20 minutes, I’m finally out of bed. I usually do not interact with my phone in the morning, until I get in the car and place my Starbucks mobile order on the way to work. This morning was no different, and I was out the door at 6:55.
I know it sounds like boring routine, but I try to leave the house before 7:00 every weekday. That’s because I like to catch the national news at the top of the hour on KNX 1070 Newsradio in Los Angeles. COVID-19 updates, the latest news in Afghanistan and the extreme heat across the nation were today’s top stories.
After I pick up my coffee, I take a quick look at the baseball scores from last night on the MLB.com app. My phone has news headlines listed each morning, but they’re usually the same thing that I just heard on KNX so I clear them right away.
Do I include the ads that I see on my way to work? I drive surface streets, so I am not bombarded by the billboards and now digital billboards that line our freeways. This morning, since I’m paying attention to media, I notice that many bus stops have advertisements for local restaurants (NORMS, in particular).
While at work, I use the internet throughout the day, but it’s accessing remote servers for our business software. Not much interaction with news or advertising during my day. During my lunch break I look ahead to the night’s baseball schedule on my smart phone, and catch up on my emails.
Wednesday night is my bowling night – so now I see those billboards on my drive to Lakewood. As always, the radio is set to KNX when I get in the car. I listen to see if there’s any breaking news, then switch over to AM 830 to catch the Angels game.
At the bowling alley, they have the Dodgers-Padres game on the TV screens. After bowling, I listen to the Dodger game on my drive home, and then listen to the game when I get home and prepare for bed. I’m on the couch, and the game goes deeper into extra innings. It’s now past midnight, so the announcers start saying “this morning” and “yesterday” when referring to situations earlier in the game. They half-jokingly thank those that are still listening.
I can’t go to sleep until the game ends. The Dodgers score two in the top of the 15th, but the Padres tie it in the bottom half. In the 16th inning, the Dodgers score two more and this time successfully hold on to win the game.
I can finally go to sleep, happy that my Dodgers won. Not happy knowing that the alarm goes off in a mere five hours.
Note: By now, you may have realized that I have a one-track mind when it comes to baseball. You’ve also come to the realization that I am quite boring in terms of social media (or lack thereof). That’s one major reason why I am here at ASU Online – to introduce myself to various social media platforms and learn to embrace the advances in technology.
