Learning about My Socially-oriented Media Consumption

My Media Consumption in Twenty-four Hours

Media Consumption Log
S=smartphone  C=computer  T=tablet  V=television  P=paper  R=radio
Time of day	Device (S, C, T, V, P, R)	Path (How did you get there?)	Content Source	Time with content	Action (share, comment)	Location (where consuming content)	With whom? (in person, virtually, alone)	Were you multitasking too? Doing what?	How were you feeling at the time of use?
7:45	S	Notification	Fenghuang News, Wechat	10min	None	Dorm	Alone	Yes	Sleepy
8:00	S	App	Netease Music	50min	None	Dorm	In person	Yes	Relaxing
9:00	S	Notification	News summary	5min	None	Dorm	Alone	No	Chilling
12:30	S	App	Netease Music	70min	None	Dorm	In person	Yes	Happy and hungry
1:30	S	Through a friend	Weibo	10min	None	Dorm	With a friend	Yes	Energetic
1:45	S	E-mail	CNN Good Morning	5min	None	Dorm	Alone	No	After lunch rest before washing dishes
2:45	S	Notification	People’s Daily	5min	None	Dorm	Alone	No	Tired
6:30	S	App	Weibo	10min	Share	Restaurant	With a friend	Yes	Bored
9:45	S	App	Wechat	5min	None	Restaurant	With a friend	Yes	Bored
11:15	S	Notification	Fenghuang News& Weibo	20min	Share	Dorm	Alone	Yes	Resting

After observing my media consumption within the last twenty-four hours, I was ashamed to find out that the time I spent consuming news was surprisingly short. For example, I recorded that I usually consumed news when I was resting, such as cooking, eating, or waiting in a line. I often just spent 5 to 10 minutes each time scrolling on news from the public accounts that I am following in WeChat or email newsletters from CNN.

Living in China since young and coming to the United States about one year ago, I find myself still heavily depending on WeChat because it is a platform frequently used by my friends and family. As you can see from my screenshot, I spent more than half of the time using WeChat on that day. Besides WeChat, I also consumed media on platforms such as Weibo (like Chinese Twitter), People’s Daily, CNN News, Overlooked News, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and so on, all of which are on my smartphone.

This kind of media consumption across culture and language allows me to learn about events from different perspectives and gradually form my own view. For example, last semester when the Hong Kong Protest was frequently reported, it was interesting to see how the protest was viewed from different standpoints and portrayed differently among Chinese, Hong Kong, and the U.S. media.

I realized that my means of media consumption have become narrower since I have come to the United States. This is probably because now I don’t have a TV or subscribe to newspaper at home. I also stop listening to the radio when driving to school anymore since I live on campus now. On one hand, I don’t think consuming media from a smartphone is necessarily a bad thing because we can access content from different sources on our phones. However, I did find myself becoming more and more attached to my smartphone and it often distracts me during work .

Socially-oriented Media Consumption

As I have mentioned earlier, the reason that I spent half of my time on WeChat is that it is a platform frequently used by my friends and families. Personally, I find myself consuming media that people I know are discussing on social media platforms because I want to keep myself up to date with what my friends are discussing. For example, one recently ongoing news is China’s growing virus outbreak that has spread from one city (Wuhan) to more cities such as Guangzhou and Beijing. I realize that I tend to consume media that is more closely related to my life or people I know and care about. However, this may lead to a more biased or narrow perspective when it comes to media consumption.

Passive Media Consumer

By writing down my media consumption within twenty-four hours, I am ashamed to learn that I am a passive media consumer. I realized that I hardly took any action when consuming media unless it was closely related to people that I care about. For example, I shared the news about 2 Chinese citizens getting killed in Madrid, Spain to my friend who is studying abroad in Madrid and asked her not to go out alone at night.

Another instance that I took action with the media I consumed was when I learned that the virus in China has already spread to Guangdong Province, where my family lives. I shared the news with my family and reminded them to buy masks and not go to places with a lot of people.

However, I realize that I am not the kind of active media consumers who would re-post and comment on an article or news they read on social media platforms as some of my friends do. Although I read what they post and may have opinions different from them, I found myself not expressing my opinions publicly. This probably has to the with the education I have received since young. A typical class in China fills with the teacher lecturing and students listening carefully and taking notes. Therefore, I have not formed the habit to speak out and express my opinions in front of others. But I always admire those who are brave enough to express themselves freely, so I am also pushing myself out of my comfort zone by forcing myself to answer at least one question every class. I hope by pushing myself to consume more diverse media in more depth and training myself to speak out, I can become a more active and engaged, fulfilling my responsibility as a global citizen.