Monday January 30th

 I woke up this morning to Maroon 5 singing "She Will Be Loved" at 6:30 AM. I got up checked the weather on my KTUU Weather App. Yay! It warmed up. I turn on my favorites R&B Playlist, which plays artist like Chris Brown and Pretty Ricky, and start my day by getting ready. My sister calls, like clock work, at 7:30 AM. I talk with her while I grab some toast and yogurt. I jump in the car at 7:40, tell my sister I'm leaving, hang up the phone, turn on the radio, and back out the garage. I listen to 91.9 Air1 until I get to work at 8:00 AM. When I get to work I clock in using the computer. I then go to my desk and log in. At 8:05 the phone starts ringing. I multi-task by checking absences and tardies, answering phones, typing up memos, and checking work E-mails and the such. I basically am using at least two different forms of media throughout my day at work. I leave work at 2:00 PM, using the computer to sign out. I hop in the car, turn the radio back on, 91.9 Air1 again, and drive to my Chiropractor's office. When I arrive, I wait in the waiting room where I check my Facebook and E-mails. I then go to the exam room where the radio is on 102.5 KIAK. I am here for one hour. At 3:00 PM I get back in my car and drive home, while listening to the radio. When I arrive home, around 3:30, I go and see my Papa, who is listening to his favorite music, this time it's a collection of Hymns. I hang with him until 4:30 PM. I then go and help my Mom, who is living with me along with my other family because they need to be closer to town because of my Papa's condition, with dinner. We listen to Fox News while we make dinner. After dinner, at 6:30 PM, we all sit down and watch a movie, The Rundown. While the movie is playing I am typing up more documents and policies on my computer. Around 8:10 PM the movie ends and it is switched to the History Channel to watch American Pickers. At 9:00 PM I go in to visit my Papa again, who is listening to music, for one hour. We use our IPhones and Androids to find jokes to tell our Papa, we watch funny videos on You Tube and show recent pictures posted on Facebook of our family in Kentucky. At 10:00 PM I go in to my room and do the normal routine of checking E-mails and Facebook. At 10:30 PM I set my alarm for 6:30 AM, say my prayers, put in my headphones and listen to my Rock Playlist, which plays artist like Everlast, Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, and Sublime. At 11:30 PM I turn off the music and fall asleep.

Sunday January 29th

 I woke up to Maroon 5 singning "She Will Be Loved" at 9 AM. I picked up my phone, shut off the alarm and clicked onto my Facebook App. I spent the next 15 minutes checking in and updating. After that I went into to make breakfast, the television was already on, Fox News. I watched that (half-heartedly) while I made breakfast from 9:15 AM to 10:00 AM. After breakfast, at 10:30 AM I checked the weather on my phone. It was -50. No church today. I then relaxed and checked E-mails and Craigslist from 10:30-11:00, while my family watched television; I guess you could say I was multi-tasking. :) My sister called me and interrupted my Internet usage at 11:00, we talked for about one hour. After I got off the phone, I went into my Grandfather's room (he is bedridden from Brain Cancer) and sat with him from 12noon-2:00 PM. We listened to his favorite music while we were in there, some artist were Hank Williams Jr., Christy Lane, Alan Jackson, Patsy Cline, and Comedian Jerry Clower (very funny man). At around 2:00 PM my Papa went to sleep, so I checked my Facebook again and the weather. I then sat down and watched television, since it was too cold to do anything else. I did this from 2:15 PM-5:00 PM, I watched Fox News, Discovery Channel, and Psych. I then got up and started dinner. I used my laptop, typing up policies and documents for my business, while I cooked. I did this from 5:00 PM-6:00 PM. I also listened to music on Pandora from my phone. After dinner I sat down again to watch a movie with my family. We watched Heat, a three hour long movie. I am not someone to sit still that long, so periodically I would get up to do something different like type on my laptop and check my phone for status updates and E-mails. At 9:00 PM I went in to see my Papa again, where we listened to music again, same people as listed above. At 10:00 PM I went to my room and began to settle down for bed. I checked once again Facebook and E-mails; sent out a couple E-mails this time. At 10:30 PM I set my alarm for 6:30 AM, said my prayers and went to bed. :)

Yesterday and Today

I was very surprised about the amount of media I use on a daily basis. I grew up in Bush Alaska and never really had the opportunity to use any type of media, besides the television and occasional computers to type; I mean, I was still getting my research for high school essays from encyclopedias. I didn't start using the Internet until I was a sophomore; and then still I was a amateur and quite naive about what was at my fingertips. Doing this assignment helped me realize how dependent I've made myself to the different styles of media. I can't leave a room (even within my own house) without checking to see if I have my phone. Every morning I load up my tote bag with my laptop, Ipod, and tablet. I tote them around like an extended piece of my body. When I leave I have no intended use planned later in the day, I just carry them for the "just in case" scenarios. When I get in my car I turn on the radio like it's as necessary as my seatbelt. What is even crazier is I can't hear my sister saying my name ten feet from me while I am reading, but if my phone vibrates in the other room I can hear it as if it were directly beside me. I know everyone can laugh about this, because it happens to everyone.

Sometimes I try and revert to my old ways, imagining me having no Internet access, no radio, no constant notifications or messages. However, I try not to do this often, only when completely necessary for my sanity, because when it's time to check the email or phone I'm far behind. I can't decide if the media today makes my life easier, by the unlimited accessibility available, or if it makes my life more difficult, by overwhelming me with information that I could just get from an old fashion encyclopedia or magazine. It's definitely something to think about.