My Media Usage Dossier

8/2/2019 My Media Usage Dossier

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My Media Usage Dossier

By Sam Newman


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An IntroductionI am a 17 year old male first year domestic university student, who is studying a Bachelor of Journalism/Arts here at UQ.

I have always held a keen interest in the media and world events, and this has translated to a heavy use of newsmedia. Almost all of the media I make use of is online media, with some small exceptions. Here is a look at mymedia usage over the last 10 days.

Day 1: 20th March

TV: 30 minutes, ABC News 24 at 7:00am

Newspaper: None

Radio: None

Internet (Social Media): 2 and a half hours from 5:00pm until 7:30 (Facebook)

Internet (Articles): 3 hours, from 5:00pm until 8:00pm (The Herald Sun, The BBC Website, The New York Times, The Brisbane Times) Internet (Streaming TV Programs): 1 hour at 10:00pm

Internet (Surfing): 2 hours from 9 until 11:00 pm

Total Internet Time: 6 hours

Day 2: 21st March


Newspaper: None

Radio: None

Internet (Social Media): 2 hours from 5:00pm until 7:00pm (Facebook)

Internet (Articles): 3 hours, from 5:00pm until 8:00pm (The Herald Sun, The BBC Website, The New York Times, The Brisbane Times)

Internet (Streaming TV Programs): 1 hour at 10:00pm




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My Results, Cont. Day 3: 22nd March


Newspaper: None

Radio: None




Internet (Surfing): None


Day 4: 23rd March TV: 30 minutes, ABC News 24 at 7:00am

Newspaper: None

Radio: None

Internet (Social Media): 2 hours from 5 until 7 (Facebook)





Day 5: 24th March


Newspaper: None Radio: None




Internet (Surfing): 1 hour at 10:00pm



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My Results, Cont. Day 6: 25th March


Newspaper: None

Radio: None


Internet (Articles): 3 hours, from 5:00pm until 8:00pm (The Herald Sun, The BBC Website, The New York Times, The BrisbaneTimes)




Day 7: 26th March TV: 30 minutes, ABC News 24 at 7:00am

Newspaper: None

Radio: None






Day 8: 27th March


Newspaper: None

Radio: None







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My Results, Cont. Day 9: 28th March


Newspaper: None

Radio: None






Day 10: 29th March


Newspaper: None

Radio: 10 minutes at 7:45, Triple M The Grill Team

Internet (Social Media): 1 hour from 6:00pm until 7:00pm (Facebook)






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Analysis of my Survey Results

0

24

6

8

10

Day

1

Day

3

Day

5

Day

7

Day

9

Tv

RadioInternet

As the results of my self survey show, I am a heavy user of online media, to the exclusion of almost all others. Savefor the 30 minutes I listened to Triple M on day 10, I did not even use radio in the survey period. In addition, there areseveral key trends present in this data.

The most obvious trend is how regular my viewing habits are, with my online viewing times being between 5 and 11on most days. In the mornings, I will always try and get my 7 am news dose before I start the day. The other keytrend present here is my media sources. I with the exception of general surfing of the web, I almost always use thesame sites and stations that I trust for my media, be it entertainment or news.


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How do I compare to the Cohort?

While I cannot look at my data on specific media sources in comparison to my peers, I can certainly compare myanswers for the cohort survey against the final results.

As with over 50% of the cohort, I am in the 17-18 year range

I fall in the minority with gender, with only 23.6% of the course being male

30% of the cohort is made up of Journalism/Arts students, and I fall in this majority

I am in the majority for all questions about social networking, having only one Facebook account, no Twitter andno Blogs prior to this course

Similarly, I make use of the Facebook app on my smart phone, falling into the 90% of students who do so

I deviate from the average in questions on internet usage, with my average of 5+ hours being an higher thennormal

I use a computer and my smart phone for music as do most of the cohort members

I spend most of my online time playing games, social networking on Facebook, using Skype and streamingentertainment

Additionally, I own a PC as do most students, and lack a tablet or E-Reader


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What Does This Say About Me? For the most part, my responses to the cohort survey fall within the average. This is especially present when it

comes to social networking and smart phone use/ownership. For the most part, this fact can be attributed towhat is currently popular among my age demographic. Facebook is currently the most popular social networkingsite on the web, bar none, and smart phones are all but standard among todays middle to upper class youth in

Australia. Where my responses differ is mainly in areas of internet usage and my sources of news. While most students get

their news from a wide range of TV, internet, radio and newspaper sources, I get almost all of mine from onlinemedia. This is linked directly to my high level of internet usage each day, normally more then 5 hours. This in

turn can be attributed to the large amount of time I spend using both my computer and my smart phone, both ofwhich have internet access


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In Relation to JournalismThe real question how ever, is what does this say about my relationship with journalism and communication? The key

trends present in my results for both my own survey and the cohort survey both point towards one very obviousreason. I am a 17 year old, born in what has become known as the Instant Generation of internet savvy teens.For me, navigating the internet is incredibly easy and rewarding, given how quickly it has its information updatedand how many sources are available at any one time. In comparison, I tend to see other forms of Journalism as amore supplemental source, as they take longer to update. While I might watch the news on TV in the morningsand occasionally in the afternoon, as I almost always have internet access, I am naturally inclined to use it as myprimary source of all news information. While it is true that broadening my approach no news gathering isimportant, I think that my results are indicative of a much larger phenomena, where in many teens use the

internet for news above all other sources.


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Conclusion To conclude, this Dossier shows quite clearly how my heavily internet driven media consumption is not only

common among the cohort, but is quite probably equally common among the rest of the late teen age group. Myown media usage is quite standard for my particular demographic, with the exception of its high level ofregularity. Through this exercise I can hopefully identify what areas of my news gathering needs broadening inthe future, in order to broaden my perspectives on world issues through the media.

Documents

My Media Usage Dossier