By: Shaila Vester-Skinner
The hour of media consumption was honestly not much of an experience. Let’s get into why-
The following apps were used multiple times: Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and regular text messaging. The idea that the average human with any form of technology spends an estimate of 20+ hours on social media per week. The information received from Twitter ranges from global news, personal blog posts, educational organizations, and etc. For example, the hurricane that is set to hit Louisiana has had millions of posts, some that are addresses to families that need relief or support during this time. Instagram is typically used for “influencers”, travel blogs, food blogs, wellness, etc. Personally, Snapchat is used for random photos, maybe big accomplishments and such things. Snapchat does provide blog posts from, for example, Buzzfeed or People, where you can keep up wth celebrities and other popular news. Kim Kardashian-west and Kanye are apparently reconciling after a divorce scare, which is what news “People” gave. A vast majority of the media produces miniscule news or kind of “fill-in” articles, which does distract others from what is more important such as global news. Media is only entertaining for the first thirty minutes and then after that it’s just aimless scrolling.
During the hour of naturlistic environment, the location was a friend’s balcony. The setting is relatable to if GMU had a yard or somewhere where students would share a space outside with mini games and such. It was sunny and there was a slight breeze. I brought a yoga mat and a wellness book called “Clearing Emotional Clutter” by Donald Altman. The (much needed) yoga session was very mind clearing and soothing with all of the outside elements. For example, doing the “downward dog” pose with the slight breeze made the pose more tolerable as it can become strenuous. Doing a twenty minute meditation was relaxing and carefree as I was able to focus on the sounds of people talking, focusing on my breathing, and proceeding to listen to other surrounding sounds, as a pattern during meditation. It felt relieving to be one witht he wind and feel where tension needed to be released while also listening to the buzzing of the bees. It literally is all about taking an hour of your day to just talk a walk or going to sit outside wiht a hobby you thoroughly enjoy.
This experiences has proven to help my personal consciousness of how much time I spend doing relatively nothing on social media/technological devices. Putting the phone down and being aware of the surrounding is an amazing feeling. I did find myself wondering what I could’ve been missing in that hour that the phone wasn’t being used- you’d be shocked to know that nothing was missed, even though it often feels like something is constantly happening in the media today. That realization of not missing anything “important” led me to think about the things human beings could indulge in, if not for the binding of our souls to technology.