Media Dependency
Assignment 1.
I wrote down the results of media dependence analysis to the Table 1 below.
Table 1
Type of media involvement
Times per day
Using mobile phone for texting
30-50
E-mailing, Facebook
10-20
Phone calls received (mobile phone)
10
Phone calls made (mobile phone)
10
Using land line phone at home
2 times per week
TV
5 hours per day
The grid I have composed showed that in more than 60% of the cases I initiated the contact (direct use). Other 40% of cases I responded to calls, e-mails, or messages (indirect use). Also, when analyzing the grid I realized that I depend on texting heavily. Using my home phone cannot be called a dependency since I talk rarely more than two times a week. In my case I would talk about mobile phone and e-mail dependency.
Assignment 2.
1.To my mind I am very much dependent on texting, but I feel quite comfortable with my level of dependency. Sometimes I feel irritated when I drive and cannot pick up the phone. With regard to texting, I learned how to text with one thumb when driving or in public places. I did not ever think of how dependent I am. I just responded to calls or made calls on my way somewhere. Actually, I did not realize that it was dependency until I made this experiment.
I am very much skillful with the media I use because I type very fast; I can text with just one finger, I know all the functions that were proposed by the developers of Facebook – social media I regularly use. I cannot say that I am using Facebook effective because sometimes I stay at my page to put marks to my friends using new quiz. Sometimes I feel like the key-board is an extension of my hand.
I can do several assignments at the same time. Usually, I am cleaning our home talking on the phone with the help of hand-free accessories.
2. After I filled the grid I understood that I could allocate some time to communicate with my family, my husband and my little son, my parents and friends. I realized that my system of values had changed in favor of media. I imagined my son (he knows how to switch on the laptop and can play some computer games) in a few years sitting by the laptop screen. His face is pale and it seems that I could walk and have a breath of fresh air more often. I definitely could have spent more time with him and husband and the time could be more effective and pleasant.
First of all, I was about to give up from the very start. I thought that it is impossible to spend one day without a cell phone or a laptop. It was very difficult for me to abandon attempts to pick up the phone or to switch on the laptop. At last I decided that the experiment has to be held and switched off the phone and put my laptop out of the reach. I was really amazed by the silence I heard. I liked the feeling, but it did not last for a long time. I did not know what to do. I felt like I am in a vacuum. I started to clean our apartment and my hand instinctively stretched to turn on the TV. Then I realized that I did not have to do it. I felt really bored. I felt disconnected and abandoned. I had an idea to call a friend, but, again, I recalled that I should not do this. After I finished with cleaning, I made a decision to go for a walk. I heard birds’ singing and I tried to recall the last time I heard these sounds. I failed to do this. In a word, I noticed that I often thought about returning to the way of life I used to. I wondered how people could live without cell phones some time ago.
Then I tried to recall the last time I saw my friends in person. I failed again. I thought I could call them. But it was not possible that day. I might have called them tomorrow and propose to go to the park or we could go to Molly to have barbeque.
When I returned home I found a sheet of paper and started to write down what I would have to purchase in a supermarket to make a dinner in the evening. I noticed that my handwriting significantly changed. Also, I saw a few mistakes in the sentences.
4. After conducting this experiment, I made a conclusion that our contemporary society is too computerized, we communicate less with each other, and our human relationships were replaced with the Internet and social media. We had become lazier, more formal, less romantic, and more pragmatic. Still, people socialize with each other via e-mail, but this is not a kind of a living converse. I think that soon we would have a society of robots if nothing changes. I suggest that human nervous system will not sustain such a stress that would probably result in long depressions, neurosis and even suicides. To my mind professional side of life will gain from media progress.
References
Philip Merril College of Journalism, University of Maryland. A day without media. Media dependency. Retrieved from http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/study-conclusions/dependence/
