So much of our lives are determined by what goes on around us, especially in our early years. Media consumption is certainly influenced by how our parents raise. As I look back on my media habits, I realize that my parents and my household have had a great impact on my media habits now.
First, I have never been one to watch too much TV. I attribute this to my parents deciding when I was four years old to turn off our cable TV. We didn't turn it back on until I was seventeen in the spring of my senior year. I only watched TV when I was bored, and never planned out certain times to watch TV. Now, I still don't watch very much TV because as a child I had tried to find better things to do than watch TV.
Along those lines, my mom was vehemently against video games so they were never in my house. I was lucky to get a Game Boy when I was about 10. Now, I almost never play video games and I have no interest in ever purchasing a system.
On the contrary, one piece of media I use all the time is my computer. I've been using computers since I was three so I've been familiar with them for almost my entire life. I am on my computer for about three or four hours every day. I use it for communication, school, music, and gaming. The computer is so universal and can have so many purposes which is why I use mine so much.
I also always carry my cell phone with me. I didn't have one until I started driving, but I couldn't imagine not having one. I'm not the biggest fan of personal interaction, so my cell is a way to communicate without actually having to see the person face to face. Calling and texting are how I do most of my communication. For me, it's a method of being more social without actually being out all the time.
While I am happy that I don't play video games or watch very much TV, I know that I should rely less on my computer and my cell phone for communication. Being able to communicate well with people is a valuable skill that is being slowly lost in our culture. I need to work on using media less because I realize that I rely on it too much. This is a goal not easily accomplished because society has accepted replacing much of our lives with media to make them "easier," but I wonder if we are actually hurting ourselves with our ever-growing reliance on media.
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2 comments:
Yes, I agree that media is invading our lives and taking up too much of our time. But I think the computer pretty much replaces the tv since you can watch movies, read news, and play games.
That is pretty cool the way that you were raised. It really is rare these days to hear a story like yours, because, like you alluded to, people become comfortable with the modes and ways in which things are delivered and presented. While I have logged countless hours in front of the TV and digesting films, my existence is no more shaped by those experiences than your life was by not having them. In many ways, the way in which we were raised was quite different, though each of our experience has left an indelible mark on our lives. In this day and age, your upbringing will allow you to have unique perspectives and ideas when compared to the masses - you are in a unique position from not having been bombarded with media as a youngster to have thoughts and make decisions from an entirely different angle than most anyone you will meet and this makes you and your opinions inherently valuable.
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