My morning starts off with the trusted Apple alarm in the tone my husband and I call the “abandon ship” tone. After being startled awake at 3:30 A.M. I  negotiate with my dogs the much needed additional nine minute snooze and then my media consumption begins.

I turn on the HomePod to a classical channel in the hopes that today, it will help quell my dogs barking at all moving objects in the neighborhood. I’ve been doing it for over a year now with little impact, so clearly this is all for me.

The first thing for me is the Facebook app on my iPad. The first store is my local CBS news feed which tells me about another random attack that occurred in Queens last night.  I also take a peek at the weather because it felt pretty cold when I just took the dogs out so I need to confirm my suspicions that it is in fact freezing cold right now. I then click on two CNN stories about the impeachment process shared by friends, along with a Dodo post about a koala bear and a Samantha Bee post about last night’s debate.

Next it is on to my email, where I check and respond to my husband who is away on a business trip. We are in the final stages of the home buying process so it is tedious details that seem never ending this week. Next it’s on to deleting all the nonsense but not before clicking on a US Weekly link  about how Megan and Harry are doing up in Canada. Then I look at the NY Times daily briefing to see if there is anything I missed, there isn’t, I am fully engaged with the news today.

I spend the next 9 hours at work with only a quick check of Facebook and my emails on my lunch break. Once I get home, I look at all the emails from the day and check Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to help decompress from the day.

I squeeze in an hour of homework, then turn on the local NBC news in the background while I am making dinner. I finally sit down to eat and the articles of impeachment are being delivered to the Senate. It feels so formal that I watch the full process. After which Lester Holt’s Nightly News is on telling me about the team chosen for the impeachment trail.  Since it’s an early day tomorrow after the news I shut off the T.V. to spend time with the dogs before going to bed. In bed it’s my usual standard of Facebook to browse before nodding off to sleep.

I consume a lot of media but do not really create any. I believe I am pretty savvy at determining what is credible and what is not. While I do sometimes click on links that are questionable from sites such as Mother Jones, I understand that they are heavily skewed. Today was a neutral day because there was so much to consume on my normal media sites.  For the media today, I would list the news programs of CBS and NBC at an 8 for credibility. I would also place the New York Times there. I would give CNN a 7 because I believe they get a few more things wrong. Dodo is animal interest and I would like to believe it is at a 10 but they are probably closer to that same 7 ranking. Samantha Bee is satire for the most part, but her actual news reporting I feel is a solid 8. Oh and US Weekly is low, probably around a 5 but that only helps to make them interesting.

Good Morning class!
Today is Saturday, January 18, 2020 and I am excited to be writing this first blog post for you all!

Yesterday, Friday, January 17, I tracked all my media usage for 24-hours in order to discuss the news content I interacted with. I am 22 years old and very passionate about the entertainment industry, therefore, I interacted with very little news content throughout the 24-hours.

The apps that received the most usage throughout the 24-hours were Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Netflix, and my Alarms. I consistently check these social media sites throughout the day. Aimlessly browsing Instagram make-up and food videos has become quite a talent of mine. In doing so, I came across some news related content.

In the mornings, my alarm goes off at 9 am to give me a heads up, and at 9:30 am to actually wake me up and tell me its time to start my day. Of course, being the Millennial that I am, the first thing I do when starting my day is check my phone and all the social media I have slept through.

As previously mentioned, I am interested in make-up videos and have discovered and followed many influencers in the industry over the years. It seems that I have accumulated an attachment to Australia through following many Australian influencers and keeping up with their posts and stories daily throughout the years. Two women that I have consistently followed and interacted with are @SkyeWheatly and @SarahsDay. Because of the time difference, I often wake up to massively long Instagram stories from both of these influencers, as I did yesterday.

Both Skye and Sarah discussed the Australian wildfires that have been encapsulating the entire nation. The devastating amount of people and animals that have lost their homes, and some their lives, can finally take a deep breath. A huge rainstorm has stopped majority of the fires in Australia. Although the rain does not have the ability to rebuild any of the lost items and houses, it did cease the continuing devastation. @SarahsDay linked some websites that were accepting donations including Salvation Army.

As my day continued, I browsed many platforms of social media and spoke to a lot of my friends through iMessages and Snapchat. However, news media continued to dwindle from my feed until about 5:30 pm. E! News’ Instagram posts celebrity and entertainment news and yesterday their content was very breakup heavy. Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler, two well known actors, ended their relationship after nine years together and E! News had the inside scoop as to why.

I’ve been following Hudgens since her High School Musical days back in 2006, and have therefore been invested in her and Butler’s relationship for the entirety of these past nine years. I read E! News’ article about their breakup and concluded that majority of what they published was hearsay, as most of their content typically is.

Ultimately, I have concluded that I need to introduce more substantial news  into my everyday social media browsing cycle. Although I was aware of the Australian fires through social media outlets, I never considered Googling and reading up on the details of the nation’s losses. As for E! News, I already consider it a gossip column as opposed to a credible news outlet, so reading about the Hudgens/Butler break up hardly counts. I would rank E! News’ credibility at a 3. I know that the gossip news they produce often is happening, but the details they provide are not trustworthy and are often times wrong.

Looking back at my notes of my hourly media use has helped put things into perspective. Although I would like to step into the entertainment industry, it does not have to be the only news source I follow. It is important to be well rounded, and knowing and understanding what is happening in our nation and throughout the world is a new priority of mine. Hello CNN?

Until next time,

Gabriela Grant.

Starting my day:

Unfortunately I have created a habit of checking social media platforms as soon as I wake up which includes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. Specifically pertaining to news I seem to find the most relevant news articles from Twitter.

Most mornings I will also wake up to at least two news articles via text message from my mom. For example, this morning she sent me a video from the most recent democratic debate where Elizabeth Warren confronts Bernie Sanders. 

While I make myself breakfast and get ready for my day, I usually will turn on Fox News or CNN in order to keep up with current events and get a daily dose of News that I more than likely know will be accurate.

Once I am full and showered I check my email which leads me to my daily New York Times briefing that I quickly skim through.

Throughout most of the day I consume news via twitter but that is only to waste time or I just simply have free time as I did this day. I usually will look at Presidents Trump’s tweets to see recent events in pertaining to the Whitehouse.

During the remainder of the day, most of what I consume via social media is just funny jokes my friends send me or instagram photos they post. However, I did come across this adorable post via Barack Obama wishing Michelle a happy birthday. 

When my day starts to come to a close and I begin making dinner for myself, specifically on this night I taught myself how to make Spanish rice via Pinterest using this recipe.

While I ate my rice(which actually turned out pretty good, for the record), my roommates and I take a couple hours talking about how each of our days went and just hanging out in our living room. After I begin to get tired, I’ll usually head back up tp my room and get ready for bed.

Ending my Day:

Once again I turn the news back on my TV which happened to be on Fox News but I mainly use it as background noise while I get ready to go to sleep.

I conclude my night the same way I start my morning, which means another long scroll between the same social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. However, at this point I am so tired that I never tend to look at any news content but more very random content and videos that I have been click-baited in to watching.

One of my new year’s resolutions is to spend less time on social media platforms during the day which I’ve noticed has led to my issue of binge-scrolling while I try and fall asleep.

As far as credibility for the content I consumed I rank New York Times, CNN and Fox News both around 8.5 out of 10 because I believe these sources to a fair job at keeping their facts correct, but have also both had their mistakes. Twitter I would rate lower at more of a 5 out of 10 because it does contain a lot of misinformation that I have to mentally filter through when i’m on the platform.

My Day :

It often takes me two or three tries to wake up in the morning; I have to set my phone alarm clock earlier than I need to wake up so by the third attempt I am ready to rise and face the day. As I sit in bed and my Bixby alarm (an Android application) reads me the weather and predicted forecast, along with the top articles from NPR and New York Times (which, like most media, cannot be fully trusted since they do get things wrong every now and then). After my alarm gives me a quick 2-3 minute spiel, I’m up and in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

As I get ready in the bathroom which includes, brushing my teeth, showering and makeup, I play my favorite Pandora station, Summer Hits of the 2000’s, to further wake me up and get me energized for the day.

When I finally made it to the kitchen, I made myself a simple breakfast of cereal and as I eat, scrolled through my Instagram feed and check my FaceBook account. My Instagram is used mostly to keep up with friends from out-of-state, or those who I have mostly lost touch with. On FaceBook, I can see what my out-of-state family has been up to. By the time I have finished eating, I make sure my bag is packed for school and I typically have about 20-30 extra minutes before I make my commute to school. With this time I turn on my TV and watch whatever has been peaking my interest on Netflix (currently a new drama called V-Wars, starring Ian Somerhalder). I dropped cable over a year and it has been the greatest decision ever because I only ever watched 4-ish channels, and I absolutely LOVE Netflix and all the content they offer!

When I’m finally ready to leave and start my 45 minute commute, I plug my phone into the aux cord and listen to Audible. Although I hated listening to it at first, it eventually started to grow on me and now allows me the ability to drive and read (kind-of at least). I am almost done listening to Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming. It’s a great read (or listen) if you ever get the opportunity!

When I get to school, I typically am a bit early and will sit down outside my class and read my local news stations like ABC15, Fox10 Phoenix, and AZFamily. I read, Phoenix: Things To Do, on ABC15 and am now planning to go to a noodle festival (YUM) this weekend! Then when I get into class, I put my phone away and take out my laptop. With the 15 minutes before class starts, I browse MSN and check my email for anything that might be important or advertisements from my favorite stores.  As my classes progress throughout the day, I typically don’t check my phone other than to respond to the occasional message from my family about off topics such as dinner or if I know the price for gas at my local Costco, random stuff like that. When all my classes are over, I head back to my car and opt for the radio (93.3 AltAZ is my fav!). Then, I turn on Google Maps to help navigate my way through traffic. With my longer school days, I typically get home around dinner time and eat with my family, where there is a strict ‘no phones at the dinner table’ policy. If it was a shorter day, I would come home and start my homework with the TV on and Netflix playing in the background, most likely of a random show that I won’t really pay attention to.

After finishing homework, or just hanging out after dinner, I make my way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I put on a Pandora podcast, Ted Talks Daily, this time. They are very inspirational and informational, so I like to end the day with one or two. I’m then soon off to bed, but (of course) that means sitting in bed playing on my phone. I look over Instagram and FaceBook one more time, then check ABC15 for anymore interesting news stories before I go to bed.

Ranking Credibility :

• ABC15 – 9
  • All the stories I read on ABC15 are local news stories typically involving things that are happening around Phoenix. When it comes to incidents that happen around the city (violence related, etc.) their information usually if not always comes from the Police Department. I see this as most trustworthy.
• Fox10 Phoenix – 6
  • Fox10 has a lot of political news coverage for both Arizona and the United States. It can become apparent as you’re reading that they are bias towards certain ideologies.
• AZFamily – 7
  • AZFamily often covers developing stories around Arizona. While you can get many perspectives from a single one article, they often have witnesses give their side of the story, thus giving the opportunity to get the story twisted.
• MSN – 7
  • I read MSN for world news going on and they often release an ‘Ongoing Situations’ sections for those looking to get an update about something important. This means that they are posting information as they receive it, so there is always the opportunity for false information to slip by.

My Activity :

Looking at my phones usage for the day, I have used it for about 4 hours. Considering I wake up around 8AM and go to sleep around 11PM, thats 4/15 hours a day that I’m on my phone, which isn’t to terrible. One of my New Year’s resolutions was actually to be less involved with my phone and go out and do more stuff without it. So often people (including myself) are so reliant on their phones for everything. I want to aim for around 2 hours of screen time a day and use those extra hours away from my phone to find a new hobby or something fun to do. Got any ideas?

When it came to tracking my media usage for 24 hours on Saturday, I came to realize I don’t really use a lot of traditional media.  The majority of the media I use does come from social  media.  I also don’t really ever pay attention to the news, I mainly only read about sports.

9-9:30 a.m.- Whenever I wake up the first thing I do while laying in bed is check my emails, messages, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Today the first thing I did was start this blog.  After, I replied to some messages, Snapchats and laughed at some memes, like the one linked below, that my friends sent in our Twitter group chat.

9:30- 10:30 a.m.- I got ready for work and scrolled through Instagram again.  I also opened some Snapchats.  I don’t use Snapchat as much as other social media platforms but I do go on to open snaps that my friends send me. While getting ready for work I usually listen to the Call Her Daddy podcast which is done by two girls who work for Barstool.

11-4 p.m.- I worked my shift for Red Bull.  During our break I went back on Twitter and Instagram.  I read an article on Twitter by Kevin O’Connor from the Ringer discussing his dad’s cancer diagnosis.

4-5 p.m.- I went home, packed a suitcase and read some sports articles on Twitter.  I read one article by Jovan Buha of the Athletic.  It was about everything you need to know about the 2019-2020 LA Clippers.  I read an article from Seminoles.com about Willie Taggart’s practice report for Friday.

6-7:30 p.m.- I headed to the airport only to be utterly shocked at what I was going to findout when I checked Twitter next.  What I saw caused this time to include ALOT of social media usage because of the bomb of the Andrew Luck retirement.  I was definietly posted on twitter looking at all the new tweets about the retirement.  There weren’t any stories out on it yet, just because I don’t think anyone saw it coming.

7:30-8 p.m.- I spent my time texting my friends while I waited for my plane to board.  I did check Twitter a few times and ended up reading an article about how Brooks Koepka rips critics about his ESPN’s 2019 Body Issue written by somebody who works for Bleacher Report. For those of you that don’t know who Brooks Koepka is, he is a professional golfer and I have linked his behind the scenes preview of his part in ESPN’s Body Issue.

8-11 p.m.- I watched Creed II on my flight to Seattle which if you have not seen it, I highly recommend watching.  I really enjoyed the movie.  Rocky IV is my favorite Rocky movie so I loved the ties to that.

11 p.m. -12 a.m.- I didn’t really go on social media during this hour.  My boyfriend picked me up from the airport so we spent this time talking and driving back to his house.

For my rankings, lets start with the podcast.  In case you haven’t listened to Call Her Daddy, it’s two girls talking about different topics so I see no reason why they should not be credible so I give them a 9 because in the rare case they might be making up things but the listeners may never know.  The next two I know personally, Kevin O’Connor and Jovan Buha so I trust that they are 100 percent credible so they are both given 10’s. The article from Seminoles.com is on the FSU athletic website and written by a staff member from FSU so that is also given a 10.  Finally, the lowest ranked is going to be the Bleacher Report article.  I do like Bleacher Report but I rank it a 7.

That was my 24-hour media tracker and after taking an in-depth look at how frequently I use social media, I do think I should try looking at more traditional media more.

A Roadmap to My Daily Media Use

• (August 24th – 5:30 PM) I began this aforementioned 24-hour block of data usage categorization directly after I arrived home from work at 5:15 pm. I quickly pulled out my cell phone to check my Social Media apps such as Facebook and Instagram. After a quick scan, and as is usual, revealed no time-sensitive, pertinent, or critical posts that were apparent, I turned on my Television and the connected AppleTV. I navigated myself to the NFL app and waited for the 4th Denver Broncos preseason game to begin.  I watched until the end of the game and called it a day.
• (August 25th – 7:05 AM) I woke up the following morning, before my alarm clock and cell phone had the opportunity to oh-so-rudely awaken me. I checked my e-mail and deleted or surveyed the small amount of mail I had accumulated.
• (7:10 AM) I neurotically checked my Facebook to quickly scan for any relevant posts that I already knew I would not personally respond to this early in the morning. I left the bed and made coffee for myself and my wife.
• (8:00 – 9:22 AM) I turned on the Television to immediately watch our favorite local daily news in Portland, Oregon. Fox News is not my ideal choice of news throughout the day but we had grown accustomed to the local version of it over the years.
• (9:22 AM) I once again checked my phone for any new e-mails that might have arrived in my two personal e-mail accounts and my student e-mail. About this time of day, there are usually a lot of e-mails that I must delete, report as spam, or move to the many mail folders I have previously assigned.
• (9:23 – 10:31 AM) I turned the television to CNN to view news that I am more accustomed to and comfortable with. Although I am aware of the bias that is undoubtedly underlying through financing mandates, I find CNN to generally be the more reliable cable news source and I will use it to gauge my incoming news for each day.
• (12:11 PM) At this point, I quickly and manically checked my e-mail, something I honestly do all throughout the day, but it is difficult to accurately reflect this in this blog exercise.
• (12:15 PM) We left home to complete some errands in the surrounding neighborhood and I used the YouTube Music app on my phone to stream a custom-tailored music playlist to my car stereo via BlueTooth.
• (3:24 PM) After arriving home I turned on my laptop to pull up the Arizona State University website and use Canvas to access my two classes. I scanned for posts and viewed the course calendar.
• (3:30 – 5:30 PM) While addressing related schoolwork, I tuned my AppleTV to YouTube and watched a multitude of videos recommended for me. Most, if not all videos, were either MSNBC or The Young Turks. Although MSNBC is largely comfortable to me, I am hesitant to view it as a final source and I often will seek out other resources to confirm or deny the content. Alternatively, The Young Turks is my favorite news source and I will routinely view it as a trusted (although not infallible) news source. I am fully aware that this comfort level is based around my liberal progressive viewpoint and lifestyle, but I try to be objective as creating a news “tunnel” that potentially blinds my viewpoint is not ideal.

Media Credibility: Scale of 1 (least trusted) – 10 (most trusted):

• (9) The Young Turks
• (7) MSNBC
• (7) CNN
• (5) Fox News – local
• (3) Facebook

Thursday, August 22, 2019

I didn’t realize how little I actually use media in my personal life during the work week compared to how much I use media as a student and in my personal time. Lately, because I’m out with close friends outside, I haven’t been to media too much. I think If I did another diary next month I would have had more media interactions.

8:30AM-After my morning routine, I first got on Twitter (on my phone) and check to see if I have any notifications and scroll on my timeline. Twitter is one of the three primary ways I communicate with friends and family. I also checked to see what is trending.

8:25AM-One of the stories trending that caught my eye was one from CNBC about plant-based diets. I’ve been a vegetarian in the past and have considered going back to that diet. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/01/20/how-the-beyond-meat-burger-is-taking-over-the-beef-industry-the-upstarts.html

8:55 AM-Personal emails, mostly checking in on packages and any school-related information. Texting close friends and significant other before I walk to work

9:05 AM-work emails using Microsoft Outlook. I tend to get a large number of work emails overnight. takes me about  20-30minuites to respond to all my emails and do the tasks requested if needed.

12:30 PM-Snapchat, this is my second way of communicating with close friends. I check up on their lives by watching their “snapstory” and reply to “snaps” and messages I have during my lunch break.

1:30 PM-Twitter again, I just enjoy scrolling my timeline towards the end of my work break. mostly just to kill time and enjoy memes.

3:11 PM– Nearing halfway during my shift at work. listening to NPR News Hour and Up First on Spotify. I’m very isolated in my office so I can be disconnected from the outside world when working so I like to at least hear about the news. This is a fairly new habit that I started last week because I don’t want to get distracted by finding news links online I can do my work and listen at the same…aka Multitasking 🙂

4:20 PM-Last time checking emails before closing my office.

After work, I went to my friends for a small get together, so I didn’t use my phone.

11:30 PM-Netflix, watching an episode of the Telenovela Siempre Bruja, it’s not all that great in character arcs but the show overall is great.

12:30 PM-End of night text messages to a friend, before heading to bed.