This week I chose to write about fashion because it is essential to our everyday lives. Not only is it a true art form but it is also something we spend our lives in. Even though it’s 2020 racism still exists and is known problem in the fashion industry.  As a black person living in the United States racism effects my everyday life. I care about the topic because it hits close to home for me both by way of my experiences and by the art form that I really love.

Racism in the fashion industry wasn’t something that was covered in media until what feels like very recently. A lot of major fashion houses were getting called out for only using white models in their shows and advertising. Magazines were called out for feature these exclusionary and/or racist ads. On the opposite side of the spectrum brands were celebrated for their diversity and advertisements were applauded for featuring models of color (bonus points if they weren’t stereotyped).

My problem with the ways media covers this topic is the fact that it seems so trivial. A lot of times articles don’t highlight the fact that racism in fashion has very real consequences for people in their everyday lives. This could be young black people not seeing people who look like them in magazines and therefore not feeling beautiful because the “beautiful” people in the magazines don’t look like them. This could be the very real struggles of a young model of color who can’t find work because of racism in the industry. The shows with no models of color, racist ads or racist pieces of clothing really have an impact on the daily lives of people of color.

Resources I’ve found for information on racism in the fashion industry are through the Huff Post and the New York Post . My problem is the fact that while they are writing about racism often times the writing is done by a white person. The writing lacks nuance that a person of color could give based on their lived experience. I also turn to the New York Times for information on this topic as well. Overall I think this is an important topic that could honestly be covered more by the mainstream media. The more the subject is covered the more we can actively work towards being anti-racist in all aspects of our lives. I think once people realize the true consequences of racism the more of an open dialogue we will have.

For me, social media has become a huge part of my life over the years as I imagine it has for most people. I wake up in the morning and check Twitter first for any new news that is happening around the world. I actually don’t follow many news pages on social media because the people that I follow are always very quick to re-tweet any big information that I may need to know about. I then move on to Instagram to check on how everyone else’s lives are going or at least how they want me to think it is going. After all of that is out of the way, I start my day by putting on some music to get me energized for what lies ahead.

I began my day by going to the gym. This is one place I would think I wouldn’t be on social media, but I always find myself mindlessly scrolling my feed in between sets. Usually my social media consist of the same old thing every day, but in recent weeks there has been a flood of posts about the fires that are consuming Australia. Almost every major news page is posting about these devastating fires and often provide links to donate and help out in any way that we can. One that I see being re-tweeted a lot is from ABC news. I find it amazing that all different countries are coming together on this matter and even sending over volunteers to help, but the biggest focus is on the animals.

After the gym, I came home and got ready for school. I often don’t have much time to be on my phone during this time, but after getting to class I found myself checking social media one last time before the class started. Fast forward to getting home from class and this is where the most time was spent on my phone.  Should I be getting ahead on homework and stop procrastinating? Yes. For the sake of this assignment though, I let myself have a little bit more time on my phone.

Until having to log everything I was reading and looking at, I didn’t realize how much information I was taking in daily. I mostly follow pages that bring positivity to my day and choose not to follow a lot of news pages because if I’m being honest, they’re quite sad most of the time. With that being said, I know that if a story is big enough, I will definitely be hearing about it.

One person that I do follow is Donald Trump and let me tell you, that is an adventure. I will not get into any political talks, but I will say that I am glad that I follow him. Although he might put too much on social media, I think it is great that he is very open about what is going on and keeps us (kind of) in the loop. He is the only “credible” media source that I currently follow.

Overall, I found this assignment to be very enlightening and judging by my screen time of 6 hours per day, I think I may need to cut back a bit. Our world today seems to revolve around social media and immediate gratification. Unfortunately, I see it changing who we are as people and as a society. Social media is amazing in it’s own way, but I think it is all about finding the balance between it and the real world.

In todays ever changing tech world of algorithms and AI, it is no surprise that media is rooted at the center of our lives. From our morning news, to the endless internet content available, we are ensured that media will be at the center of our day. With this reality, we must ask ourselves, what am I really looking at? Is this content or news really reliable? It’s an honest question we should all be asking ourselves and for this reason I decided to take a hard look at my media consumption for one whole day to see exactly what I am consuming.

I began my investigation into just what media I am looking at on a daily bases by tracking what I viewed, read, or listened to on Friday January 17, 2020. I had an off day from work and plenty of time to consume content. I started off by listening to a podcast. I will often do this while cooking breakfast and throughout my morning routine. I listened to “College Hoops Overtime” by Greg Peterson. Greg gives a recap on the previous days games and breaks down the matchups of the current day with a Las Vegas betting perspective.  This podcast can last up to several hours so it is something that I will often stop and come back to.

Later in the morning I found myself on everyone’s second favorite social media platform (after myspace), Facebook. After scrolling through posts of everyone’s morning workout, what they were eating, or the endless collage of family photos, I stumbled on an article that a friend shared headlined Man Pulls Knife and Rope on Real Estate Agent at Open House. She Draws Gun. This article came from tribunist.com. Along side this article, I did my typical scrolling to see if anyone was up to anything worthwhile. I also scrolled Instagram and checked some Tweets. Another uneventful, perhaps useless social media session in the books.

In the afternoon I found some more time to consume and decided on YouTube. I jumped into a live stream of Betting with The Bag a daily live show where the entire sports slate is broken down with a Vegas betting perspective. I enjoy this platform as the live chat provides active participation from the audience. With our games solidified, it was time for some meal prep and of course the local tv news. My evening consisted of homework followed by watching some Netflix before going to bed.

Looking back I had a pretty typical of media consumption. A daily podcast, live stream, social media with a news article, some local news, and Netflix for leisure. When it comes to the sports betting content, there is a grey area on the credibility of the content. Greg Peterson’s content as far as the teams stats, injury reports, travel spots etc. are all very accurate. The grey area comes in that he is giving a pick on the outcome of a future event which is simply his opinion. The Betting with The Bag live stream shares the same dilemma. Therefore, it is important as a consumer to take the data and facts for what they are and formulate your own opinion in regards to the outcome of the games. If your opinion lines up with that of the host well you just might be on to something. The Facebook article that I read was indeed real news; however, we must look at why it was even written. The tribunist is a right wing publication so it was no surprise that the content had plenty of pro gun advocacy in it. The evening news is usually on in the background while cooking dinner and I typically just view that as getting my “real news” for the day as I know they are professional credible journalist who are striving and checking for accuracy before publication or production. With this hard look at one days worth of media consumption, I solidified the importance of critically evaluating the media we consume.

Francisco Healy

I was asked to track my media usage for a day. I’ll start off by saying that I wanted to embellish going into it. You know, mind my P’s and Q’s, and prove that I am aware and in control of what comes in.

I am happy to report that today, on January 16^th, 2020, I did not open my Instagram feed 32 times. However, for transparency’s sake, that’s only because I worked for five flights and we are not allowed to have our cell phones out on the plane. I am not addicted to social media enough to get written up for having my phone out.

What can I say? I am a rule follower.

7:00 AM – My day started with several alarms and 5-minute snoozes. I caught a red-eye flight back to base and slept in the crew room. The first thing I do is check my flight schedule for changes and then, I send my husband and children a few text messages.

I get up, drink some water, and hit the online books for three hours before getting ready for work as planned. When I walk out of the crew room, I look up at the airport monitors to confirm my gate.

The first news I get comes from the Captain by way of Air Traffic Control (ATC). He gives me the weather forecast as it pertains to our flights for the day.

I interact with plenty of media during flights. This includes reading a manifest for each flight that indicates the flight number, passenger names, seat assignments, special needs or privileges on the flight, connecting gates, and so on. I also read my announcement script and fill out a count form during each flight.

I’ve printed a portion of my school book to read between trips.

10:20 PM – I am done for the day. I use signs throughout the Jackson Airport to find my way to our hotel shuttle. The driver gives me a binder with a sign-in sheet and a room key.

During the ride to the hotel, I call my kids on WhatsApp video chat. They’ve lost track of time. So, I guide them through their bedtime routine. Brush teeth. Set out school clothes. Turn off electronics. Virtual loves and hugs. All the things. Dad is sick or he would have already done it.

I also take a quick peek at how my investments have done today in the Robinhood app.

The following article catches my attention: Aurora Cannabis Stock Has Erased 2020 Losses After Analysis Reiterate Support. This app is the only place I seek financial news. I may click through to the original link or search for other sources, but it usually begins in the app.

10:40 PM – I open Instagram for less than a minute and realize that for now, I could be doing something better with my time. Accordingly, my phone buzzes. It’s the calendar reminder I set to continue tracking my media usage for this very blog.

I scroll through the news on the Yahoo! Homepage a few moments. This is generally where I go to browse pop culture and celebrity news before clearing emails. Finally, I check my school notebook to confirm my due dates and the assignment I need to complete by the next day before Netflixing.

I’ve seen so many memes referencing Netflix’s new show, You in the past week and I heard a few coworkers talking about the show. So, I decide to check out the first episode before going to bed. I end up watching two.

January 17^th, 2020

I head down to eat breakfast at the hotel our crew is staying at. They have local news on the television. In addition to the weather forecast for Jackson, Mississippi, I hear their take on the following stories:

1. Scans show benefit of reading vs. screen time
2. Sneak peek: Chacey Poynter: Witness to Murder…
3. Kacey Musgraves calls out country radio station for not playing women back to back: ‘Smells like white male bull****’

Note: These are links to the stories from other sources, not the local news channel.

I wonder why this Chacey Poynter woman gets a chance to cry on national television about murdering her husband. It reminds me of the two-sides fallacy spoken of in Mediactive. We don’t need to hear this.

8:40 AM – My husband calls on WhatsApp so that I can talk to him and the children while they drive to school. It’s our thing.

Next? Computer use for school with the occasional social media interruption. All. Day.

I open Instagram and watch the following video before getting refocused on school work.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B7bQEH8J2gK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

3:00 PM – I swipe through finance news in the Robinhood app and read the following articles from my Bloglovin’ daily email before taking a dinner break. This daily email is where I find my wellness-related news.

After 54 Days, The CDC Says It’s Finally Safe To Eat Romaine Again

This is important. I am a vegetarian.

Advertising is Making You Unhappy. Here are Some Ways to Avoid It.

When I get back from dinner I browse through stories curated by Pocket. I see this curated feed each time I open a blank Firefox browser.

I work on school assignments until 12:06 AM. I hoped I would have enough time for another episode of You, but I have to be up at 4:00 AM for work.

Media Source Credibility Ratings

(9) Weather briefing from Captain – We rely on this information to answer one question: Is it safe to fly? If ATC says no, we trust that. If ATC says it’s a yes, then we trust that. The bottom line is that my airline hasn’t had any planes fall out of the sky due to weather complications.

(9)  Mind, Body, Green and Becoming Minimalist delivered by Bloglovin’ – Both of these websites do their research and make it easy for readers to visit their sources. One article links to the CDC press release and the other links to original research on the Harvard Business Review.

I may not trust the CDC’s judgment on vaccinations, but I do trust them to tell me if I can start eating lettuce again.

(6) Local news on television – I expect local news to be an echo of national news with local weather, events, and stories sprinkled in. Television news, in general, is biased.

(6) Yahoo! News – This news platform is hit and miss. Sometimes they follow quick news trends and appear to be biased.

(5)  Pocket – Honestly, I read the headlines for entertainment purposes and rarely click through. They are all for sensationalism, but who doesn’t love a juicy story from time-to-time?

I start my day with 3 different alarms on my iPhone that sits on my nightstand. This may seem unheard of, but I gladly avoid immediate media browsing as my day starts. I actually have never been a type person to feel the need to instantly check social media, emails, texts, etc. Although i should take advantage of the simple fact my job at the moment doesn’t require me to use apps or As i wake up and get coffee brewing, I check the weather app because TX weather is very bipolar 99% of the time.

As i get in the car and start heading to work, the first app I use is google maps app waze maps, I check both before leaving to make sure i take the faster route to work, as it usually takes me about 35-45 min. to get to work between 7AM-8AM each morning. Once i select a map app, I always listen to ESPN LA 710AM radio station on the iHeartRadio app. As a California native, I am an L.A. sports fanatic, and its hard to come across L.A. sports radio in a different state. Thank goodness for radio apps where I can listen to hometown stations throughout my day.

Once I get settled at my desk, I log on and stay active on 3-6 different software programs that I need to use throughout my workday. Aside from that, I check my gmail periodically, my social media on my lunch(Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest ) and throughout the second part of my workday, different sports apps, iPhone photo streams, and texts.

The one app I had today and always have going in the background at my desk is spotfiy, with music of my choice. Music makes my day go by faster and puts me at ease when it is a typical busy day which is majority of my work week. I also pay for commercial free music as that avoids interruptions in between songs.

As my day ends and head home, Google maps and Waze are my best friends through traffic hour, followed by ESPN L.A. 710AM radio to save the day. I usually watch some good old T.V. after dinner to catch up on news in the world along with sports news as well.  I also have spent alot of time today and lately, on apps such as HAR, Zillow and REDFIN as my husband and I are in search of our first home.

I would rank the multiple different apps and news stations I watch a good solid 8 because a lot of these apps are factual, such as the maps i use to go to work, the spotify music is simply music, ESPN LA 710am station and T.V. news stations is based on opinions and facts so that can always be trustworthy or not depending on your beliefs, although we can only hope to get solid ethical news from our sources each day.

 

I work the afternoon/night shift for my job as a social media customer service representative for a large company. This late schedule gives me the opportunity to sleep until noon most days, but yesterday, Friday, January 17, 2020, I woke up around 10:30 and began my day how I usually do. I checked my notifications on social media, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

As I woke up earlier than normal I passed some time watching Youtube videos before getting ready and leaving for work. While going about my daily pre-work routine I listened to one of my Spotify Daily Mixes through a speaker in my living room.

I used to use the Your Daily Drive playlist on my commute to work, but I’ve since moved significantly closer making it hard to listen to any news podcasts all of the way through before arriving at work.

When I get to work I start my day by logging in to Twitter and Facebook and checking my email for any updates. Throughout the day I’m on and off various social media websites for work, checking for context, whether or not a tweet is actionable, etc. I’m also listening to music and podcasts (This American Life is the podcast of choice today)  as well throughout my day.

During lunch I’m checking on my personal social media feeds. I also decide to post some photos from a recent concert I attended to Instagram. I share this post to my Instagram story to increase the chances of others seeing it.

Photography is a passion of mine and a career I pursue outside of school/work so I’m regularly posting photos on social media and doing whatever I can to increase my social media following for that.

After work I check my social media notifications and reply to tweets, messages, etc. before heading home.

When I get home I put on some music and clean up around the house before I end up in front of another screen. I spend the rest of my night playing video games and talking to friends over social media before going to bed.

Takeaways: I’m on social media a lot. Part of this is because both my day job and side gig require it. I need to be on Twitter and Facebook when I’m checking tweets and messages for work during the day and I need to be on Instagram to grow my brand as a photographer. However, if I didn’t need to be using this media, I doubt I would be spending that much time off of it.

Many interactions that I have with friends are through social media. I feel like the biggest reprieve I would have from social media would be from my day job, if I didn’t already have to be on it for that purpose.

While I’m consuming a lot of media throughout the day, not much of it is news. This American Life is the only news media I consumed and that’s because it’s entertaining for me. A few times on Instagram I saw some articles from The Hard Times, a satirical news site like The Onion, but this was the only other news media I saw. I think this is because I’m tired of being on Twitter and Facebook, where a lot of news media is shared, after work and I don’t see it during my work day.

Media Sources and trust level  1 (least trusted) – 10 (most trusted):

Twitter 3 – As a rule I don’t trust anything on Twitter and feel the need to double check everything I see for accuracy.

Instagram 5 – A lot of what I see on Instagram are photos and videos created and posted by people I trust. The advertisements I see on Instagram bring my trust level of the media source down significantly, though.

Snapchat 3 – A lot of what I see on Snapchat are photos and videos created and posted by people I trust. The advertisements I see on Snapchat, which are more common than Instagram’s advertisements, bring my trust level of the media source down significantly, though.

Facebook 3 – As a rule I don’t trust anything on Facebook and feel the need to double check everything I see for accuracy.

This American Life 9 – “This American Life is a weekly public radio program and podcast. ” I trust TAL a lot more than many other sources because I understand that this is journalism that has been vetted for accuracy and clarity.

The Hard Times 6 – I can trust that whatever is being posted on THT is satire, though I sometimes don’t see that a post is from THT on social media. This might lead to believe the headline for a split second before checking the source.

Howdy, everyone!

When it comes to media usage, especially during the workweek, I am pretty boring. I barely have time to get ready in the mornings, and during the day I am bombarded with work or talking to my colleagues. I am also not on traditional social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. After work I only get a few hours of relaxation in before I am fighting to keep my eyes open, and the next thing I know it is the morning.

This last Friday was not much different. My media usage began once I got in the car for my commute to work. I like to listen to audiobooks during my drive because I get engaged in the story and forget about traffic. The audiobook I am currently listening to is Darknet by Matthew Mather, which is a techno thriller that so far is holding my interest. I prefer action and suspense for my driving audiobooks, so I tend to stick to thrillers, horror or science fiction. My favorites would be considered B Movies if they were made into films.

Once at work it is nose to the grindstone, so no media until lunch time. At that point I check my emails on my phone, and read a couple of articles on Queerty.com, which is a news and gossip site geared mostly toward gay men. The stories are usually about celebrities or politics, but the site has more in common with TMZ than CNN. I cannot say it is very reputable, but it is about all the news I can stand since it tends to make me depressed to hear about bleak topics such as war, murder and politics.

In the afternoon my workload eases up a bit, so I take that time to read some of the assigned articles for this class.  First, I read “General Principles in Media Literacy” by Patricia Aufderheide on the California Newsreel website. Next, I read “Fake news. It’s complicated.” by Claire Wardle on the First Draft website. I will admit that I do not know very much about California Newsreel or First Draft, but if I had to hazard a guess I would say that they are more reputable news sites than Queerty.

For my leisure time, I like to watch YouTube videos, especially ones that show people doing things like cooking, making art, crafts, or something else I usually would not see on television. My current favorites are videos with people cooking Korean street food. While I am watching YouTube, my partner enjoys watching game shows and true crime shows. These are going in the background, and I occasionally look over so I would count that as “watching” too. Last night it was “America Says” on the Game Show Network, followed by “48 Hours: Hard Evidence” on OWN. I would count true crime shows as having elements of the news, and this one was one of the better ones, along with “20/20” and “Dateline.”

Once I get sleepy, it is time to put on an audiobook and I usually fall asleep while listening. My preference of books for this are classic Sherlock Holmes or anything with a calm voice to help me relax. Last night it was Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris. I got about 30 minutes of listening before falling asleep.

So it all started the night before, what I mean is that the 24 hours of monitoring my digital life started at 12:01 in the morning as I finished showing one of my all-time favorite movies to my husband, Le Miserables. Since we didn’t own the movie we looked it up online on one of those sketchy websites and has the viruses that pop up a million times; not the most reliable source but effective in our cheap desire to watch an older movie. As we finished I lay there and pondered the meaning of life, but not really the accuracy to the events at hand in the movie; maybe it’s credible, maybe it’s not, not really the point of it. And slowly but surely I drifted off to sleep and there I stay except for my usual tossing and turning.

I awoke to my cat Jeffery sleeping on my legs, and me checking my email as I did every morning, mid-morning, afternoon, and on and on rounding about 20-30 times a day, I’m not even sure as to why I’m not waiting on anything and I don’t work. After doing soon a drifted back to sleep as a way to help alleviate the migraine that was persistent in ruining my day.

When I woke again it was almost afternoon, and I was feeling much better. I had lunch with my husband and per usual our conversation flowed about everything. In the process of us talking we researched little questions we had about our conversation, such as what are sailor Neptunes powers and what does sailor pluto look like. This goes on for 20-40 min as it usually does and all sources are whatever google trusts enough to tell us, maybe not the most reliable but we aren’t writing a thesis on sailor moon.

I head back to bed as it is the only comfortable piece of furniture in our new apartment and look over my homework on canvas as I do every day, although this action still doesn’t stop me from procrastinating. Going on canvas daily does make me informed about my homework and gives me time to think it over. Being bored with canvas, I message some friends on Snapchat although this isn’t very usual normally I scroll through Instagram looking at things I don’t remember later.

As I am exciting browsers on my internet I realized I didn’t close on of the virus popups from the movie last night so I run a full virus scan, although I’m still not sure if it’s doing anything. As I do so I go to Facebook to check the wives’ pages for the airforce I am apart of, I am not active on it but I also religiously check just to have information about what’s going on and those pages always have 100 percent accurate info.

I finally get out of bed, again, and make dinner for my husband, after we decide to get some McDonalds for desert and listen to Today’s Alternative Radio on Spotify on the way over. Realizing we haven’t gone to the mall yet and it was next door we wander through until we came home just in time for bed.

google- 7 Although very reliable the search the google does to get the quick answers are just looking for snippets without understanding the context.

Snapchat- 8 Honestly not sure because I only use it for messaging.

Instagram- 4 It’s really up to the content creators to be credible and mine aren’t giving any substantial information, with the exception of Tasty, although Buzzfeed still it’s reliable.

Spotify- 10 There are few songs I cant find and it is very good with having helpful suggestions with impeding what you’re doing.

Facebook- 8 Same as Snapchat, I only use it for messaging and Facebook groups.