WCC COMM 101 PROJECT #1 FEEDBACK

COMM 101: UNDERSTANDING MASS MEDIA
PROJECT #1
• Avoid ALL direct and indirect contact with
MASS MEDIA MESSAGES sent/received via the
7 mass media channels for one 24-hour period:
• Print
• Recordings
• Cinema/Film
• Radio
• Television
• Internet/Video Games
• Mobile

YOU THEN REPORT ON THESE 4 AREAS:
• (A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
• (B) Those you avoided but missed having in your life
• (C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media time
• (D) Personal conclusions about the role of mass media
in your daily life
PROJECT #1

• WORK: As soon as I walked into the store, I realized that the store played
music on the loudspeaker and that I would have to listen to it for four
hours”
• SCHOOL: Textbooks, homework, etc.
• GOING THROUGH EVERYDAY LIFE: As I walked for a few blocks I
noticed people looking at their cellphones, texting and talking while they
were passing me. Bright billboards, Store offers and other forms of
advertisement were all “looking” at me from almost every direction.
• SOCIAL MEDIA: As much as I really tried to avoid my group messaging,
when your in one with 9 other people and a birthday weekend it was
impossible not to answer…BUT IS THIS MASS MEDIA?
• MOBILE: I did my best to avoid this as long as I could but finally had to
check the group messages from family and friends…BUT IS THIS MASS
MEDIA?
(A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
PROJECT #1

• (A) The media contacts you could not avoid and why
PROJECT #1
• BECAUSE I’M “ADDICTED”
• It was impossible to get in a car and not turn on the radio
• And now we have media making decisions for us (Bluetooth
automatically connecting)
• “…music was impossible because I love music and I couldn’t
even go thorough the day without music even if I wanted to…I
had to have my mind distracted at all time and even when I did
that I had to listen to music and read and stuff because if I didn’t
I really would have died from boredom.”
• “The internet and video games were impossible to avoid.
Everywhere I went, I felt it calling my name. The urge to check
social media and reddit was so overwhelming, I cracked under
pressure after 4 hours.”

(B) Those you avoided but missed having in your life
• COMMUTING: I had to actually sit through both hours of my commute. I
always knew that my commute to work was two hours, but as the result of
not being able to use mass media to pass time, I actually “felt” both hours of
my commute. For the first time since starting my job, I was extremely
cognizant of the time I spent on public transportation, which was an
unpleasant feeling. Realizing that I spend such a huge chunk of many days
doing something so dull and boring made me a little depressed as it was
something so completely necessary in order to be able to make money.
• AS A SOUNDTRACK TO LIFE: Music fills my everyday with happiness and
when it’s taken away I want to drive off a cliff
• Showering without music has to be a crime because it actually felt depressing
to do so without it.
• WHILE WORKING OUT: I had a very hard time getting in “the zone” being
that I couldn't listen to my favorite Ariana Grande top hits while pumping iron.
PROJECT #1

• SOCIAL MEDIA (always MASS media?)
• TALKING WITH OTHERS ABOUT MASS MEDIA
• MUSIC IN THE CAR
• TV TO SLEEP TO
• USING MASS MEDIA WHEN YOU’RE “BORED” AND/OR IN NEED
OF INFORMATION
• I successfully avoided Television, but while I was babysitting, everyone knows
that in order to entertain a child just place them in front of a screen. I missed
having television because I didn’t want to put more work into keeping my
baby cousin occupied, though I actually enjoyed watching her a little bit more
than I normally would have.
PROJECT #1

• Video Games shouldn’t have been difficult to avoid but I made the
mistake of telling my dad about the assignment. He thought it would
be funny to buy me the new Spiderman PS4 game on the day I was
doing this, just to see if I could fight back the urge. He even put the
game in and played it himself and tried to get me to play. I wasn’t
even in the room and he would say, “Wow this new Spiderman game
is amazing, I don’t know what kind of idiot wouldn’t want to play it
right now.” My dads efforts were unsuccessful, and I managed to avoid
playing it for a whole day.(side note: I have played the game after doing
this challenge and let me just say, all the hype for the game is real).
• Whether it’s cable, streaming, or going out to the theater, I love being
immersed in a great television series or movie. Although being honest
with myself, I also have to count the not great content on TV such as
terrible reality shows that I use only to vegetate in front of.
PROJECT #1

• It was the social media that was killer. Especially when I distracted
really easily. For instance, I was trying to do an assignment for another
class and I guess I must’ve went to look something up and I got
distracted. Subconsciously I must’ve decided scrolling through
Instagram for 20 minutes was worth more of my time, all without even
realizing it. The only reason why I stopped was because I received a
phone call. It’s come to the point that I use social media mindlessly.
• I anticipated that I would struggle to successfully avoid my mass
media-based hobbies, and I even anticipated that I would be incredibly
bored, but I was mind-numbingly bored most of the time.
• Choosing a work day made avoiding mass media easy from 9:00am-
6:00pm, after that time it got much harder. The usual stimulus I was
used to wasn’t there and my brain knew it.
PROJECT #1

(C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media
time
TIME WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, & PETS (often outside):
• With my little brother in the car, on our way to the gym we talked more
than if we were listening to music, which is what we usually do to get
pumped up. We ended up talking outside of the gym for 30 minutes in
the car about each other and discussed some issues going on in our
lives. It was nice to have an awkward silence forcing us to make
conversation because we ended up sharing a lot in the end.
• Usually with dinner, my family and I watch TV or a movie. I asked my
family if we could just sit down eat dinner and talk about our day (weird
I know). My mom was elated at this, and happily agreed to do it.
PROJECT #1

time
TIME WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, & PETS (often outside):
• …running, preparing food, writing rap lyrics, drawing, and conversing
with my wife, calling my family members in Poland and simply laying
on the sofa looking out the window.
• (I) got the impulse to play (chess) for real being that i had not played
since i was a child. Within the first two moves i felt an intensity i hadn't
felt in a while. Chess is a battle of intellect and strategy, and there was
no way i was letting my girlfriend beat me.
• I decided to go walk for a long while. This helped a lot, for a bit I was
able to think about the things happening in my life, what I need to do
the next day, and even talked with a friend on the phone. One hour
later, I turn around and as my mind stalled on the way home I started
to listen to music. After that I went to sleep early.
PROJECT #1

(C) Substitute activities you used to fill non-media time
• I hit my head against the wall because I couldn’t play spider man, I sit in my
room in silence, because I COULDN'T PLAY SPIDERMAN! Not playing Spiderman
was hard for me.
• when I got bored out of my mind I changed into athletic clothing and went for a
jog which I had not done in a while. It was nice to get out for once and jog
around my neighborhood because it helped me clear my mind from the
negativity around me.
• In general, most of my non mass media activities involved walking and self
reflection. Going for a walk for 2 hours isn’t something I do often. Neither is
sitting down having an inward conversation with myself or writing out my
stream of consciousness. I used to write a lot and this experiment forced me
into doing it again. Although extremely unsettling at first, being free of mass
media helped me in being present and mindful. Personally I have been falling
short of that kind of self care.
PROJECT #1

time
• So during my 24 hour mass media detox when I found myself at lunch with my
brother and his girlfriend who were both glued to their phones I remembered a
mindfulness exercise where you just take in your surroundings and try to
ground yourself. You pick out 5 things you can see, hear or smell etc. I started
to take mental notes of the decor in the restaurant and noticed that there was
pieces of art hung up on every wall. Which kept my entertained till it was time
to leave. When I was at the actual wedding I interacted with my family which I
normally don’t do, I’m usually glued to my phone. Through this I got to know my
cousins, aunts, and uncles a lot better.
• I started reading more books over this time…this project because it got me back
into reading…So, are books a “better” type of Mass Media? If so, why?
• In the time I was avoiding mass media, in total honesty, I didn’t really do much. I
kept myself busy watching Netflix, which wasn’t the point of this assignment.
BUT it distracted me from using YouTube and Twitter….So, is YouTube and
Twitter “WORSE” than NETFLIX? If so, why?
PROJECT #1

(D) Personal conclusions: What did you all discover about
yourselves and your relationship with mass media?
• I happened to find the 24 hours to be quite relaxing and stress free because I did
not have to worry about the outside world and I was able to focus better on the
moment that I was in.
• it was extremely refreshing to be able to create my own content rather than
look at other people’s creations. It opened up a window for me to create and
think for myself change instead of drowning my head in Netflix shows. Within the
time I’m usually binge watching, I could instead create journals or my own music.
This experience made me want to learn and focus more on my creativeness
than drilling my head with everyone else’s.
PROJECT #1

• Overall, it is clear the levels of stimulation brought on by mass media I greatly
missed, but I don’t think its necessarily bad either. I also noticed once back in
routine, I felt more focused with my usual white noise (TV) back, I wasn’t
preoccupied with the thoughts about avoiding media which cause a bit of
mental static so to speak, and everything in general felt back in place. So maybe
I’m adjusting to a new type of lifestyle compared to the past. One where being
stimulated constantly to some degree is the new mental homeostasis.
• Though I can admit it felt nice to know that I had the willpower and
determination to unplug for a day. But I wouldn’t be willing to do it again, I kind
of see it as an addiction but it doesn’t affect my everyday life. I’m a functioning
addict.
PROJECT #1

• I felt like a bit of a caveman in the 24 hours away from the internet and on
sunday i spend hours watching random youtube videos to compensate for the
day before.
• I’m someone who feels like I always need to check my phone, but by doing this I
found the fun you can have in doing other things, like taking naps. It’s not a bad
thing to check your phone to see what’s happening, it’s a good thing to stay
informed. Everything should just be done in moderation. Unless it’s the new
Spiderman PS4 game, play that shit till your fingers bleed and you go blind.
PROJECT #1

• I always go to extremes with my consumption of mass media I either think that it was the
devil all the content I consumed was the reason I was so dissatisfied with my life. I thought
it was the reason I did poorly in school that I had no motivation to do the things I love and
why I was just flat-out lazy. However after having a short break from it I realized that I
don’t know how to find a balance between what I create and what I consume. I'm either
off the grid painting and writing in my room for weeks or I'm binge watching an entire
season of American Horror Story in one sitting. What made me realize this is how Social
media helps me keep a strong relationship with my friends but it kept me from having one
with my family, I used to think my cousins were boring and stuck up because they all lived
in really nice big houses in Jersey but without to social media to distract me at the
wedding and watching my cousin Brittney pound back tequila shots with my uncle rob
without batting an eyelash I realized that I was the boring one for being so antisocial all
those years.
PROJECT #1

• this assignment made me realize how prominent Mass Media is in our daily lives without
us even noticing. From minor things to background radio white noise, to reading my
favorite book in bed at night I constantly surround myself with some form of mass media,
and I had never even realized it before. I felt very disconnected from the outside world,
and I craved some form of knowledge or reassurance that it was still spinning. I believe
that in the end that connectivity to other humans and current events is really what I
missed the most, but I absolutely did want to watch movies SO bad. I realized that it
would be near impossible for me to quit mass media cold turkey, but some red flags were
raised when I was itching to get back online and on social media. Because of this I am
thinking of cutting back my time surfing the web, and perhaps spending more time
outdoors or working out. Because I genuinely was so busy this weekend I still felt I didn’t
have much time to relax in silence or meditate without the penetration of mass media
daily, and I wonder what that experience would be like. I felt I enjoyed the assignment
enough to explore further on my own, and to see what it would be like to find a happy
balance.
PROJECT #1

• BOTH USING AND AVOIDING MASS MEDIA ALLOWS US TO
BOND WITH OTHERS
• CONSUMING MASS MEDIA ALSO HELPS US BE ALONE
• MASS MEDIA IS A MAJOR PART OF OUR SOCIAL, WORK, AND
EDUCATIONAL LIVES – WE NEED IT TO FULLY PARTICIPATE AND
BE PRODUCTIVE
• ANYTHING WE SPEND THIS MUCH TIME WITH DESERVES OUR
COLLECTIVE ATTENTION AND SCRUTINY
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

• MASS MEDIA TECHNOLOGY INEVITABLY IMPACTS
OUR SENSE OF PERSONAL FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY IN DIFFERENT WAYS; WE EITHER
ACTIVELY CONTROL IT OR FEEL AS THOUGH IT’S
CONTROLLING US…SOMETIMES BOTH AT THE
SAME TIME!
• MEDIA DOES NOTHING TO US BY ITSELF…
PROJECT #1 OVERVIEW POINTS

WCC COMM 101 PROJECT #1 FEEDBACK

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WCC COMM 101 PROJECT #1 FEEDBACK