This was an exercise I completed for my Digital Media Literacy course at ASU. I kept a record of my media use for 24 hours.
6:30 a.m.: I browse Instagram and then TikTok to help me wake up. I want it to not upset me but I have convinced the algorithm that I like upsetting things.
7:00 a.m.: I listen to My Favorite Murder Podcast while I make breakfast. Sadly, it is less upsetting than current events. I play puzzle games on my phone while I listen.
8:30 a.m. I try to be judicious about the media I consume, meaning I try not to only consume political media. But I do want to stay informed so I listen to the Bulwark podcast next. I try to ignore all of the notifications I don’t want to see while I enjoy my coffee. I avoid my email like the plague.
9:30 a.m. After my kid is off to school, I hop on Etsy to start fulfilling my orders. I am watching Homicide Hunter: American Detective on HBO. Well, it’s on in the background. Apparently I’m the last person to know that everyone is pronouncing it home-a-cide now, and not hahm-a-cide like we have pronounced it for all of time.
11:00 a.m.: I browse the Libby App, looking for an audiobook and check out the book As the Wicked Watch, by Tamron Hall. I listen to the book while I work, then while I make lunch and eat and then play puzzle games on my phone.
12:00p.m.: I suffer miniature panic attacks with every notification that pops up on my phone with problems I don’t know to solve or can’t afford. I cannot dismiss these notifications because they are important things that need to be addressed but for now I want to not have a panic attack so I avoid them.
1:00p.m.: I am starting my audiobook over from the beginning because I couldn’t focus on it enough and lost track of the plot. I am adding groceries to my cart in the Walmart app while I listen, trying to stay focused.
1:30p.m.: Back at work, I return to Homicide Hunter. As the day wears on, I alternate between puzzle games and Instagram to disassociate and procrastinate. I browse Pinterest to get ideas for work, and use eRank to do research.
2:00p.m.: I start chatting with my partner on Google messenger. Google has renamed their chat app so many times. It is the dumbest thing they have done. My partner is a news editor, but he tries not to share depressing information with me so he usually shares a funny tiktok or meme with me.
2:30p.m.: I’m starting to look at Instagram periodically and getting bummed out. I switch from my “political” insta to my “arty” insta account.
3:00p.m.: I use Spotify to play white noise while I read articles for school. I use Google docs to take notes.
5:00-12a.m.: I alternate between my audiobook, and Homicide Hunter. I play games on my phone and avoid my email.
I play games on my phone as a way to deal with my anxiety, a lot.
The most credible news sources to me are AP, BBC and NPR. I find those sources to be the most reliable and straightforward. I like to follow ground.news because they evaluate the bias of various news stories and outlets. I like to follow a wide variety of viewpoints though so I also pay attention to the New York Times, Al Jazeera, the Economist, Wired, Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal, etc.