Tuesday, December 7, 2010
ENOUGH
I lost my gradng sheet so Im dpin this for good measure...The media project wasnt as hard as people thought Im sure we could live without media if need be. does it make things easier yes...can we live without YES..People before us did so...
Monday, December 6, 2010
Day 2: Sunday..UNBEARABLE!
My second day was so much worse!
Since it was my second day off work, this day was practically unbearable! It was so hard not to use media. Before I started this project I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. I never thought it would be this hard not to use media.
When I woke up, the first thing I did was turn on the televison and watch the news. I almost started flipping the channel, but then remembered that I wasn't suppose to enjoy the media for today.
My boyfriend, Tyler had called me asking if I wanted to see a movie since we do every Sunday. I immediately said yes, since I could atleast go out and enjoy a movie, media and social communication.
After the movie, it was pretty late, so I decided just eat dinner and go to bed. I headed to bed pretty early because I knew Desperate Housewives would be coming on soon and I did not want to be tempted into watching it.
This weekend was really hard without using media, but I tried really hard and I can definitely say that I accompished this weekends media deprivation.
Since it was my second day off work, this day was practically unbearable! It was so hard not to use media. Before I started this project I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. I never thought it would be this hard not to use media.
When I woke up, the first thing I did was turn on the televison and watch the news. I almost started flipping the channel, but then remembered that I wasn't suppose to enjoy the media for today.
My boyfriend, Tyler had called me asking if I wanted to see a movie since we do every Sunday. I immediately said yes, since I could atleast go out and enjoy a movie, media and social communication.
After the movie, it was pretty late, so I decided just eat dinner and go to bed. I headed to bed pretty early because I knew Desperate Housewives would be coming on soon and I did not want to be tempted into watching it.
This weekend was really hard without using media, but I tried really hard and I can definitely say that I accompished this weekends media deprivation.
media runs the world
its safe to say the media runs the world and we as people make run effiectly as ever and knowing that technology keeps getting better makes it alln worth while.
day 2...terrible!!!!
okay this wasnt cool at all, anyone whokonws me can and will tell you that I am the biggest dallas cowbows fan in the world, now regardless of their 3-8 record coming into yesterday afternoons game i was pretty pumped about it. We got this new hotshot coach that has done some impressive work with the dallas cowboys football team, but anyway that is beside the point. i had church from 9:30am till about 11:30 am and then went to have some menudo at some catering event. Well around 2 o'clock comes around so ill tell my girlfriend "oh man look at the time, its about that time to start getting ready to watch the game" so this girl has the nerve to say "aren't you not allowed to watch tv today?" keep in mind this is the same girl that texted me the day before knowing that i wasnt allowed to text. i was so......i cant even describe what my true feelings were but lets just say i was in a pretty bad mood. i literally havn't missed a dallas cowboy games in 4 seasons. It was heartbreaking, but i was up for the challenge. im not gonna lie i started thinking of little crafty ideas around it but it involed a cell phone and a radio so it was a big no no. i have to say that this project was very interesting and that i would definately consider doing it again just for the excitement. Oh so it turns out i missed a pretty awesome game. GREAT!!!! Thanks Mr. Lopez!! Kidding! HaHa!
Day 2
Sunday wasnt all that bad because i usually dont do anything anyway because i work all day from 12:30 to 9. But i woke up at around 11:30 wishing that i didnt stay out all night because i was beyond tried and did not feel like working all day. Then to make it worse i couldnt even check my facebook to see all the dumb posts that my friends made. I really wanted to listen to some music to get me going but i couldnt do that either so overall i was in a bad mood when i showed up to work. Work was very boring as usual and it was even more boring because i couldnt txt my friends. After i survied work i went home thinking that i had to go to class on monday morning but luckily i checked my email and remembered that the final was on wendsday. So even though i checked my email i did it for a good reason because i would of showed up to class and nobody would of been there. So then i just ate some food and spent some time with my family rather than go in my room and be on facebook. Then after my parents went to sleep i was bored out of my mind so i just decided to go to sleep too.
2nd day
This last day for me was not that difficult, I just stay in my house resting and studying for my music examen on monday I didnt did that much, a really didnt used my cell phone or use text message, I only make like one or two calls and it was for my mom. I have to be sinsare I did hear a little bit of music while I was cleaning the kitchen :s, it was very tentative to not do it. yesterday at midnight I was reaciving a lot of emails and facebook updates and i really wanted to see them, and to be sinsare I did a little bit, then I was like no I have to wait until tomorrow. This two days make me think on how we are really depending on mass media and without it we cannot survive, is not like the old times anymore, we have to use ouir cellphones, facebook, emails etc, to now what is happening in our lives, it is now an habit for us.
Sunday, 12-5-10, Day 2
In the morning wasn't so bad. I got up around 7am to start getting my stuff ready to head out to church and teach my kiddos. I got up extra early because I had to go to HEB to buy some snacks for the kids. Around 9:45-12pm i was in church. After I was entertained with my baby cousins, playing tag, playing basketball and removing stubborn stickers from my boots and the basketball. When they left my family and I decided to cook a late lunch. We made Fajitas tacos, they were yummy. We gabbed about the latest things that were happening in our lives. ( I had told them about my "Media Deprivation Project", so they werent going to do the T.V. thing only), and we laughed and decided that we were going to go into SA to go shopping for Christmas. We headed out to the Alamo Ranch shopping mall to Micheals, JCpennys, Best Buy, Target, and other little stores. After about 4 hrs there it was about 5:45 and we were too tired so we headed home. My sister and I had to drop my grandmother and mother at night service at the church, then go to HEB before heading home. When we arived at home, I thought I would just peek at my phone to see if I missed anything in my social life with friends, and I had some missed texts and missed calls but nothing to worry about. When my parentals came home from Church around 8pm, my mom and sister insisted that they wanted the tree and lights up. So for about an hour or two we put up the tree and I went outside in the almosting FREEZING cold, to put up the light on the rest of the house. Which wasn't as bad as I make it sound. After Christmas being put around the house. I brought my animals in because I didn't want them freezing to death. Then I headed to bed around 10:45pm, for school in the morning.
Day 2: Sunday
This day was much easier than Saturday. I go to church Sunday in the morning and at night so that took up much of my day. One thing I did have a problem with though was riding in the car with no music. Saturday I didn’t really commit to doing this, but I decided that I should go all the way with this project. When driving, it felt weird with the silence but after I got used to it. It made you notice your surroundings more. After church in the morning I had to study for a final, so no need for media there. However, I kept hearing screaming and yelling. It was family watching the Cowboys game in the other room. Everyone, including me, in my family hates the Cowboys; we always watch their games so we can see them lose. It sounded like a good game, so I gave in and watched some of it. I didn’t feel that bad though, the Cowboys were doing horrible. My favorite part was when they blocked that punt for a touchdown. Unfortunately, at the end, the Cowboys won. I am pretty sure they won’t go anywhere anyway. At the end of day football broke me down again. My team the Steelers were playing on Sunday night football so I had to see a little of that. Thankfully we won the game. Texting and using the Internet was once again very easy to ignore. I think this worked this weekend because I had so many things to do school related. If I were to try this any other weekend I don’t think I could have handled it. With my weekend finally over I am back to my ways again. It feels good to listen to my music again. I learned a lot about myself this weekend, so at the end of everything, I am glad I went through it.
Day 2
The second day without media was much more easier. I got up and went to mass and after mass I went to a ranch with my family and i stayd there the whole day. All afternoon I spent it with my family talking about old times. I did watch some T.V while I was in the ranch because my family was watching a soccer game, so I kind of watch. then I got home late and started doing homework and went to sleep without listening to music, which was kind of weird.
day2
I will admit day two was much harder then day 1.I woke up to a phone call from work asking me to go into work because they only had three servers. I decided I'd do them the favor and go in so I began to get ready and then received a follow up call saying to not come in after all. I was pretty furious since he ruined my sleep. I feel guilty to say but I logged onto facebook today and had to upload some new photos from Friday nights party. I could not help myself. I even went through various status updates and almost updated one myself but in the back of my head I felt like Professor Lopez was stalking our facebook pages seeing if we are lying about updates. Once again I was very productive without any use of media and actually studied for my world literature exam before going into work at four. Work was packed full of people and I already had to begin to take tables right when I got there and even had a big party which were actually pretty decent customers. Music was not on at work today since all the football and basketball games were on which really sucked because I really enjoy the play lists at work. Were always singing and dancing at work and when games are on it get a little boring since I do not care to watch football, although I do enjoy watching the basketball games. As I got home from work I took a shower and cheated by putting Pandora Radio on as I showered. This is actually a pretty cool project and has taught me a lot about how much I use media on a day to day basis. I don't think I could go another few days without listening to the radio in the car, texting everyone nonstop and being able to use to Internet for other things other than schoolwork.
The Great Escape
Sunday, I was prepared to avoid all media. Saturday was tough since I was stuck at the apartment until I had to work, but today I'm off and decided that the best way to escape from the ever lingering media is to go somewhere that is totally void of it, somewhere that society doesn't often venture. I chose Reimer's Ranch as my safe haven. Reimer's is a national park type area near Austin that is very popular for rock climbing and cell phone service is absolutely no where to be found. So when I woke up Sunday, my roommates and I racked up and headed out to get some real climbing in. This is the first time since I broke my hand that i have been able to climb outdoors instead of in the gym, so needless to say I was pretty pumped. We climbed till about 5 and left the Ranch with the failing light. In order to stay clear of temptation, once we got back to the apartment I showered, changed and went out to a couple of bars with some friends until about 2 as far as I remember. So yesterday was a great success in avoiding the media thanks to my great escape from normal society to a rural society.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Day 1
Well i started the project on saturday and it was a little tough. First thing i tried to do when i woke up was check both my phone and facbook but i caught myself in the act of doing it. Then i wanted to watch tv but remembered that i couldnt do that either. So to relieve myself of boredom i decided to go to the gym, i usually have my ipod blasting whenever i work out so i decided to cheat and listen to my ipod while i worked out. After that i spent the next 8 hours of my day at work. Im not allowed to txt while im at work anyway but it was still hard not to pull out my phone when no one is looking and sneak in a quick txt. I got out of work at 9pm and that is when i usually call my friends to see if they are doing anything that night but i couldnt use my cell phone so i just decided to show up at my friends house. Then i just chilled with my friends for the rest of the night. So overall during the day i had some tough times but i survived without using mass media every single second.
Day Two
So, ok Saturday was much harder than Friday. Since I didn't have much as far as my schedule goes, I was hurting. I needed something to pass the time. Friday was a productive day and Saturday was boring at first. No internet is killing me! I never realized how attached to it I was. Having an iPhone is just the worst. I have everything at my finger tips, but I can't use any of it. Not even games. I reached for my radio in my car at least 3 or 4 times, forgetting that it was off limits. Driving around without music is too quiet for me. Especially if I am driving with my kids. They also wanted to listen to the radio but I had to tell them "No." I didn't like that too much. The only time I used the internet was when I was checking for assignments on Blackboard. Besides that I stayed pretty strict to the guidelines. All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself. Except blogging at almost 10PM. That is totally my bad! OOPS! Hope everyone else is doing well with the project. See ya'll Wednesday.
Day 1
I woke up and went to work, it was hard not to listen to music on the way to work. Then I got home at about 6 pm and since I could'nt use the computer I read for about 3 hrs. then I started to get ready to go to a party.
Saturday: Day 1
Okay, thankfully my day started late, so having no media wasn't all that bad. Friday night I stayed up late, so I didn't wake up until almost 11. Since I knew that couldn't do anything media related, I decided to focus on school stuff since finals are next week. That was harder than it sounded. Usually during homework I listen to music, so that was kind of hard at first with just silence. I listen to music everywhere. I listen to it walking from class to class, I listen in the car, while working out, and any other situation that I can. As you can imagine, the day was pretty long. As far as social networking, I don't have a Facebook so I didn't worry there, but I do use the Internet for looking at videos and movies when I' am bored. T.V. and the phone are not that bad either. I don't watch T.V. that much and it's easy for me to not text back to somebody. I'll just explain to them Monday why I didn't text back. After I finished studying I washed my car, and then I went to mall to buy some things. I realized that if I was busy the day wasn't that hard to deal with. Later at about 12 PM, I went to the gym and played some basketball. Before I went asleep, I realized how much I depend on music. However, I did find out that I would surive if for some reason I didnt have access to music anymore. It was a very long day but I am glad I went through it because I learned many things about myself that I can use in the future to help me in future situations.
day two: serious self-discipline
I started Saturday off by waking up at ten o'clock, thinking that the later I sleep the less time I had to be deprived form media. since i had turned my phone off I wasn't tempted to check for text messages and check my friends statuses on facebook. Usually when I am eating breakfast I watch t.v., that was really difficult to do without on this morning due to the huge weekend of college football. After breakfast I went to the gym to workout. At the gym they have t.v.s everywhere and the radio is playing constantly so it was like a little piece of heaven when I saw the ACC championship game while working out. Driving without the radio has been the easiest form of media to do without during this experience. Without it I reflect on what life would be like with no mass media influence......I had come to the realization that it is much more boring. When I returned home I sat down in the kitchen to think of some ideas that would kill time and make the day more enjoyable without media. I remembered that my truck was rather dirty and had been that way for a long time, so I hand washed it which took about 2 hours. I will probably never hand wash it again but in order to make time go by it had to be done. Once i completed that task the time was about 4 o'clock and I had no more ideas to kill time other than sleep, so i took a cat nap and awoke at 6 o'clock still facing the dreaded media derivation for another 12 hours. Faced with no ideas I resorted to my phone and some help form my friends. When i met up with them the day seemed to fly by. We spent some time at the RIM eating dinner and looking for the gifts our families told us they wanted. After the shopping and eating we headed to a party where i listened to music and watched t.v.. All and all this experience has showed me how being without the things I use most can make for an eventful 48 hours
Brian Brown Saturday
Well finally this madness is over. I found that not using media made me actually depressed and detached, I cant believe the affect media has on someones life. I slept until almost 3pm and felt exhausted by doing almost nothing. This has been one for the books I will never forget. I found that not watching tv was the hardest. The second was using the internet, then my cell phone. Lastly I found that radio is not that important to me but I did feel the affect by not being able to access it if I needed it.
Artistic Saturday and Party!
Saturday off from work, equals very hard day without media. I had to find something to do on a Saturday without work and without watching television, using the Internet, checking Facebook, listening to music and the hardest of them all. No "Angry Birds" game on my cellphone! A very addicting game that I like to use as a daily pastime. Well I woke up, and an idea sparked up. I would go eat breakfast with my girlfriend then go to the flea market to buy old school video games, which I love to collect and play. Which I thought would be kind of ironic since I couldn't play the video games if I bought some, but there is always time for that the next day. Well that took about three hours off my Saturday, I was done about 1:30. Now there was no other option but to go home because I didn't want to spend any more money at least for the afternoon. So I got home and for some reason my artistic side came to my mind. I felt like I wanted to do something that would definitely take some time and distract me from any media. Well I started off lazy, I printed out a picture of a dragon, so I could color and it would take some time. So I did, and once I was done coloring, I felt I still needed to pick it up a little, coloring a printout of a dragon was not very artistic. So I did I let my inner kid out and started drawing an alien and a space ship which I then kept adding color and props until the whole page had no more white on it. Then I thought to my self, you know what; I am going to step up a level, I will show Marc Bauerlein we can still be artistic without media so I got my 16" by 25" pad and my charcoal chalks and started thinking of what to draw. Then it just hit me, I thought of the most abundant and representative plant of the southwest, the cactus. Then I did and it turned out pretty good. I will post some pictures so you guys can see exactly what I did. After that I took a nap for about an hour and when I woke up, the best thing in the world was in my phone. I got a text from a friend about a party at 9:00 p.m. at his apartment! That sure sounded like heavenly sent text. I knew with this I had my Saturday made. I would get to listen to music, have a drink with friends, and socialize for the rest of the night and go to sleep like a baby until the next morning which ended my media deprivation project. So I didn't think about it twice, I got ready headed to the store for some refreshments and headed out to the party as soon as possible. And that was how my Saturday without media went, I really enjoyed it, not so bad!
Media Deprivation Day 2 Taylor Davis
Okay, so let me just tell you that I am so glad I decided to do my Media Deprivation project on Friday and Saturday because there are way too many good sporting events happening today to miss. I had a pretty low-key saturday, even though I spent much of the day on the computer posting on discussion boards for other classes and writing papers I was able to stay off of ESPN and Facebook. (which happen to be my two favorite websites) I have been taking full advantage today of all of my social media outlets and online shopping oppurtunities. This porject has made me notice a few things: 1.I can get soooooo much more done withought the distractions of TV and internet everyday. 2. The convenience of the internet makes many things much easier. (ordering food online, paying bills online, shipping online) 3.I find it kind of funny that they call it social media because most forms of social media actually cause us to be inside on the computer as opposed to being social in the real world. I didn't really find the deprivation of media too hard these past 2 days I just found that it has allowed me more time to get other things done.
Day 1
This is m first day without using any mass media devices, I woke up at 1 pm, but the bad thing was that I always sleep with my cell pchone near to me and I was hearing how I was reciving all the messages and emails and facebook things. Then I had the temptation to look on facebook, but i didnt !! to be sincere I did talk a few times to my friends by messages, it was a little dificult for me because I had a dance preformence at scholl and I had to talk to friends about things of the taht we need to took to the theater etc. After this, I was cooking and my roomate was wathcing TV, and I was like noooooo I cannot watch TV jaj but I coudnt do eneything make her turn it off, and what I did is not payed attention so eat fast,, and it was a part that I wanted to know what she was seeing, becuase it sound intresting but I really didnt now what was she seeing, but finally I didnt new anything jaja. When I was driving to my preformence , I ussually make 30 minutes to arrive to school, and the only thing that entertain me is the radio, my boyfreind was driving and turn on the radio and I was like nooo I cant jaja so I turn it off and I said that we shoud sing, so all my way to school we were singing. and with this experience I learn that how mass media has affected us in the way of how we comunicate each other , for example families dont spend any time together anymore, because each one of them have a Tv on their room, so this separte them from spending time as a family, and I told my boyfriend that this experience by not hearing the music make me think that when we hear music we dont talk to each other, and when we turn it off, we are talking to each other.
Day 1: Saturday
Okay, so I've done this project before (I've taken this class in the past) and it was extremely hard for me to accomplish, thats why I made extra sure that I could do it this time around.
Yesterday was really hard because I had the day off. Usually I love taking a break, but this time, I wish I had been at work all day. I started off by waking up, which was at 12:30 pm because I did not set my alarm. Half of the reason was because I didn't have anything planned for the day, and the other half was for this project. Laying in bed, I caught myself typing in the URL for facebook in my Blackberry, but I stopped when I remembered I was deprived of media.
Since I couldn't really do anything around my house because of the media, I decided to go shopping with my mom. We had a lot of christmas shopping to do, so I was there all day. The hardest part about being at the mall was using my Blackberry when I was in a "mommy" store,waiting. This wasn't too bad because the mall was better than being at home. I listened to the christmas music playing around the stores, used an ipad in the Apple store, and watch a couple music videos inside different stores.
When we left the mall and got home it was really hard to resist watching television. Since the news was on, I didn't feel that bad about sneaking in the living room for 30 minutes. Watching my laptop right in front of me being unused was so hard! I always play Text Twist Turbo and I couldn't! So, I decided to go take my dog for a walk. We went pretty far in my neighborhood, so that took my mind off media for quite a while. I think I did really good considering that I didn't even take my ipod with me!
Since I woke up late, night time came pretty quick and the deprivation got harder to resist. I decided to stay in tonight, so it harder than I thought. Usually I lay in bed and watch televison until I fall asleep, but not this night. I gave in a checked mysa.com and yahoo.com on my Blackberry. I didn't feel that bad since I had resisted media all day and I didn't even go to my favorite site, Facebook.com. When I finished my readings, I was suprisingly tired and passed out.
Overall, Saturday wasn't too bad. I'm just worried about tommorrow!
Yesterday was really hard because I had the day off. Usually I love taking a break, but this time, I wish I had been at work all day. I started off by waking up, which was at 12:30 pm because I did not set my alarm. Half of the reason was because I didn't have anything planned for the day, and the other half was for this project. Laying in bed, I caught myself typing in the URL for facebook in my Blackberry, but I stopped when I remembered I was deprived of media.
Since I couldn't really do anything around my house because of the media, I decided to go shopping with my mom. We had a lot of christmas shopping to do, so I was there all day. The hardest part about being at the mall was using my Blackberry when I was in a "mommy" store,waiting. This wasn't too bad because the mall was better than being at home. I listened to the christmas music playing around the stores, used an ipad in the Apple store, and watch a couple music videos inside different stores.
When we left the mall and got home it was really hard to resist watching television. Since the news was on, I didn't feel that bad about sneaking in the living room for 30 minutes. Watching my laptop right in front of me being unused was so hard! I always play Text Twist Turbo and I couldn't! So, I decided to go take my dog for a walk. We went pretty far in my neighborhood, so that took my mind off media for quite a while. I think I did really good considering that I didn't even take my ipod with me!
Since I woke up late, night time came pretty quick and the deprivation got harder to resist. I decided to stay in tonight, so it harder than I thought. Usually I lay in bed and watch televison until I fall asleep, but not this night. I gave in a checked mysa.com and yahoo.com on my Blackberry. I didn't feel that bad since I had resisted media all day and I didn't even go to my favorite site, Facebook.com. When I finished my readings, I was suprisingly tired and passed out.
Overall, Saturday wasn't too bad. I'm just worried about tommorrow!
day 1
okay so this is pretty interesting. i did pretty well all Saturday morning but not having work started making it a little difficult as the day progressed. My cell phone is my best friend and is literally in my hand anywhere between 15 -18 hours a day with me just waiting for it to vibrate. it did slip my mind that i had this "media deprivation project" that I'm supposed to be doing. So around 1pm comes around and i get a text message from my beautiful girlfriend. Apparently she "forgot" that i wasn't allowed to text her for the next two days. But Stupid me, just out of habit opens the phone up and starts to text away. As far as the radio, i mean i love music, i am a fan of all types of music but i can do without it. It is kinda weird driving in complete silence though, especially when you have bad tires. All i can hear is this really annoying "wom! wom! wom! wom!" sound coming from my tires. Now deprivation of the Internet is also pretty interesting considering that i am a new user of face book. i almost logged onto my face book account but caught it while i was typing in my password. i don't know how everyone else feels about this but this project will reveal a lot about yourself and things you rely on. Its actually kinda creepy.
Day Two.
I tried my best not to wake up before seven. However, that didn't happen I woke up at about six. I didn't have much to do yesterday.
After waking up I started drawing some pictures of a character from my plot-less comic. I tried to make on of them an image of the character throwing a fireball from her hand; I spent a good frustrating hour trying to get the outline to look just right. Then another one where she's kind of rocketing herself upwards with jet stream of fire coming from her mouth. I made this picture in a dynamic view point. Your looking up from the ground seeing her face up close blast fire from her mouth to the ground. Her head seems out of proportion with the rest of the characters body being that her body is being foreshortened. Note; none of the characters I came up with have names. A plot-less story with characters that have no names; glorious.
After eating breakfast I decided I'd break a rule and watch something streaming off the net for a while. I got bored of sitting around doing nothing but my laundry and drawing. I probably watch this anime called, Beck I picked it from Justdubs.net. That's all I did the whole day. I didn't turn on the TV though and I didn't do any online gaming or file sharing. Which is a problem because I need to send this dude these 2D graphics I finished for him so he could put them in his game.
Going to sleep in silence is nice. I feel I actually dream when I sleep in silence rather than with some kind of sound buzzing in my room. I had a dream about the world being attack by alien space ships and like in a video game I some died but then I re-spawned or something. Then when I woke up it felt like I was asleep for a week straight.
This whole experience has made me think about how much time I spend on my computer playing games and surfing for anime.
After waking up I started drawing some pictures of a character from my plot-less comic. I tried to make on of them an image of the character throwing a fireball from her hand; I spent a good frustrating hour trying to get the outline to look just right. Then another one where she's kind of rocketing herself upwards with jet stream of fire coming from her mouth. I made this picture in a dynamic view point. Your looking up from the ground seeing her face up close blast fire from her mouth to the ground. Her head seems out of proportion with the rest of the characters body being that her body is being foreshortened. Note; none of the characters I came up with have names. A plot-less story with characters that have no names; glorious.
After eating breakfast I decided I'd break a rule and watch something streaming off the net for a while. I got bored of sitting around doing nothing but my laundry and drawing. I probably watch this anime called, Beck I picked it from Justdubs.net. That's all I did the whole day. I didn't turn on the TV though and I didn't do any online gaming or file sharing. Which is a problem because I need to send this dude these 2D graphics I finished for him so he could put them in his game.
Going to sleep in silence is nice. I feel I actually dream when I sleep in silence rather than with some kind of sound buzzing in my room. I had a dream about the world being attack by alien space ships and like in a video game I some died but then I re-spawned or something. Then when I woke up it felt like I was asleep for a week straight.
This whole experience has made me think about how much time I spend on my computer playing games and surfing for anime.
Another Day
I have to do two post now sonce i work all day today and wont see a computer till latwer tonight its fine cause im fine. Ill work than go chill and sleep MAYBE study (LOL).
Saturday
This isnt to bad, I just find myslef working and sleeping. All day staurday I laid in bedf listening to my girlfriend study for her finals then I wen to work. Hmm not much media in my life.
Saturday,12-4-10, Day 1
Well lets see, I woke and headed out to my math lab to catch up on some much needed hours fo my class. I was pretty good about not turning on my Pandora when i was getting dressed in the morning or checking my FB to see what was up. When I was on my way to NVC, I cheated by accident beacause when I got into my car my radio was on but I didn't realize it cause my dad was trying to talk to about something that i forgot to do before I left. So about 5 miles into town I relized that I was singing to music and I automatically turned it off. The rest of the way over there was very quiet and not my cup tea. During math lab, again it was difficult not to listen to my music while doing my review. I never relized that I use music that much. After math lab for 4 hours, I headed home thinking maybe if i thought of songs and sung them in the car it wouldnt be so bad. (Never trust your own singing by the way) So when I arrived at my house, I decieded that i wasnt going to go out but instead just clean my room and wash clothes. Around 4:15, my grandmother and I decieded that we were going to make supper and corn tortillas together. After we ate, and coversated and cleaned up we helped my sister with her Christmas Crafts. Then i decieded i had enough then i started to clean my room until i had enough around 10:00pm then i fell asleep.
1st day
I will say this project is actually pretty hard. I woke up on Saturday and of course checked my phone to see my text messages.I showered and got ready and it was so hard not to turn on my ipod dock as I usually do. I had to go to work at 10:30 and it was very difficult to not turn on my radio to listen to music on the way to work. I work at Buffalo Wild Wings so I was definitely not deprived at work of the TV and music. During work its really difficult to text, so it wasn't hard for me to not go check my phone or send text messages in the bathroom. After work of course I wanted to text everyone about what was going on that night, so instead I just text three people instead of five and made the messages very short. I was so tempted throughout the day to get onto facebook with my phone or play Pandora radio. I forgot to say that I actually got a brand new phone yesterday mailed to me and I did go ahead and upload applications to it. I was thinking about it and most the time that I mess around with my phone is due to just being bored at the moment, I wasn't ever dying to grab my phone or really see what every ones status's were on facebook. The one thing I really did struggle with yesterday was not being able to listen to the radio as I did my homework. I was actually very productive without media yesterday and finished all my homework that was due until next Sunday. Although while doing homework I usually always log onto my facebook page and text people. That night I decided not to go out and I will not lie but I cheated and skyped with my best friend for about an hour before I decided to go to sleep.It was extremely hard not to text my boyfriend and ask him how his night was going.
Saturday: What a hot day for a play.
The previous night before, my parents got home and blasted the volume on the tv. In order to go to sleep, I plugged in earplugs so I can sleep in silence. I realized that it wasn’t a good idea when I woke up at 7:40 rushing to get ready for work, which was at 8. I got there 3 mins late, but they didn’t seem to mind. I was hoping that I was going to bag groceries all day, but I ended up outside the whole shift and it was hot. After my shift ended, I drove home tired. I came to an empty home. I called my parents to find out where they were ( I know, no cell phones allowed), and they went to Mya’s (my favorite Mexican restaurant) without me. They said I could meet them there and when I did they were already done. I still ended up eating, but it would have been nice if they had asked. After that, my dad drove me to get the car inspected and when we arrived, they said we needed to have a piece of the car (this piece was a decoration) in order to pass. So my dad drove across town looking for the part at a cheap price. When we arrived to the place, it was closed. As my dad drove us home, we noticed the car was out of gas, luckily we made it to a gas station before we would need to push the car home. When we came home, I ran to the computer to type up the blog. When I came down stairs, I noticed the new Netflix DVDs were on the table. Unfortunately, because of this media depravation project, I couldn’t watch them. After that, I ended up taking out Christmas decorations out of the boiling-hot attic, and then I put up Christmas lights using our century-old wooden ladder, but I didn’t die. Once we decorated the outside of the house, I decided to take a bike ride around the neighborhood. Then, I came back home, got dressed, and went to my sister’s play. Sadly, her role wasn’t as big as we thought. After the play was over, we went out to Chili’s to grab a bite to eat. Before I knew it, it was time to go to sleep for work in the morning.
Saturday, Day 2: Social Media? Pfffssst! I'm Good!
Okay, I gave in yesterday. But not as much as I thought I would, so I'm actually kinda proud of myself. Don't worry, I'll explain later.
After taking it slow and getting up kinda late, I started my day by spending several hours grading. I also teach COMM 1307 online and just about every week I have my students post "discussion" and "peer" responses on Blackboard as part of their Discussion grade, which is worth 30% of their overall grade. Over the weekend I spend a good deal of time grading their responses, usually while listening to music on my iTunes library. Well, I tried to grade in complete silence and I just couldn't do it! I had to have my music playing so I said to hell with the rules and gave in. I'm so weak!
But on the other hand, I didn't check my Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or play Words With Friends or Angry Birds on my iPhone, both of which happen to be my primary time-wasting addictions these days. What kinda surprised me this time around (I've done the media deprivation every semester since Fall 2008), is how easy it was for me to ignore my social networking sites and my iPhone. I don't recall it being this easy last time I deprived myself of mass media.
I even went so far as to turn off cellphone notifications for my Twitter account, so in many ways I was out of the loop. For instance, I didn't see the Spurs game Friday night so I didn't know if they won or not. I had to text a buddy of mine yesterday to find out. They won by the way.
I was also proud of my resistance to surfing the Internet, which I usually tend to do when I'm on my laptop grading my online Mass Comm class. The temptation is just too great, what with the ability to have multiple tabs open on my Macbook and the ease in which I can toggle between different websites via the F3 button (I *really* like that button). But I didn't give in to temptation. Yes, I was listening to music while grading but trust me: It could've been a lot worse.
And yet my inability to stay strong didn't end there as I gave in to watching TV! I decided to stay in last night, but with a good chunk of my school stuff done--and having eye fatigue from looking at a computer monitor for several hours--I couldn't resist the urge to watch some of the shows on my DVR. So there I was watching a mini-marathon of the History Channel's Ancient Aliens series, and you know what? I didn't feel all that guilty!
Why? Mainly because I've been unable to watch a lot of the stuff on my DVR due to being so busy with school stuff, especially during weekends where I actually get a lot of work done. So I saw this as a rare opportunity to knock out some shows without being distracted by my iPhone or laptop, both of which tend to prevent me from fully enjoying some quality time with my TV. For instance, I usually have my laptop on and right by my side whenever I watch TV in the living room, but this time I didn't, which is why I ultimately felt good about myself even though I broke other rules yesterday.
But make no mistake: The first thing I did when I woke up on Sunday was check my Twitter feed, then my Facebook, then promptly resumed my games on Words With Friends! So much for overcoming that social media addiction!
After taking it slow and getting up kinda late, I started my day by spending several hours grading. I also teach COMM 1307 online and just about every week I have my students post "discussion" and "peer" responses on Blackboard as part of their Discussion grade, which is worth 30% of their overall grade. Over the weekend I spend a good deal of time grading their responses, usually while listening to music on my iTunes library. Well, I tried to grade in complete silence and I just couldn't do it! I had to have my music playing so I said to hell with the rules and gave in. I'm so weak!
But on the other hand, I didn't check my Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or play Words With Friends or Angry Birds on my iPhone, both of which happen to be my primary time-wasting addictions these days. What kinda surprised me this time around (I've done the media deprivation every semester since Fall 2008), is how easy it was for me to ignore my social networking sites and my iPhone. I don't recall it being this easy last time I deprived myself of mass media.
I even went so far as to turn off cellphone notifications for my Twitter account, so in many ways I was out of the loop. For instance, I didn't see the Spurs game Friday night so I didn't know if they won or not. I had to text a buddy of mine yesterday to find out. They won by the way.
I was also proud of my resistance to surfing the Internet, which I usually tend to do when I'm on my laptop grading my online Mass Comm class. The temptation is just too great, what with the ability to have multiple tabs open on my Macbook and the ease in which I can toggle between different websites via the F3 button (I *really* like that button). But I didn't give in to temptation. Yes, I was listening to music while grading but trust me: It could've been a lot worse.
And yet my inability to stay strong didn't end there as I gave in to watching TV! I decided to stay in last night, but with a good chunk of my school stuff done--and having eye fatigue from looking at a computer monitor for several hours--I couldn't resist the urge to watch some of the shows on my DVR. So there I was watching a mini-marathon of the History Channel's Ancient Aliens series, and you know what? I didn't feel all that guilty!
Why? Mainly because I've been unable to watch a lot of the stuff on my DVR due to being so busy with school stuff, especially during weekends where I actually get a lot of work done. So I saw this as a rare opportunity to knock out some shows without being distracted by my iPhone or laptop, both of which tend to prevent me from fully enjoying some quality time with my TV. For instance, I usually have my laptop on and right by my side whenever I watch TV in the living room, but this time I didn't, which is why I ultimately felt good about myself even though I broke other rules yesterday.
But make no mistake: The first thing I did when I woke up on Sunday was check my Twitter feed, then my Facebook, then promptly resumed my games on Words With Friends! So much for overcoming that social media addiction!
Can't Escape
"Not as easy as it sounds" would be my best choice of words describing my first day of media deprivation. I thought I would have an easier time with this assignment because my life is fairly media deprived, but because it has become a taboo I find it in everything. To understand my frustration you need to know a little bit about my situation. I live on a couch in my friends one bedroom apartment with him and his girlfriend. This is great for my vagabond lifestyle, since I don't pay rent and haven't unpacked my bags in a year, but makes it difficult to avoid the media when the only television in the apartment is a fifty two inch old big screen that is fixed directly in front of my bed/couch. Having no window blinds to shield me from the first onslaught of light that breaks the horizon, I haven't the luxury of sleeping in to pass my day. I did find myself reaching for the remote when I first woke up but stopped my self and got a book off the shelf that I have been reading. This book was my entertainment for most of the morning, until my roommates woke up and began to play video games. I escaped out to the balcony in an attempt to avoid the media that is hiding around me in all forms that seem to be ever more tantalizing now that they have become forbidden. It lines the walls with books and DVDs, it's scattered around the table in magazines and Cd's and its waiting just one tempting click away on the television or computer. I need to escape from society to truly evade this media plague. After their globally connected battle was over my friend went to work and I took his girlfriend around town to apply for jobs. This was an interesting couple of hours since I had been deprived of all forms of mobile listening, with the exception of the life troubles of a nineteen year old girl. To ease my frustration I went to Lifetime Fitness and rock climbed for a little while before I went into work. Work was more enjoyable and easier to pass than usual, imagine that, and luckily when my shift ended I arrived home to sleeping roommates and was able to go to bed with hopes of an better day tomorrow.
Day II- "the unexpected"
Another busy day ahead of me awaits, I have a long and busy day in front of me. I woke up and started my busy day getting ready for the cheer performance. I had to take my daughter to her cheer event. We jumped into the car and drove off. I enjoyed my ride with my daughter. Without any sorts of media interruptions we had a great conversation going on. when we arrived there was music playing at her performance. The music didn't bother me at all. We were there all afternoon. The challenge of depriving myself from all sorts of media has no effect on me. At least , until I arrived home. Tired of all the daily activity I had, I was ready to get some rest. I kept reminding myself about the media deprivation project. That evening was one of the hardest time I experienced. Time was playing a big factor at the moment, time stood still. I wanted the clock hands to turn to ten o'clock. I wanted to go to bed but it was not time, yet. During that time I picked up a book and read "Catch Me If You Can" I also wrote a letter to my dear friend. There were no temptations from cell phone use because I decided to keep it away. I remember making one call and the rest was easy because of my smartphone keypad malfuction. So I was not likely to use my smartphone with the keypad malfuction. I did realize a few temptations when I arrived home, I wanted so bad to pop in a movie that Ive been wanting to watch for the past two days. After reading, I fell fast asleep... I was so glad this day was over...
"Driving Slow on Sunday morning"
This has been one hell of a weekend.
From friday up until today ive been working and feeling really bad about the fact i haven't written anything on here. Friday i was a work from 4-12 and i just completely spaced out on the assignment. but, what was good is that no phone was used (which was fine cause i can live without it) and no music was listened to all day except for work, which was hard for me because music is like my meth and i love christmas music but, the stuff we play at work, let's just say i prefer having my teeth drilled. I think the only computer that was being used all day was the registers at work and doing search sends. Yesterday, i was at work from 2-11pm and i gave in a little to my cell phone only cause i had to call home only to say i was gonna be staying at work later than i thought. im not really sure if showing someone how to use a kindle is acceptable in this blog thing but, i did use that. tv was easier than i thought. Going into the break room during lunch/dinner i just read the newspaper or talked to my friend Stephanie. So for my second blog since i didnt write one for friday saturday and this is one for today its gonna be good. My friend since hearing about this project has momentarily taken my ipod, cell phone and laptop away from me so its fine. Since im going back to work today its gonna be the same as always.
Its sad tho, the only music im listening to are the songs that are in my head. not like in a creepy of saying that i mean, the songs that i loved so much i ended up memerizing them.
it sucks.
From friday up until today ive been working and feeling really bad about the fact i haven't written anything on here. Friday i was a work from 4-12 and i just completely spaced out on the assignment. but, what was good is that no phone was used (which was fine cause i can live without it) and no music was listened to all day except for work, which was hard for me because music is like my meth and i love christmas music but, the stuff we play at work, let's just say i prefer having my teeth drilled. I think the only computer that was being used all day was the registers at work and doing search sends. Yesterday, i was at work from 2-11pm and i gave in a little to my cell phone only cause i had to call home only to say i was gonna be staying at work later than i thought. im not really sure if showing someone how to use a kindle is acceptable in this blog thing but, i did use that. tv was easier than i thought. Going into the break room during lunch/dinner i just read the newspaper or talked to my friend Stephanie. So for my second blog since i didnt write one for friday saturday and this is one for today its gonna be good. My friend since hearing about this project has momentarily taken my ipod, cell phone and laptop away from me so its fine. Since im going back to work today its gonna be the same as always.
Its sad tho, the only music im listening to are the songs that are in my head. not like in a creepy of saying that i mean, the songs that i loved so much i ended up memerizing them.
it sucks.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
I Love Media.
I have to admit, this has been the craziest day ever it has made me realize how much I depend on media and how addicted I am to my phone! Friday morning i tried to wake up the latest possible. I woke up at 10:30 a.m. this really helped because I only had to wait 3 hours until work. By the time I was ready it was already 12 p.m. noon. At this time I couldn't stand being at the house without using any media, so I left my house to go eat a 7 seas soup at "Los Cocos" Mexican Seafood restaurant. Luckily they had a lady singing karaoke so I got some music to my ears whic really helped. After I was done eating it was already 1 p.m. so I headed to work. I have to admit this was the most loneliest and long ride to work, I had never appreciated radio and music so much. Now that I didn't have it, I really missed it! I had to sing and dance to me singing! That was not a good idea, first I noticed that I am not very good at remembering song lyrics, actually I am really bad. It was really funny listening to me singing and makin up lyrics to random songs. I even tried singing some Vicente Fernades classical songs in spanish. And as you can expect I couldn't rememeber those lyrics either. At the same time that it was lonely and kind of sad it was funny listening to my self sing. So I got to work and and it was fun friday, which means we sing and dance with the kids which sounded like heaven this day. Being at work really helped me because it was 6 hours that I am not tempted by my cellphone, the internet, or the radio, this really helped me enjoy this Friday at work. Once I got out, I replied to my girlfriends text message, she wanted to go have dinner so I took it as an emergency text that I had to reply and we went to "Buffalo Wild Wings" a place abundant in media that would really help me release stress and have a good time in a public environment. After some wings and beer I felt so tired and drowsy I just wanted to get home and sleep.
too busy for mass media
Well yesterday was a busy day for me since I was in the extravadanza , I spent all day getting ready! I woke up in the morning went to the gym, I workout for about 2 hrs and then at 3:00 p.m. I had an appointment with my makeup artist. I did not have any problems with depriving myself with all sorts of media. I did not have any time for it. I was too busy for being on the internet or all other sorts of mass media. I was backstage rehearsing for the show, so basically I was not influenced by mass media at all. It was a long day, and my drive home made me really tired. So as soon as I arrived home I fell fast asleep. It was a long stressful day! Im glad it's over.
Day One.
My day started out pretty tough because I'm used to waking up on Friday's and immediately hitting my comic website for anything new. However, today I can only close my laptop and stare at the word "Toshiba" on the back of the screen. What makes it worse is I wake up early so I kind of had a long day to draw, sit around, or sleep. I started the day off with drawing or rather coming up with a plot for my comic. I started a comic, only a page and two panel long, with no plot. No point to the story other than the adventure the main character might have. I spent a hour trying to come up with a way I could make a multi-dimensional-Satan-like-being fit into being the big story baddie. Some how he has to appear in the universe with the powers to change the universe to explain why some people now have super natural powers or changes to their person. Everytime I think about it the baddie just seems too power. After a long period of pacing my room I just screw it, I'm going to make me breakfast. This part of my Friday is something I sometimes procrastinate being distracted by online gaming, gaming, or web surfing. That day I did it around 9:30am which is the time I like to do it. My mom's not in the house at that time and I guess it has some kind of meditative effect on me. Usually after I cook something I like to watch something while I eat. Be it on the science channel, history channel, or just the news on CNN. Yesterday I just ate and looked around my room for something to do for a while. Mostly at the corners of my room I paid attention to how the light touched each surface of all the corners differently. I feel asleep at some time that morning, and woke up when my dad rang the door bell. He came by to take me to go get my hair cut. I didn't really talk to him when he came by I was still bit sleepy. I slept in the car on the way there and on the way back I did the same. Pretty much after I got back from my hair cut I spent my time drawing, sleeping, and washing my clothes. I became effected by not watching TV mostly around the time I usually go to sleep which is about eleven. I stay up past nine to watch Family Guy, South Park, and The Daily Show. Since I couldn't watch those shows I just went to sleep which is also not normal because usually I fall asleep watching one of those shows. However, I had to sleep in silence which caused me to think a lot. Made me think how much I don't socialize.
Taylor Davis - Friday - Day 1
Soooooo I have gotten more done in the past 2 days than I feel like I have done all week. I started Friday off by waking up and going to the gym because that was going to be the only way I got to watch my morning sportscenter. After running 4 miles (Which was just long enough to watch 30 minutes of ESPN) I drove home and it seemed like it took forever since I couldn't listen to the radio. There were a few little repairs that needed to be done around my apartment and since I couldn't get on facebook or watch TV at all I decided to go to The Home Depot and get the materials needed to do them myself. After the repairs were done I decided that I needed some type of social interaction so I cheated and made one phone call to a friend and told him to call some other friends so we could all go to lunch. There wasn't any big sporting events on in the middle of the day so watching TV at the restraunt wasn't really even a temptation. (But again the drive to and from the restraunt seemed so much longer without music) After lunch I decided that I would go home and do some homework. It is amazing how much more work I can get done without getting on Facebook or having the TV or radio playing in the background. After writing 3 papers for my History and American Literature as well as doing 2 different online discussions I decided that dinner would be a wonderful idea. I had already told my brother about the project and that I would be joining him for dinner that night so a phone call was not even needed. I went to his house and his wife made us a wonderful dinner. I decided that I would be productive again before I went to bed so I spotlessly cleaned my kitchen and bathroom. I htink the thing that i noticed the most through the first day is how much we depend on certain electronics. The other thing I noticed is how much I would save each month if i cut out all of those electronics. My cable and internet bill is roughly $180 per month and my cell phone bill is about $110. If I were to go without both of those (which today showed me is possible) I would save roughly $3,500 a year!!! that is ridiculous!!! Well, I guess we will see how tomorrow goes, more than likely I will not be getting rid of the cell phone but i might have to look into my options as far as the cable and internet. :)
Day One
Ok. So it's not as bad as I initially thought it would be. Watching TV is not a big deal to me, so I'm not really missing it too much yet. The big thing is: Internet and texting! I miss it sooo much. I feel out of touch not surfing or checking in. Work consumed most of my day so it was easy to keep busy but I am used to listening to music or the radio while I am at work, so the day seemed a little bit longer than usual. And driving with no music is really quiet (it's about a 40 minute drive to and from work). It seems like it takes longer to get around for some reason. The up side is, once I got home from work, I had a very productive night. My final history paper is complete, my laundry is almost done! I will have more time to dedicate to tomorrow and hanging out with family b/c a lot of stuff is already done. So all in all, not super bad, but I can't wait for Sunday!
Friday: No school, work, and now no Facebook or Netflix.
Started the day off with a early morning phone call (I know no cell phones, sorry) from my good buddy, Ryan, asking me to look for movie times for the next showing of the new Harry Potter. And since we can’t use the Internet, I made my dad look up times for a theater that we didn’t end up going to. The night before I asked my mom to give me money to pay for lunch with my friend since he refused to drive over to my house because he lives 30 mins away and gas isn’t cheap. So when I told him that night about my mom giving me money so we could have lunch and go to the movies, he caved. At 11:00AM that morning, after I got dressed, we went to expensive Schlotzsky’s for lunch. The two meals cost me around $16, ouch. After we ate, he drove over to the Silverado theater, where we bought tickets for a time that started at 12:55PM since we missed the 12:00PM showing. We played the Ice Hockey game while we waited for the movie to start. After they let us in, we sat down behind the annoying D-Box seats and talked about how movie theater ads didn’t have sound and they were just slides when we were little, and during the ads we would riff on them as they appeared on the screen. Now that they have sound, we can’t do that any more. When all the ads and trailers were over, the movie started. Since I haven’t read any of the books past Prisoner of Azkaban and I haven’t seen the 6th movie since November, I was a little rough on my Harry Potter. Ryan had to explain what had happened in parts the movie left out. If it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t read this book, I would have probably loved it. It was good, it’s just that I forgot what happened in the last Harry Potter. After that, Ryan had to drive me back home and leave because he had to film something at school for his English class. And because I was rushed into getting out of his car, I left my sunglasses case inside his car. When I told him about this after he had left, he searched his car and couldn’t find it. That bothered me for most of the day. When I was up for it, I went to the computer to finish up some homework and that took a good 2-3 hrs of my time. After I was done, the parents came home to watch TV, and when they watch it, it is loud. So because of that; I plugged in some earplugs, took out my contacts, and went to bed, forgetting that I had work in the morning.
A day without mass media
So i kicked the media deprivation off with a great day at work. surprisingly i didn't use any form of media there. Work consumed most of the day and made the start of the 48 hours very easy. After work i went home for about 45 minutes without any t.v. or use of the computer. I ended my day at the Alamodome for my brothers regional quarter finals high school football game. His team lost but i enjoyed being able to see him play. once i got back home i was worn out and knew i couldn't watch t.v. or get on facebook to see what was going on last night.....so i called it a day and went to sleep. 24 hours down...24 more to go.
Friday, Day 1: Sleep Can Be Very Tiring
Day one of my mass media deprivation went about as well as a day without mass media could; that is, it went without incident and I got some stuff done. After sleeping in after a long night out with friends I got up to greet my parents who came over to my house to help me put up Christmas decorations, which happens to be one of my favorite tasks of the year (yeah freakin' right!).
But I was actually glad I had to put decorations today because it not only gave me something to do without the need to use mass media, but also because it meant I get to hang with my parents. My dad and I put up three deer with lights on them and a decorative Christmas tree that lights up, all of which created a little wintry scene on the front lawn. I have some neighbors who had their Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving, which I think is totally overachieving but whatevs. As someone who tends to view the holiday season as a stressful, consumer-centric time of year, it takes me a while to get in the holiday spirit.
Next was the Christmas tree, which we assembled in no time (it's an artificial one with lights and everything). Unfortunately, the TV was on in the living room while we were putting up the tree because, well, I learned very early on that when a five-year-old wants to watch her shows you let her. By the way, for the record Disney shows suck and Nick shows rock. (My five-year-old niece came along that day and that girl, God bless her, gets whatever she wants; unfortunately for me the show she was watching was The Suite Life on Deck).
So after everyone left I decided to take a nap. I was going to be heading out for a night out with my girlfriend so I wanted to be fully recharged. Oh, who am I kidding? I only really took a nap because I was unable to watch TV, surf the Internet or listen to music while grading, so burning some hours sleeping seemed like a great idea.
So three and half hours later I woke up feeling groggy as hell. Truth of the matter is I hate taking naps because I always feel more tired when I wake up. But hey, that was a good chunk of my day gone and I didn't have to be conscious to feel that media deprivation eating away at me. I had decided that feeling crappy and more tired was better than being awake and tempted to give in and use mass media somehow.
I still had a couple of hours to kill before heading out to Helotes for a concert at Josabi's. The band was Ghostland Observatory (my girlfriend's choice); I had heard them before but this was going to be my first time watching them. Basically, I was looking forward to going to the show because I'd be listening to live music surrounded by all kinds of people. The night was especially nice, too; crisp and cold, but not too cold. And being outside felt even cooler with a stage show such as this one:
In sum, day one wasn't all that bad. I was productive, got to spend some time with my parents, had a cool experience with my girlfriend out in Helotes (though I'm still not a huge fan of Ghostland; I think the vocals suck), all the while getting my much needed mass media fix. Oh, and apparently we're magnets for drunk idiots who like to jump into our conversations and caress my hair? What the hell was up with that anyway????
But I was actually glad I had to put decorations today because it not only gave me something to do without the need to use mass media, but also because it meant I get to hang with my parents. My dad and I put up three deer with lights on them and a decorative Christmas tree that lights up, all of which created a little wintry scene on the front lawn. I have some neighbors who had their Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving, which I think is totally overachieving but whatevs. As someone who tends to view the holiday season as a stressful, consumer-centric time of year, it takes me a while to get in the holiday spirit.
Next was the Christmas tree, which we assembled in no time (it's an artificial one with lights and everything). Unfortunately, the TV was on in the living room while we were putting up the tree because, well, I learned very early on that when a five-year-old wants to watch her shows you let her. By the way, for the record Disney shows suck and Nick shows rock. (My five-year-old niece came along that day and that girl, God bless her, gets whatever she wants; unfortunately for me the show she was watching was The Suite Life on Deck).
So after everyone left I decided to take a nap. I was going to be heading out for a night out with my girlfriend so I wanted to be fully recharged. Oh, who am I kidding? I only really took a nap because I was unable to watch TV, surf the Internet or listen to music while grading, so burning some hours sleeping seemed like a great idea.
So three and half hours later I woke up feeling groggy as hell. Truth of the matter is I hate taking naps because I always feel more tired when I wake up. But hey, that was a good chunk of my day gone and I didn't have to be conscious to feel that media deprivation eating away at me. I had decided that feeling crappy and more tired was better than being awake and tempted to give in and use mass media somehow.
I still had a couple of hours to kill before heading out to Helotes for a concert at Josabi's. The band was Ghostland Observatory (my girlfriend's choice); I had heard them before but this was going to be my first time watching them. Basically, I was looking forward to going to the show because I'd be listening to live music surrounded by all kinds of people. The night was especially nice, too; crisp and cold, but not too cold. And being outside felt even cooler with a stage show such as this one:
In sum, day one wasn't all that bad. I was productive, got to spend some time with my parents, had a cool experience with my girlfriend out in Helotes (though I'm still not a huge fan of Ghostland; I think the vocals suck), all the while getting my much needed mass media fix. Oh, and apparently we're magnets for drunk idiots who like to jump into our conversations and caress my hair? What the hell was up with that anyway????
Brian Brown Friday
This media deprivation is a whole lot harder than I thought.. I turned on my tv at least 4 times today without snapping for like a few minutes each time. I left the house and headed to NorthStar to knock out some holiday shopping and even went to the humane society to look into pet adoptions. Driving without a radio is sort of weird if you are the only person in the car, but so far I find that the easist to deprive myself of.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Media Deprivation Project Guidelines
As we established at the very beginning of the semester, mass media in its many forms dominates every waking moment of our lives. TV, Internet, MP3s, video games, cell phones, movies, and radio are just some of the many forms mass media takes today—and we are all subject to its stranglehold whether we know it or not. The point of this experiment is threefold:
1. To see just how powerful that stranglehold is on our daily routine.
2. To discover the advantages of being free of mass media’s many distractions.
3. To leave our cocoons of indoor media consumption and be more active – more social!
The following guidelines will help you determine when you can and cannot use a form of mass media in your daily routine. ***Media Deprivation begins when you wake up on Friday or Saturday and ends when you wake up on Sunday or Monday (You may choose which two days as long as they are consecutive, and you can still use an alarm clock)***
CELL PHONE/TELEPHONE USE:
• DO use your cell phone and/or telephone for basic contact purposes. You may call or text message but only if it’s for an important reason. Use your better judgment here.
• DO NOT pass the time texting or talking. Only reply to text messages if it’s urgent.
• Finally, DO NOT use your cell phone for web surfing, SOCIAL NETWORKING, or gaming. You may check email, but no games, videos, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
COMPUTER/INTERNET USE:
• DO use your computer/laptop for educational purposes such as writing papers, doing research, checking email, etc.
• But DO NOT use it for recreational purposes such as gaming, online shopping, fantasy sports, SOCIAL NETWORKING, file-sharing, etc. Academic purposes only!
RADIO/MP3 PLAYER USE:
• DO NOT listen to the radio, stereo, or any MP3 players under almost any circumstance.
• The only instance you can listen to music is if you’re at a restaurant/bar/party and there happens to be music playing in the background, so social situations are encouraged.
• DO NOT listen to your iPod or stereo while working out or studying and DO NOT listen to the radio while driving. NO MUSIC!
TV/DVD/MOVIE THEATER USE:
• DO NOT watch any TV or DVDs under almost any circumstance. NO VIDEO GAMES!
• The only instance you can watch TV is if you’re at a restaurant/bar/party and there happens to be a TV playing in the background. Going to the movies is acceptable, too.
NEWSPAPER/BOOK/MAGAZINE USE:
• DO read the newspaper, but only the print edition.
• DO NOT get your news online or on your phone. But you may watch the news on TV.
• DO read books and magazines, both for academic and recreational purposes. Graphic novels and/or comic books are acceptable reading, too.
1. To see just how powerful that stranglehold is on our daily routine.
2. To discover the advantages of being free of mass media’s many distractions.
3. To leave our cocoons of indoor media consumption and be more active – more social!
The following guidelines will help you determine when you can and cannot use a form of mass media in your daily routine. ***Media Deprivation begins when you wake up on Friday or Saturday and ends when you wake up on Sunday or Monday (You may choose which two days as long as they are consecutive, and you can still use an alarm clock)***
CELL PHONE/TELEPHONE USE:
• DO use your cell phone and/or telephone for basic contact purposes. You may call or text message but only if it’s for an important reason. Use your better judgment here.
• DO NOT pass the time texting or talking. Only reply to text messages if it’s urgent.
• Finally, DO NOT use your cell phone for web surfing, SOCIAL NETWORKING, or gaming. You may check email, but no games, videos, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
COMPUTER/INTERNET USE:
• DO use your computer/laptop for educational purposes such as writing papers, doing research, checking email, etc.
• But DO NOT use it for recreational purposes such as gaming, online shopping, fantasy sports, SOCIAL NETWORKING, file-sharing, etc. Academic purposes only!
RADIO/MP3 PLAYER USE:
• DO NOT listen to the radio, stereo, or any MP3 players under almost any circumstance.
• The only instance you can listen to music is if you’re at a restaurant/bar/party and there happens to be music playing in the background, so social situations are encouraged.
• DO NOT listen to your iPod or stereo while working out or studying and DO NOT listen to the radio while driving. NO MUSIC!
TV/DVD/MOVIE THEATER USE:
• DO NOT watch any TV or DVDs under almost any circumstance. NO VIDEO GAMES!
• The only instance you can watch TV is if you’re at a restaurant/bar/party and there happens to be a TV playing in the background. Going to the movies is acceptable, too.
NEWSPAPER/BOOK/MAGAZINE USE:
• DO read the newspaper, but only the print edition.
• DO NOT get your news online or on your phone. But you may watch the news on TV.
• DO read books and magazines, both for academic and recreational purposes. Graphic novels and/or comic books are acceptable reading, too.
Media Deprivation Project - An Overview
Welcome! Now that you're here, remember to show respect to everyone on this blog site. That means no inappropriate language and/or content. Please keep your thoughts, ramblings, rants, and other written forms of expression PG-rated. No foul or offensive language will be tolerated.
I encourage everyone to read and comment on each other's blogs, and I also encourage everyone to post pictures and videos as long as they are appropriate to this blog site's intent of describing what happens when we deprive ourselves of mass media for 48 hours.
Again, show respect for the academic purpose of this project and be sure to use this blog only as a forum to discuss the project. Also, the Media Deprivation will begin when you wake up on either Friday or Saturday and won't end till you wake up on Sunday or Monday. You are free to choose the days you want, just make sure they are consecutive days... Good luck!
I encourage everyone to read and comment on each other's blogs, and I also encourage everyone to post pictures and videos as long as they are appropriate to this blog site's intent of describing what happens when we deprive ourselves of mass media for 48 hours.
Again, show respect for the academic purpose of this project and be sure to use this blog only as a forum to discuss the project. Also, the Media Deprivation will begin when you wake up on either Friday or Saturday and won't end till you wake up on Sunday or Monday. You are free to choose the days you want, just make sure they are consecutive days... Good luck!
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