Amy Davies, a second year Journalism, Film and Media student from the Midlands, considers herself as an extremely frequent media-user. She produced a media diary to show her media consumption.
09:00: Wake up and switch the TV on to find an old episode of Frasier on Channel 4. Use this as background noise while getting ready to go to university.
09:30: Listen to the Adam and Joe podcast on the walk down to university, pass by a few large billboards, one of which has a Communist party poster stuck on to it. This gets me thinking about the election happening tomorrow.
11:00: Listen to the Ricky Gervais show on the way home. This time I notice a Liberal Democrat poster, once again gets me thinking about the upcoming election.
11:20: Arrive home in time to catch the last hour of This Morning on ITV1. Annoyingly they seem to play adverts every five minutes and so have to sit through the all the loan adverts aimed at all those likely to be home between 10:30 and 12:30.
12:45: Turn on the computer to do some Uni work but end up spending most of the time checking Facebook and/or chatting on MSN. This takes up a depressingly large portion of any average day.
13:00: Read this month’s edition of Empire. As a subscriber I am slightly annoyed to find they have sent me a copy with Keira Knightley on, not the Johnny Depp one I saw in the shop. Flick through the review section thinking about the possibility of visiting the cinema on the weekend. Notice the high proportion of male-orientated advertising in the magazine (for aftershave, cars, beer etc.).
14:10: Go into the Bay to take advantage of the sunny weather. On the journey although I’m not trying to pay attention to adverts. I probably subconsciously take in a fair amount.
17:30: Back to the house in time for the second edition of Neighbours which I watch in my housemate’s room. Once again check Facebook for any latest updates.
19:00: Watch Hollyoaks on E4 while getting ready to go out. This provides a cheer from my housemate across the landing as Zoë defends herself against psycho Will. This is later met with me shouting ‘He should have jumped!’ back at her.
21:00: At dinner manage to infuriate those who haven’t seen tonight’s episode of Hollyoaks by revealing what happens.
01:00: Make it home to see the repeat of tonight’s edition of Deadline on ITV2, a reality show designed around the world of celebrity magazines.
Sitting down and writing a media diary has forced me to think about how much media I consume within any given day and whether this is negative or positive. It may seem shocking, but this day was a relatively light media day for me! Although it would be impossible to live a completely media-free life, I feel have become slightly addicted and would find it hard to give up the daily indulgences which I have grown to love so much.
