Social networking and privacy

            I only have a facebook account right now; I have never had a twitter, mysapce, or blog (besides the one for my sociology 49 class) before.  However, even though I only have one real social network account I still feel that I use facebook enough to be considered an average user of social networking sites.  I generally check my facebook every time I turn a computer.  Sometimes I actively browse through friend’s accounts for extended periods of time, however, once I log in I generally just check my updates and just leave it on in the background.  I think what would categorize me as a less avid facebook user, would be that I do not post statuses very often and almost never upload a picture or video of myself.  Even though it seems like I am facebook as much as most users, I tend not to take as seriously or use it share all of my personal details.  Comparatively I have much fewer facebook friends for I do not send friend requests and do not accept most requests unless they are a close friend.  I think the reason for this is primarily because I am a very conservative person and seem to be on the more quiet side.  So this personality trait of mine transfers over into my social network.  However, I am not alone in this.  I have found that the people that are more attention starved and feel the need to be heard or are just more out-going are the ones who have thousands of friends and post multiple statuses daily.

            Although I am seemingly a less than avid facebook user, on the other hand, I am a very keen on texting and phone usage.  Anyone that knows me or is around me for even short period of time can see that I am constantly using my smart phone.  Before I bought my first smart phone in the previous summer, I was always texting someone, although it was generally one of the same three people.  Now that I have my android phone, I am always on it whether it be texting my girlfriend, surfing the web, playing games, or checking my facebook.  It is actually very scary how addicted I am to my phone now.  I cannot imagine how I was able to make it through my day before I had all these capabilities on one device.  It seems that my android has become the most important piece of technology that I have right now for it does pretty much everything I need, except for some minor tasks. 

            I am a firm believer that all this new technology and convergence has become essential in our lives and cannot be removed from our society.  The only real drawback to this explosion of technology is how addicting it has become, for example most people feel as if they could not survive if they went a day without checking their facebook or just searching the internet.  Unfortunately I have become of those addicted to technology, however I do not go as far as to post my every thought and have my entire life posted on the internet.  For those who do live their lives on the internet, it can be a bitter-sweet relationship for it is the best way to stay connected but can also be used to take advantage of people.

Media consumption in a week

For the past week, January 31 through February 6, I have been trying to keep track of my daily media consumption.  I do not really read any hard copies of media, like newspapers or news magazines.  The only physical media I read this week was, maybe sadly, an Us weekly magazine since my girlfriend’s family subscribes to this magazine and I am constantly at their house, so I may have glanced at an article or two.  Even though I did not read any this past week, occasionally I will read TIME magazine or Sports Illustrated when I have a chance. 

However I do spend some significant amount of time watching television.  The television shows or movies that I do watch either come physically watching the T.V. or from my laptop.  I would say that I on average have a show or movie on about 3 to 4 hours during the weekday and closer to 5 to 6 hours on a weekend.  However, most of the time I have the T.V. on in the background while I am doing other tasks.  For example, while doing homework, eating or surfing the internet I generally have the T.V. going on in the background (even as I am typing this blog I have Rocky I on AMC on in the background).  When watching television my favorite and most frequently watched channels tend to be ESPN, TBS, Nick, Comedy Central, FoodNetwork, the CW, AMC, and any other premium movie channel.  Again, most of the time these are just on in the background, the only time I get to intently watch shows that I am interested in is on my laptop.  I generally watch all the new episodes of Modern Family, Men of a Certain Age, and Jersey Shore.  I also frequently download or stream movies too, since that is probably my favorite type of media. 

Now I spend most of my available free time surfing the internet, unfortunately I may spend too much time on the web when I should be doing homework or paying attention in class.  Most of my time is spent on google, facebook, yahoo, jackthreads (a men’s clothing website), espn, various new hip hop music sites, and throughout the past week I have been on different consumer websites as it is Valentine’s Day soon and my girlfriend’s birthday is coming up.  I generally do spend about six plus hours on my laptop depending on the day.  It is used for work and entertainment.  It seems that now I cannot really go a day without using my laptop or the internet.

Also, some extra sources of media that I am constantly using throughout the day are my android smart phone.  This has probably become my newest and most prevalent source of media entertainment since it basically does everything I need brought all onto one medium.  I am constantly texting or calling people, using the 3G internet, just playing video games when bored. 

I do think that when it comes to media consumption and the mediums through which I gather it is typical of any person my age and in my demographic.  I think the biggest indicator of this is the advertisements that are constantly thrown at me and others of my demographic.  For me it seems like the advertisements that I am most bombarded with is that of most generally consumerism that is typically supposed to turn me into the socially perfect man or person.  Advertisers are not subtle in their attempt to coerce me and others into buying their products in order to become someone better than I already am.