Media Usage Assessment

Prepare yourself for a graph barrage:

(Click on image for full size version)

Thus details my daily media usage for the two weeks beginning Friday the 12th of August and finishing Thursday the 25th. My total media consumption time was 2,190 minutes (or thirty-six and a half hours) which makes it close enough to twenty hours a week spent consuming media. This is of course disregarding the media types I did not catalogue for convenience's sake, including billboard advertising, time spent on game networks such as XBOX Live, other visual mediums such as posters and signs, the paper they put on the tray at McDonalds, et. al.. I think this figure speaks for itself: I need to spend more time outside. Assuming my lifestyle is somewhat typical of my demographic, there are a number of interesting observations to be made of the data.

Firstly, the sheer amount of time I spent consuming media surprised me, particularly the time spent on my smartphone: last week I spent almost 10 hours on my phone (not including calls and texting). The phone itself has only been part of my daily consumption habits for about four months; but it has already taken over the large part of time I previously spent on my netbook and PC. The portability is obviously the main factor for this move. I "have a friend" who even checks the headlines on his smartphone when he stops at red lights, not a word of a lie.

Secondly, I was surprised by the amount of radio I listened to. Out of the 'old' media grouping, it was by far the most regularly utilised medium; speaking most likely to it's niche market of 'passive' media. I only listened to the radio in the car and on my phone (I debated for a while whether to include that time in the smartphone category, but kept them separate for interest's sake). And unlike a lot of my contemporaries, I don't regularly download podcasts, therefore my consumption might even be lower than the average. I think this definitely confirms Steve Austin's theory, mentioned in the last audio lecture, that radio - as the oldest electronic medium - is adapting to new communication technologies more quickly than its rivals.

Finally I would not how much my consumption of media varies from day to day. Newspaper reading is delegated to the weekend, magazine consumption is basically the day when my jmag arrives, and I listen to a lot more radio on days I have to commute. This suggests perhaps in the new communication paradigm older technologies may not get replaced, but rather the average consumer will rely on a bevy of mediums with niche functions to deal with the practicalities of the modern life.

Also, I learnt I should not be given too much free time and the ability to make graphs.