my intro blog 11/18/19

My relationship with media is both positive and negative. It can be pretty addictive at times but also I use it as a break from everything. Sometimes, just mindless scrolling helps because homework and stuff and basic social interaction can be super tiring, which makes me sound weird but it happens. I get tired and bored so sometimes when that happens I'll go on Youtube for a super long time or watch a movie on Netflix. I think that for maybe a short break its ok but I have a problem where it turns into hours.

I think that in terms of social media platforms, like Instagram and Snapchat, I also spend way too much time on them. Most of the stuff that I see on there is something that probably doesn't apply to my life or what I do a lot, so its pointless. However, there is kind of a positive aspect to it because I do follow some news accounts on there. But some of the stuff they post about I think isn't really THAT important I'm my opinion. But I see stuff on there before I see it on TV on the news, if I do actually watch the news. So I think that these platforms can be an effective way to get news out there, but the thing is, I rarely actually click on the links to the full article, so my knowledge on a good amount of the stories is basically the caption and title.

This brings me to the media that I watch, which I consider things on TV, Youtube, and Netflix. I definitely use YT and Netflix more than I watch shows on actual TV or the news. Watching things on those platforms make me happy, so that's what I do. Also, those shows and videos make it more enjoyable or interesting for me to learn about topics. It might not be like and event or one-time occurrence, but shows like Patriot Act teach me about a topic with a lot of history behind it. Or videos teach me reasons why random processes happen or weird murder cases. That knowledge I probably won't be applying in my everyday life, but I think its fun to learn about it. When I do watch the news, I get bored. One of the reasons is because so much of it is negative and repetitive, but some of that stuff is important to know. I also think that some things on the news don't need to be reported on. I can't really think of anything specific, but some reports I feel do not need to be on the news as much as others. 

There is no way that way that I can avoid my usage of media. For one thing, it's all around me, and is a way that I get a lot of information. Also, I am required to interact with it for school. For argument logs, and current events, I have to find articles to use from the news, although it is not my favorite use of media. In conclusion, I think that media is more negative than positive in my life, but it's not as bad as some people think it is.