Tag Archives: media consumption

Cable’s Comeback?

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So over the past week, I’ve been overly conscious of my digital habits in order to accurately write this blog post. I personally did not like the way I was feeling or my mindset a few months ago and since then have given up Instagram for fear that could be the cause. I check my facebook a few times a week now in absence of Instagram, but mainly just to see the most recent and ridiculous post my grandma shared. I’ve noticed tons of new “Facebook challenges” that have been created to keep people entertained. For instance, one called on followers to post a landscape photo they had taken with no caption so that although everyone is stuck at home, we could all open our Facebook apps and be transported to beautiful places all over the world. I found it somewhat comforting.  

I’ve also watched at least an hour of the news daily in light of recent global events. My new morning routine consists of waking up and immediately turning it on while I make my coffee. I used to occasionally watch while doing homework in the mornings before but now I pay very close attention and watch with intention. While I believe it is important to remain calm and avoid hysteria, I also know that to remain informed gives one a clearer perspective and can keep one safer in the long run. I also hope that this situation will redirect the way in which news distribution has begun to tilt recently. In the midst of a pandemic I would hope that misinformation and bias could be reversed for the sake of the nation’s viewers during this time.

I also previously primarily streamed TV or films that I would watch, I haven’t watched cable TV in probably two years. Because both of my parents and siblings are now forced to work and learn from home as well, our wifi has been very slow and trying to stream is futile so we’ve gotten back into the Direct TV swing of things. It’s crazy to now be sitting on the couch and the commercial break comes on and the next 5 ads are all COVID-19 oriented. It reinforces how real this entire situation is.

 

The Impact of Entertainment

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While I did watch a lot of movies and TV shows before COVID-19 hit, my habits have definitely changed these past few weeks. When I was still at school, I would sometimes watch a film or an episode of a show before bed on a school night and always watch something on the weekends. Now at home, I do try to do as much school work as I was doing when actually at school, but my screen time has unsurprisingly increased. I have not been watching many TV shows – I watched Tiger King with my family and just started Euphoria – but I have been watching a lot of movies. I made a watchlist full of movies that I have been meaning to watch for a long time that I have slowly been working my way through. Some movies I have watched from it are Come and See, Memories of Murder, and The Passion of Joan of Arc. For me, having a watchlist gives me something to do, as well as creating a goal for myself to watch all these movies. It makes me feel as if I’m accomplishing something while I’m basically stuck in my home. I have also been rewatching some of my favorite movies, like Little Miss Sunshine, It, Napoleon Dynamite, and The Great Dictator. I believe that rewatching these films that mean a lot to me gives a form of comfort and stability in a time where everything seems off balance. 

I still watch most of these before bed, but much more frequently than I was at school. Sometimes I’ll watch three movies in one day just because I have the time to. I do try to keep a somewhat normal schedule (like doing my schoolwork at the times I would normally be doing them), so that is why most of the films I watch are at night. However, once classes end I know that my schedule will basically fall apart. I watch these across many platforms: Netflix, Hulu, Kanopy, my own copies of the films, and more. As of right now I believe that film, and all forms of entertainment, are keeping people sane as they are quarantined and that many people are starting to understand just how much film and TV can impact their lives. Personally, I have enjoyed exposing myself to new films, but I also love being able to find comfort in my old favorites. 

Killing Time or Staying Pacified?

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My media diet consists mainly of YouTube videos and Netflix shows and movies, with the occasional movie rental or purchase through a service like VUDU. I tend to do most of my viewing on my phone since it provides me with the flexibility to watch anywhere I want, whereas my laptop or the television downstairs don’t afford me the same luxury of consuming media in bed or at the dining room table during lunch. I do still prefer to use my laptop or the television downstairs for movies or longer binges of television shows.

The contents of my media diet is somewhat unchallenging and falls into two fairly distinct categories for me. I mainly watch either light-hearted comedic content or construction based/educational videos. Some examples of the kinds of light-hearted content I consume includes Community, Adventure Time, and most of my news which I get from sources like the Daily Show, The Late Show, or Last Week Tonight. I find that as important as it is to stay vigilant to the atrocities and misfortunes befalling our world, it is also important to have an uncomplicated escape from reality. Having something simple to watch or repackaging harsh news in easy-to-digest terms helps keep each day from becoming an existential battle rooted in moral confusion. For the other half of my media diet I like to watch lots of science videos and maker videos on YouTube. Some of my favorites include Kurzegesagt, Adam Savage’s Tested, Sam O’ Nella Academy (more comedy than fact), Hacksmith, Planet Earth, and Vsauce. Liking content which isn’t challenging does not mean that I don’t like to think and learn. I find filling the quieter moments of my day with the harshness of reality to be unpleasant but filling the still parts of my life with interesting facts and projects is more fulfilling. I like to learn about things that interest me, and by learning more about the world around me I feel safer and more comfortable going through each day. To that end, I highly recommend the Kurzegesagt videos on corona virus and the human immune system for anyone worried about the current state of the world. Neither video will make the problem less significant in our world, but there is something comforting about understanding a threat from an objective point of view and disincentivizing the impulse to panic.

In regard to the specifics of my media consumption, I have found a mass incline in my screen time since the quarantine. I have watched almost the entirety of Community on Netflix and all of Avatar the last Airbender through other online resources. I think the combined boredom of being stuck inside and the nagging unease surrounding the quarantine, virus, and the implications of both have left me craving uncomplicated and comforting content. It may have developed into more of a crutch since the lockdown, but with the limited number of things to do while stuck inside it is hard to tell how much of my viewing is an escape and how much is a tactic to kill time.

Elevated screen time… not so bad?

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An Instagram post from National Geographic as an example of the type of media I consume regularly.

Changes in my own media consumption do not vary significantly from those of others; certainly my use has increased. I have found myself scrolling through Instagram (see above), watching funny pet videos on Pinterest, and viewing independent short films on YouTube much more often than before the quarantine. When I wake up, take breaks from schoolwork, and before I go to sleep, I will pop on these sites for about 10 to 30 minutes. My film and TV consumption has also increased. I have finished three television seasons on Netflix and watched about five movies in the past four weeks alone. Though I maintain as regular a schedule as possible (ie. I ‘go to class’ or do classwork and research at the times I would pre-quarantine, and I maintain my regular exercise, meditation and meal routines), I still have an extra hour or two at the end of the day that I typically would not have before the pandemic. My hypothesis for this phenomenon is that the extra bits of time I used to bike and walk to class and to chat with students, professors and other friends on campus would together amount to those two hours I find free at the end of every quarantine day.

Sometimes I fill portions of those time slots with non-screen activities like playing or listening to music, writing or reading. But for the most part, I am behind a screen for a large chunk of those two hours, chatting with friends and family, on social media or watching movies and television. From these observations, I can reasonably conclude that screen time is an easy fall back for filling my free time. It is accessible, diverse in content and emotionally stimulating. Of course, one’s initial reaction to increased screen time is to scold oneself. But I have found that it’s not all that bad. I have discovered and become up to date with work by current and upcoming filmmakers. I have learned more about the second Queen Elizabeth’s life than I ever would have had I not finished two seasons of The Crown. I have even had more than one fits of belly-laughter from watching cats falling (safely) off kitchen counters on Pinterest. Yes, biking, walking and interacting with humans is certainly a preferred use of my time, but I cannot say than an extra few hours of screen time every day or so has been a complete waste of time.