Olivia Garcia
In my one hour of media consumption, I watched an episode of Planet Earth and for an hour I listened to David Attenborough’s lovely voice talking about nature and wildlife that can be found living in some of the biggest cities in the world like New York and Mumbai. With this playing in the background, I check my social media accounts (Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook) and my email throughout the hour. Not really looking at anything specific, but just casually scrolling through pictures of friends and family, news, sports updates, and sponsored ads mindlessly. With a nature documentary on in the background, I see on my phone screen headlines about things like Hurricane Dorian, who’s moving onto the quarterfinals in the US Open, the Amazon rainforest fires, and updates on what happened this week on Bachelor in Paradise. I notice that this is a large part of how I get my news and knowledge about the world around me. At home, I watch the news regularly with my parents but at college, my source is honestly whether or not it comes up on any of my media feeds. I think this shows how social media tailors one’s outlook of the world.
In my hour of being in nature, I went to DC over the weekend and spent about an hour walking around the National Mall and along the Tidal Basin. While there was a lot of people all around, just being outside felt very freeing and relaxing. It was very hot and humid outside, but a slight breeze made everything feel a lot better. Even in the city, I see find a lot of wildlife. There are so many squirrels, various birds, and insects all over. One tourist family that I observed was crowded nearby this one squirrel on the Mall and were all freaking out and taking pictures of it. I guess squirrels aren’t a common sight wherever they are from? I love that in the middle of a big busy bustling city like DC, there’s so much green space right in the heart of all of it. It gives people the chance to breathe a little and have a brain break from the craziness of living and working in a media-dominated world.
In these two hours, I feel like I got to appreciate just how much being outside and walking around can actually do for me in contrast to laying in bed and watching but not really watching TV and being on my phone. Even in a heavily populated and visited area, nature still has a huge impact. Visiting the National Mall always feels like walking in a little haven from the city for me. While laying in bed is also a relaxation activity for me, being outside just puts me in a better mood. There’s always something to notice and discover, whereas inside things are a lot more predictable and monotone. I still enjoy being indoors, but I think I would like to find more of balance in my life and do more outside as much as possible.