Cat in the Hat is a Children's Movie??

  Media Consumption
By Charlee Davis



This photo is an example of teenagers
spending their time on their phones instead
of socializing and hanging out together.

Media usage in 2017 can seriously affect someone's lifestyle and time management. Most people spend the majority of their day on electronic devices or watching TV.

During the past two weeks I was asked to chart my media consumption. Throughout this time I have noticed that I spend way more time on social media platforms than normal. I was spending approximately 5 Hours a week on social media and gaming apps.  I would decide to play on my phone instead of doing my homework or scheduling my time usefully. I was initially shocked when I logged my time in the chart because compared to the other categories I spent almost four hours more on social media than watching TV or seeing commercials and advertisements.

Using the information gathered within the past two weeks I definitely have decided to restrict myself from using social media as much as I do.  It was negatively influencing my life style.

Since high school my media consumption has differed in areas.  As for social media I have definitely spent long periods of time on Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and Snapchat.  


When I first started high school I was obsessed with social media. I spent so much of my time taking pictures and editing them so they would match my Instagram theme. Lately I have tried to stop doing that as much.  Although I spend a lot of my time on apps, I rarely watch TV, unless its Netflix or hulu. I dont think ive watched an up-to-date TV show in a long time.

As i get older and start thinking about college and building my future a big goal of mine is to cut back on the amount of media consumption.  I have made the decision that social media is not more important than education and I think everyone should think the same thing.  If someone you know thinks social media and video games, apps, etc. are more important than school and real life activities, they probably won't create a good work ethic when they are older. 

Karson and Charlee
Easter 2017

Although the use of social media can harm peoples lives, it can also be their happiness.  For example, my best friend lives 1000 miles away from me in Tennessee.  Social media and cell phones are the only way we can communicate on a daily basis.  Being able to talk to her everyday makes me the happiest version of myself. 

Social media can also be very distracting.  It distracts me from doing my chores at home and keeping myself on schedule.  Distractions like this can negatively affect my classes at school also.  Instead of keeping up with my homework and doing it at a reasonable time, I play on my phone until the last minute and end up doing my homework late at night.  I strongly understand that this is really bad for my grades, but sometimes I can't help myself and still get distracted. 

Logging my media consumption the past two weeks helped me a lot.  I finally took the time to realize what I'm doing wrong, and how I can make it better.  This was a worthwhile assignment because it allowed me to try and change my social media habits and to think about focusing on more important things.