From the moment we wake up in the morning we are inundated with the presence of media in different forms. The task for today was to keep a record of the media that are seen, heard and perceived within the time-frame of one day. This extremely worthwhile activity has raised my awareness of the forms that media take and the prevalence of media in modern life. It has also brought to my attention the reliance I have on various media, most notably the internet. As was discussed in the post, 'Media Ecology', the invisible and unobtrusive nature of media allows us to live our day to day lives without consciously focusing on its presence. That is, until we are prompted to consider and question the various media and its effects on our lives.
In an effort to highlight the significant presence that media has in my life, I have formulated an inventory that provides an accurate recount of media encountered in a single day. On an average day, I am woken by the alarm on my mobile telephone; I then proceed to the lounge to turn on the television. The bombardment of advertising, news stories and general early morning TV chatter ensue. Upon preparing breakfast for my daughter my attention is again drawn to the print media on the cereal box and various food items. Whilst driving my daughter to school I encounter advertising billboards, radio advertising and songs, traffic signs, speed signs, shop signs, school signs... ugh, I am feeling tired just thinking about it! Yet, when encountering the menagerie of media I passively observe and absorb, I neither give thought nor validation to the sheer amount and variety of media witnessed.
Upon dropping my daughter at school, I decide to take a detour via the shops to get the groceries. The shopping centre PA is piping out music and advertisements, I see a man wearing a T-shirt with the words 'YouTube MySpace and I'll Google your Yahoo' - an appropriate sentiment to include in this post. The list is endless, sale signs, televisions enticing customers to buy products, food labels, clothing labels, the shopping centre is a mine field of media. When I return home I find that I have a telephone bill in my letter box, then I receive an SMS from a friend asking me to hurry up and check my email. So I do. I check my email, along with Facebook, the university website, my internet banking, ninemsn and, just for fun, I chat to a friend on Windows Live Messenger. The evening consists of more media bombardment in the form of television, reading my daughter a storybook, and downloading some music from the internet.
It really is mind blowing to think that we encounter such a degree of media that is so entwined in our lives we barely notice it at all.
'Paradoxically, the saturation of technology also leads to its invisibility. People are so immersed in the technology of communication that they forget it is there' (English-Lueck, 2002).
This statement perfectly describes exactly why the media, that is so much a part of our lives, can seem invisible.
English-Lueck, J. A. (2002). Cultures @ Silicon Valley. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
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