No TV for Five Days, Essay Example

Did you give up television for 120 hours straight?

I was successful in giving up television for 120 hours straight, as the exercise required.

Was it easy or difficult for you to break away from television/media? Why or why not? What did you learn about your consumption habits? Describe the media or television viewing (addicted) culture in the U.S. How did it feel to be purposely “disconnected” from this technology/television focused culture?

On a personal level, it was not difficult to break away from television, to the extent that on a daily basis I rarely watch television. The ubiquity of the Internet, for example, has changed my media habits. I go to the Internet and web sites for various reasons, such as to catch up on current events. I also use websites such as Daily Motion to view subjects that interest me from particular analysts and also entertainers. I am also an avid music lover, which is not determined by my access to television. From this perspective I learned about my consumption habits that they are not determined by television. Whereas U.S. culture is often described as addicted to television, I think this has radically changed with the Internet. Many young people I know do not even have televisions. For this reason, a more compelling exercise would perhaps be to not use the Internet for the same allotted period. Since the exercise only stipulated disconnecting from television, I cannot say that I felt entirely disconnected, since television is such a minimal part of my media lifestyle.

What did you do with the empty “TV time”? Did you seek out interactions with other people or simply different media (computer, radio, CDs, etc.) Be sure and describe how not watching television or consuming media affected your other life habits (eating, socializing with family and friends, news gathering, etc.)

Since very little of my time is consumed by watching television, I cannot say that my lifestyle was radically changed by this experiment. Most of my interactions were carried out in the same way, such as listening to music and speaking with friends, since this is how I spend my time in my most cases.

Describe your interaction with other people during this assignment. How did people treat you because you were actively removing yourself from the mainstream? What was it like to interact (or not interact) with people based upon viewing/consuming (as opposed to other reasons: race, gender, class, etc.) What did you learn about our mediated culture? Briefly describe the television viewing culture and what it is like to attempt to avoid that culture or become a member of the non-viewing culture.

My interactions with others did not change. No one treated me differently, since, as mentioned, many of my friends do not have television. I do not meet people in the context of viewing or consuming, therefore, there were no radical changes. What I learned about media culture is the sense in which the importance of television has been minimized in our lives because of the Internet. The television viewing culture appears more passive: one is forced to watch and consume what the media presents. The Internet has change this, allowing individual choice to thrive. For this reason, we have witnessed a cultural change, where the Internet is certainly more prominent in the lives of young people than television.

Have your consumption habits been altered by the experience? That is, did you (will you) go back to the old ways (“normal”) or are you more reflective and selective?

My consumption habits have not changed, since I am not an avid television viewer. This means I will return to my normal lifestyle, because television is a marginal phenomenon form my media choices.

Did you get someone else to give up television with you? If so, who and for how long?

I also asked one of my friends who watches a lot of television to stop at the same time as I did. He, however, was unable to complete the five day trial, admitting that he watched a sports game on the television the next day. This demonstrates that although new media such as the Internet may have replaced television for much of the younger generation, television remains a powerful and influential medium for the majority of Americans.