By Shemaiah Kentish
In my hour of mediated information, I spent my time between Daily mail on Snapchat and on Instagram. On Daily mail the information I received was mainly highlights from the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The articles I looked at focused on the fashion fails and the best dressed of the VMAs with the authors passing their judgements on who they believed were the worst and best dressed and why. In another story there was a animal rights protest in New York City against Nike, Dior, and Louis Vuitton over their use of animal products in their stores, the story focused on a man that disrupted the protest by eating a meat kebab in front of their protest which ended with him getting yelled at and insulted. The last story I read on Daily mail was the list of the top celebrity air polluters, the information I received from this article is that Taylor Swift was named the top celebrity air polluter of the year, with Floyd Mayweather coming in second place She received this title because out of the first 200 days of this year she used her private jet 170 of those days and emitted about 8,293.54 metric tons of CO2. On my Instagram half of my hour of mediated information I spent time on the Instagram page @EnvironmentalToxinsNerd she shares information about toxins in out environment. On this day I read her post about how exposure to BPA, phthalates, arsenic, and endocrine disrupting chemicals have been linked to metabolic disorders such as, diabetes and obesity. I also learned that just because a label says BPA free does not mean that it is a safe container to use, this is because the companies often use substitutes like, BPS or BPFs which have been found to not be much better than BPAs.
In my hour in a natural environment, I sat outside of Caboose Commons before the big lunch crowd, and I watched the birds that frequent this area. I watched a group of about 15-20 little sparrows fly around looking for food and walking on tables. I saw a couple perch on the dog bowls outside and drink water from them. There were a few in a group searching for food in the nearby grass for about 30 minutes. A few of the other birds perched on the barstool and watching the other birds and resting. A little after sitting outside a European Starling flew in and joined in the search for food, this bird kept its distance from the other smaller birds. It was a very peaceful time, and I was able to reflect on my first week on school. I often disconnect like this, but it is worth noting that the feeling of being disconnected from media and a constant input of information is like finally being able to take a deep breath and be solely present in the moment.
I learned from this experience that in my mediated time I had a lot more control over what information I consumed. I was able to pick and choose what stories I read and what I viewed on Instagram. When compared to my time in the natural environment I had little to no control over what was done in the natural environment. I could stop or change what the birds in my area were going to do. I had no control over the wind making the trees sway nor the heat from the sun. The natural processes were unaffected by my presence I was simply an observer of nature.