For my one hour in a mediated environment, I chose to watch a movie with my sister and friend in my family room which we do very often. I can smell the food being made from the kitchen where my mom is making some bean soup. I’m feeling very hungry, and I am excited to eat soon. While they pick out a movie to watch I am playing a game on my phone to pass the time. We finally decide to watch Night at the Museum. During the movie I scrolled through various social media platforms on my phone like Instagram and TikTok. I saw lots of videos of dogs, travel videos and thought to myself about getting a new haircut.
For my one hour of an unmediated environment, I decided to go to the little pond and bridge area in my neighborhood. There is a little path that leads to a quiet area with a bench, but I decided to sit right down by the water. It’s a really hot day so there is no one around. I am aware of the sounds around me; the wind blowing, barking dogs, birds chirping, humming of insects, and the water is rippling quite fast. It makes me think about wanting to kayak/canoe in here as I have seen many others do as well. At various points I think about all the assignments/other tasks I need to complete. I also think about how I want to do this more often and bring my dogs when it’s not too hot outside. I spend the rest of the hour observing my surroundings and walking around the pond.
This assignment showed me how often I remain in a mediated environment and how hard it was for me to go without. Typically, if I go walking, I am at least listening to music or if I am not using my phone, computer, or headphones, then I am talking to someone else. My one hour outside reminded me how calming it is without any kind of media and allowed me to stream my thoughts. When there is so much media happening, it can become quite stressful or overwhelming, but being in this natural environment allowed me to focus. I learned that I felt much more productive after coming back from my one hour outside. My one hour of media also made me realize I need to start focusing on one thing at a time because I am gaining such a short attention span and I am mindlessly scrolling through an app when I could be doing something more productive. However, it is nice sometimes to sit and scroll through fun videos after a long day of school/work where we are taking in heaps of information. Overall, I learned I need to have a better relationship and balance between a mediated and unmediated environment.