Media Log 3 – The Evaluation

After conducting this piece of research, my daily life is surrounded by media and that media does play a rather large part in my life. I am engaging and interacting with media products and platforms throughout my entire day. Ironically, I wake up to engage with a media product (phone alarm) and I go to sleep interacting with that same product (phone alarm) each day. Since I began studying media I have questioned what the world along with myself would do without media on the level we have it now and even contemplate what life would be like if media simply didn’t exist. To me, media is a source of entertainment, interaction, socialisation, learning and so much more.

One stereotype I was hoping to reduce was that the younger generations are so digitalised that we do not consume any old school media such as print. I hoped that by recording down when I engaged with posters or billboards I could prove that this isn’t the case but unfortunately, I did not engage or take notice in any print advertisements or print media. However, I also skipped adverts on YouTube when listening to music and so I in fact also did not engage with any digital advertisements either. This minor observation suggests to me that it is simply advertisements that I personally do not engage with as they are always considered an interruption or distraction from what we are aiming to engage with and so I do not aim to take notice of them but in fact aim to avoid them.

If I were to refer to a theory to help evaluate my research, I would say that the 1969 Uses and Gratifications theory by McQuail is interesting to look at in relation. The theory is known for considering the audience as being ‘active’ consumers of media and demonstrates this using 4 separate categories which can then be paired up to produce the 2 sectors – Uses and Gratifications. The Uses are the ways we use media along with the purposes and functions it serves whereas Gratifications is the ways that the media gratifies our desires, needs and wants. The 4 smaller categories are: Surveillance, Personal Identity, Personal Relationships and Diversion. Surveillance is the knowledge of the world around us. Personal Identity is to use in developing and expressing our identity. Personal Relationships is to use in building and sustaining our personal relationships. Diversion is to escape, gain pleasure or create a fantasy etc. (Taken from Media Audiences Week 6 Uses, Gratifications and Functions Lecture – used notes I took from the lecture).

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I would say that the 4 categories from McQuail’s theory do coincide with the ways in which my research has shown I consume the media. Surveillance being about the knowledge of the world around you I would say that in the recordings I have been accessing information on finding out room and building locations for my lectures and when on YouTube I listen to documentaries about the gun control protests happening in America indicating that I consume media that does provide me with knowledge of the world around me both globally and locally. I often find myself researching global disasters or movements that are happening in the current news media so that I am aware and knowledgeable of what is going on around me. Personal Identity for my is reflected through my social media for example, when I posted on Snapchat a video of my sister and I playing around with the filters. I would also say that it is heavily reflected through the music and television shows I interact with as these make up a huge part of my personality and what I like and dislike. For example, most of the television shows I watch are very Sci-Fi/Futuristic or fantasy themed because I personally really enjoy the fictional atmosphere they provide. I would be classed as a bit of a ‘Supernatural Geek’ because of the shows I watch such as Stranger Things because I have a huge fondness for shows that are very different to the world we live in today but I also think it is an interesting part of my personality and people may not think from simply looking at me that I would enjoy those genres especially not the extent I do, which I do not think is a bad thing. People should not be judged on their appearance or their interests alone. Personal Relationships for me would be the use of social media because it is my way of getting in touch with my friends such as when I arrange meeting and walking to university with my friend Catherine. I use Facebook Messenger the most to message my friends on group chats such as the Media ones, but I also use Instagram because I get to see visual updates on how my friends who I do not get to see often are doing and what is going on in their lives. Almost everyone my age has social media and so it is often the easiest way when we are all living in separate places to keep us in contact and keep our relationships going. Diversion, watching television shows and listening to music is my form of escapism. The fantasy element to the shows I watch helps keep me distracted from all the stress of being a student and all the negative that is happening in the world. Music I always sing along to and I find that when I sing I feel free and am taken away from everything mundane and living in the moment and so it is my escape into moments of pure passion for something I love that fills me with joy. As you can see in my log I have to listen to music and have a tv show on at least once a day to escape from reality for a while.

This research assignment has helped raise my awareness to how easily I personally take the media I am surrounded with for granted. I consume an incredibly large amount of media each day and it is insane to think about what life would be like if it all suddenly went away. Since moving to University I do feel my media usage has gone up because I do have so much time off, but I also feel that looking back over the past couple of year that my usage has increase because of the advancements in technology that have been made. I think that technology is a huge part of life in society today and that each year media is becoming more and more dependant upon by myself, my peers and simply the world around me. I believe that the worlds media usage will continue to grow as the technological developments expand. If I were to have conducted this experiment on someone younger, I believe that their media usage would be a lot higher than mine and that their log would appear very differently to my own.

Overall, I would say I have conducted a successful piece of research as not only did I make predictions that were correct, but I also surprised myself with the results I found, and I really enjoyed doing it. I think that I could’ve done a more detailed table if I were to redo the project and maybe included some other media platforms into the table but I am proud of the data I collected as it was not an easy task and I had to stick to the basics because it was the only realistic way of gathering the research I needed with the highest level of accuracy I could provide at that time.