Jack Graulich
1 Hour of Media
My hour of media was spent playing City Skylines. I had recently gotten this game to give me something to occupy myself for short bursts of time, conveniently around an hour at a time. I suppose there is something therapeutic about running a virtual city and trying to keep it from collapsing while also allowing to grow possibly indefinitely until it reaches a point of unsustainability. Although that grim reality is a bit far off, I suppose I can hone back in making my tiny current town of just a few thousand residents. Kidding aside, I enjoyed being in this media environment as I truly found the activity relaxing, City Skylines is no simulator for the real world, however there are many complex things with in it that allows a mentally stimulating experience.
1 Hour without Media
For my one hour without media I had taken the metro down the National mall. I was happy to be away from the school and out and about to enjoy the area. I was also very thankful that even though the weather was quite dreary the temperature was quite mild therefore it wasn’t painful to be outside. A friend from Nebraska was in town and me and my friend was excited to meet up with him. Tracking him down however proved to be a wild goose chase however which allowed me to view my surroundings on the mall. As it was a cloudy day with slight drizzles there were not many people on the mall which created an increased feeling of freedom I suppose.
What was Learned
For my hour with media I’d say that one thing that I learned is that even in a virtual world making functioning cities can be hard although can be therapeutic in nature, up until everything seems to collapse. During this time, I would say that the I didn’t gather a lot of external information, as I was enthralled in the game. As for the hour without media, there was a lot more awareness towards my surroundings and what was going on around me. I felt that even though I was kind of just wandering around viewing the environment around me, I was being more productive then stuck inside and doing work.