Task Four: My Media Diet

Over  a week I recorded my intake of several media platforms. The aim was to see how 'rounded' my diet of media is and, furthermore, if I could improve it. Here is what I found:

Week One

	TV	Film	Magazine	Newspaper	Social Media	Radio	General Online*
Monday	1h15m	0h0m	0h0m	0h50m	0h15m	0h40m	0h35m
Tuesday	0h50m	0h0m	0h0m	2h35m	0h5m	0h40m	0h40m
Wednesday	2h0m	0h35m	0h0m	0h20m	0h0m	0h40m	0h15m
Thursday	1h30m	0h0m	1h20m	0h50m	0h10m	0h40m	1h20m
Friday	0h30m	4h0m	0h10m	0h45m	1h10m	0h40m	0h30m
Saturday	2h10m	1h30m	0h35m	0h5m	0h25m	0h15m	2h45m
Sunday	3h30m	2h50m	0h15m	0h0m	0h5m	0h0m	0h50m

*Including YouTube

On average, the media platform I consume the  most is Television. This is most likely because watch several programmes together. This familial element makes television an activity we all enjoy, talk about and look forward to.

On average, the media platform I consume the least is magazines. I have a subscription to Empire which I will read in the month following its release. The fact I read it over a longer period of time,  do not take in any other magazines and it being towards the end of the month (therefore there wasn’t much left of it to read) means my average consumption is very low and irregular on weekly basis. To widen the spread of media I intake I will start reading another magazine, possibly a local one, over the coming weeks.

On another note, the week over which I recorded my ‘media diet’ also happened to coincide with the week I spent working in a press office where reading both tabloid and broadsheet newspapers as well as monitoring social media platforms was a large part of my job role. Resultantly, the record I make over my next week’s consumption would see a considerable drop in the amount of newspapers and social media I consume. However, to combat this I will spend more time on social media websites, such as Twitter and Tumblr, which I usually don’t look at. In addition I will read at least one article from The Daily Mail and The Guardian every day to ensure I take in a rounded diet of media.

Week Two

	TV	Film	Magazine	Newspaper	Social Media	Radio	General Online*
Monday	1h30m	0h0m	0h20m	0h10m	0h20m	0h20m	1h0m
Tuesday	4h50m	0h0m	0h10m	0h30m	0h15m	0h10m	0h45m
Wednesday	0h30m	4h40m	0h15m	0h5m	0h30m	0h15m	1h25m
Thursday	1h30m	0h0m	0h20m	0h10m	0h10m	2h30m	0h50m
Friday	1h45m	2h0m	2h0m	0h15m	0h50m	1h10m	2h35m
Saturday	3h0m	0h0m	0h0m	0h20m	0h20m	0h30m	1h25m
Sunday	3h30m	1h50m	1h0m	1h0m	0h15m	0h0m	3h20m

After recording my media consumption over a second week I believe I have taken in both  wider and more balanced spread of different media platforms. Although I have decreased my consumption of certain types of media over this particular week, and increased in others I believe this can’ t really be helped and is a fault of everyday life. For example, on this particular Thursday I spent a lot of time in  a car driving around which resulted in a general decrease in media consumption, but an increase in Radio intake a this is what was applicable within that environment.

I believe that as long as I make a regular point in investing in all different types of media, my consumption of all different areas will balance out in accordance with environments I find myself in.