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.
