Wednesday, April 27, 2016

My Connection to Media

Media has been a huge part of my life ever since I learned how to read. When I was little, I would use it for educational games and quizzes to help me stay ahead in all my classes. I didn't really get into video games or social media that much when I was in elementary school because it wasn't popular. Kids nowadays are on social media or technological devices for at least six hours of the day on average. It's really sad because I don't see kids running around in the front yard with their friends or riding their bikes over to their friend's house like I used to. Even my brother and his friends spend the majority of their time on the Xbox or watching TV when they are hanging out together. They don't go outside and play soccer or football or walk over to the swimming pool. People are lethargic all the time because they never get their heart rate up or exercise and are usually sitting around on the couch looking at a screen. I really hope that the next generations don't keep this trend of laziness going so that people will be smarter and pay more attention to their surroundings in reality instead of their video game surroundings.

I never realized how much I was affected by media and the technological world around me until two months ago. I was on my phone for almost two hours straight before I lifted my head up and noticed how long it had been since I had gotten up. I was shocked and couldn't believe that I had just been sitting on my phone for that long when I could have been getting ahead in homework or doing something productive. At that moment, I deleted all of my social media accounts, and I feel so much better. I feel more awake during the day than I did when I was on my phone all the time. I really hope people start to take steps towards limiting the technology they use, so that we can more present in our daily life situations.

Even though I've limited my use of social media, I still use technology all the time. I am constantly on my phone checking the time, looking up definitions for words, and emailing or texting people. I do all of these things to help me keep up with current situations in my life. I also watch TV pretty regularly to keep track of sports events and the news, which are ok to watch in moderation, but I also watch a lot of TV shows that are a waste of time since they are replacing the time that I could be reading. Overall, I think technology really has hurt the world in more ways than it has benefited it because of how lazy this generation is.

Check this article out.