10 Day Media Use Diary

10 Day Media Use Diary

The use of media is a significant factor in the average day of most Australians. There has been a shift from the simplistic producer and consumer roles within the the realm of media. I have recorded and de-constructed my current media use over a period of ten days. The results show the accessibility and functionality of modern media outlets as well as reflect the nature of my college accommodation and its influence upon availability of certain media outlets.

10 Day media use graph( In Days and Minutes)

Media use is dictated by the lifestyle a person leads. As is seen in the above graph my personal use of television is comparatively low compared to other forms of media. This is due to the college environment in which I live which gives me limited access to television and a large amount of access to on-line sources of media.

I have recorded my online media use in three separate categories. Internet browsing, in which I categorised recreational use of the internet to browse miscellaneous websites. Internet research contains all online media use that is related to university assessment and research. Social media use records the use of Facebook, Twitter and blogging, my only currently used social media outlets.

The result of my large access to online, "new" media sources is an elevated amount of internet browsing, internet research and social media use. The correlation between the use of these three media sources reflects the level of multitasking that I generally have when using the internet. On days 4 and 5 when I was working on an assignment my level of internet research was expectedly elevated. As an unexpected by-product both my social media use and my internet browsing were proportionately raised. This indicates that various forms of online media supplement each other to produce an overall media experience.

I placed phone use as a form of media use due to the fact that a modern smartphone provides access to far more than traditional telecommunication. My phone use, although small compared to my previously recorded internet use, is heavily weighted towards the use of social media applications and their monitoring.

Radio is the final form of media, and the second of the "old" media that I use. Due to living at college I avoid a commute to university. Consequently this means that I spend minimal time in the car and rarely have opportunity to listen to the radio. On  days 3 and 5 I travelled home to the Gold Coast which explains the spike in minutes spent listening to the radio on those days.

"Old" Vs "New" Media use Graph( In Days and Minutes)

My personal use of media is heavily slanted towards new media, as is indicated by the above graph. Old media is increasingly subverted my the encompassing nature of new media. The results of the course survey are evidence of the overwhelming disparity between new and old media use. Question 28 of the survey has 39.4 percent of surveyed students using an online newspaper as their most common source of news compared to 3.6% using paper newspaper.

My media usage over the recorded period strongly reflects and characterises the modern dominance of new media usage over old. I used a smartphone and heavily relied upon the internet, foregoing old media alternatives. The strong correlation between my use of online resources shows that new media is often used as a collective source of information, rather than individually. My media use is atypical due to my college environment and as such is not indicative of current media use trends.