Mini-Task 2 Media Diet Log

Complete a full week (SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21st) without once using AT LEAST ONE of the following new media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, or another option of your choosing.

 

 

 

graphics courtesy of the following links:

http://order-order.com/2009/09/01/silly-season-officially-over-no-more-twitter-stories/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/places-you-shouldnt-use-instagram/

 

DAY ONE 2/15/2015 4 P.M.
For my Media diet, I will stop using Instagram and Twitter for the week. What I would really like to give up for the week is Facebook, the bane of my social media existence. However, the only thing keeping me back from that is keeping in touch with one of my roommates and some people in my classes. Ideally, though, I would have liked to give up Facebook most as I use it the most, I use it to sign in to games and websites, but I also find myself mindlessly scrolling through the feed at times. Because I can not give that up right now, I chose the next two forms of social media that I use most often quite mindlessly. Although I occasionally get my news and re-tweet some headlines and trending stories on Twitter, for the most part, my usage is similar to Facebook, in which I mindlessly scroll and scroll and scroll, refresh and repeat. I feel it will be a healthy diet if I take a break from Twitter for that reason especially. That, and like Facebook, a lot of what I see on there lately can sometimes be laughable or disturbing. I think it might be challenging tonight, as I want to watch Saturday Night Live’s 40 special, and based on my live-tweeting during the Super Bowl, I might be tempted to do the same thing; typically I think I use Twitter while doing something else, such as watching a show or movie, or listening to music. Given that my Twitter feed is on this blog, viewers will be able to see if I cheat or not this week, at least for creating activity.
In addition to Twitter, I will be giving up Instagram as well. Although my usage on Instagram is not as unsettling as my usage on Facebook and Twitter, I do post photos from time to time. (Looking on it as we speak-not to use but to see what my last couple posts were so I can write about it on here. I won’t look again, I promise). My photos on there mostly consist of ones of my friends, my pets, and things to brag about, I think the general range of photos that most people post about. Even though I don’t think my usage on here is as bad as many other users, I know it is a platform that I still check at least daily, to see what my friends have posted, to see who liked my photos, and to see who my new followers are. It might be healthy to stray from that behavior as well.
So far so good, but it’s only the first day. I’ll see how it goes 🙂

DAY TWO 2/16/2015 5 P.M.

So, Day Two and I have not used either Instagram or Twitter yet.  I did get a notification this morning that someone liked a photo on Instagram, and I almost opened to see what it was, but I remembered the diet, so that’s good.  I didn’t live-tweet the show I was watching last night, not even when Paul McCartney performed, (still fantastic).  It turns out that I watched the show more intently as a result.  Ironically, Tina Fey made a joke about the new generation live-tweeting shows instead of watching them on Saturday Night Live at some point.

 

DAY THREE 2/17/2015 9:30 A.M.

I haven’t been on Twitter at all in these three days, however someone requested to follow me on Instagram and I accepted the request.  Other than that slip up, I’ve been pretty good on this diet.  I almost posted a photo of this Carnation I received for Valentine’s day, propped cutely in a water-filled glass Coca-Cola bottle on my desk, but I did not.  I did take a picture though, it just looked pretty.  I don’t know why Instagram seems so attractive, I didn’t think I used it that much at all, but perhaps I use it more than I thought I did.

10 A.M.

Just received a notification on my phone: “@7News, @cbsboston, @LiamWCVB and 1 more are tweeting about #AaronHernandez.  I won’t open it, but Twitter is a great platform to get 24/7 News fast.

Another thought, maybe YouTube would have been a good platform to take a diet from as well.  As I type, I am watching/listening to some old Beatles videos in the background.  I do use YouTube a lot, perhaps more than Facebook even;  I often use YouTube to watch news segments or my favorite web-comedian duo Smosh, or watch an endless loop of Buzzfeed nonsense, or I check out music videos or I end up on the weird side of YouTube with the “what did I just watch” type videos.

here’s a silly video that relates to the topic:

11 P.M.

Wanted to Tweet when Nicole read the Solea menu as “Sizzling Garbage” instead of “Sizzling Garlic Shrimp.”  Didn’t.

 

DAY FOUR 2/18/2015 2:30 P.M.

Haven’t use Twitter nor Instagram;  I’m pretty proud of myself.  I was in my choreography class today and thought back about that idea about giving up YouTube again because my professor suggested we watch specific videos she chose for us to get inspired for our next dances.  See, I couldn’t even give up YouTube if I wanted, I use it for educational purposes as well!

Also, I am trying to imagine a week if I gave up Spotify, or music altogether.  Now, I kind of feel like a crazy person already just giving up two forms of social media I barely use, but as I write this I am thinking that I couldn’t even imagine giving up some sort of media that involves providing me with music.  That, I can admit, I’m a little addicted to.  I am listening to music throughout most of the day, on any and every device that can play it: on the radio in my car, (it’s the first thing I do when I get in the car besides buckling in and turning the car on), on my iPad with my Spotify or Pandora app, on my personal iPod Classic, (it’s old but it holds over 2,000 songs, maybe more but that is roughly the amount I have on it right now, all of which I obtained legally, with money over a long period of time between CD’s and iTunes).

As I type this, I am listening to Bob Dylan on Spotify.  Part of me wants to Tweet my love for Bob Dylan, (do people my age appreciate this man and his amazing ability to write songs?)  At least I gave up Twitter, so that won’t be happening.  If it was Monday, and I was not giving up Instagram, Bob Dylan could be my #mancrushmonday, but I guarantee only like two people would like it.  He might not be your typical type of handsome, and his singing voice isn’t so great, but the man can write songs!  (Do people my age even know who Bob Dylan is?  What a shame.  I have heard people my age say that Justin Bieber is a good songwriter, but don’t even get me started on that).

4 P.M.

Wanted to Tweet about how I finished my homework for all of the week, but didn’t.  Besides, even though I am proud of this, who really is going to read that and think, “wow, that is great.”  It will either be ignored, liked and then ignored, or receive only an eye-roll and some jealousy.  (Yet instead of Tweeting it, I am recording this on my blog.  Well, this is certainly not 140 characters or less, that’s for sure).  Maybe I was able to get ahead because I cut Twitter and Instagram from my life for a while?

 

DAY FIVE 2/19/2015 10 A.M.

Between yesterday and today, I have been getting an unusual amount of notifications “Your friend BlahBlahBlah is now on Instagram,”  “@BlahBlah is now following you on Twitter,” etc.  It’s like the platforms are starting to recognize that I haven’t been using them…

 

DAY SIX and SEVEN 2/20/2015, 2/21/2015

Still received some notifications taunting me to tap the little icons on my iPad, but have not used either app yet 🙂

 

DAY EIGHT 2/22/2015

Well, I miraculously made it through a week of not using Instagram or Twitter, and I’m pretty proud of myself.  Unfortunately, as soon as midnight struck, I posted a celebratory selfie on Instagram for #selfiesunday.  (It received 13 likes so far).

Also, the streak ended in time for the Oscars, as can be seen by my live tweets on my feed on this blog.

In conclusion, although taking this break was healthy, I found myself using other types of social media more such as Facebook and Snapchat.