I normally stick to a pretty strict social media schedule, since my daily routine is more often than not the same. Today, however, I had a lot of travelling to do which interrupted my routine. Normally, the first thing I check is Twitter. Today, though, the first form of media I used was the radio. In the car on the way to the airport I had the local radio station on, just listening to music and the occasional ad.
Eventually, I head on over to Twitter. Considering I only slept for 3 hours, there is not really any new posts, so for the rest of the car ride and plane ride, I do not really use my phone except for music.
Getting to the airport, I can finally see some new Tweets. I follow quite a bit of news sources, such as TIME, National Geographic, and BBC, I’ll click on a few news articles to stay updated with what’s going on.
After Twitter, I check my Instagram. There isn’t much news here, it’s mostly just memes and celebrities, but that’s why I like Instagram. It keeps me distracted from everything going on in the world.
I check Facebook next. Here is where I stay updated on all the Hollywood news, rather than important news. I hate this kind of news, but it’s somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me so I can’t help it.
By now I’m in a rental car, on the way to the hotel. I’m exhausted, so I immediately fall asleep when I get in the car, there was no time for any sort of technology. When I get to the hotel, however, I’m ready for some TV.
Before I get to watching any shows, I turn on the local news. I enjoy knowing what’s happening in the city where I’m staying. It keeps me informed and up to date. Plus, it’s always fun to compare a different city’s local news to my own.
After relaxing for a bit, I go out and enjoy my vacation, so my media usage was practically zero. The next time I’m checking my phone is when I’m going to sleep. I start off with playing a game on my phone, but eventually end up over on Instagram for some laughs. I check Twitter for some news one last time, and before I know it I’m falling asleep.
Out of all the news I consume, Twitter, or a local news channel, are the places I trust most to get it. This is because I follow actual news sources (with BBC being a personal favorite), so I’m seeing actual news. Whereas with Facebook, any news I see from there is shared by my friends from sources I’ve never even heard of. I would almost never trust Instagram for news, since I only go on there for memes and celebrities.
We never realize how much we truly consume media, until we sit down and think about it. I realized today, how much I normally use my phone compared to when I’m busy doing stuff.
