Having just upgraded my phone to a 20GB plan has allowed me to be over-active with my online usage without the fear of creeping over my data. The last 24 hours has not only shown me how I engage with online media through my phone but also through various other platforms surrounding my day-to-day life. I have selected three different ways I use media from my daily media usage timetable to expand on which all demonstrate how my life would be completely different If I wasn’t “online”.
FOCUS: POST ON FACEBOOK
This morning I was instantly notified by Facebook that it was my South Australian friend, Holly’s birthday. If it wasn’t for this “friendly reminder” I probably would have forgotten to contact Holly on her special day. Facebook is a great platform for communication with friends and family who live interstate/overseas whether it be through messenger, a comment or a post on someone’s wall. In order to contact Holly I created a personal brief message to publish on Holly’s Facebook page. Not only will Holly be able to view this post but all of her Facebook friends will too which means there may be an audience to read the online content I have created. I chose to contact Holly through Facebook because it is an easy, convenient way to reach out and connect with loved ones. I was already on Facebook so there was zero inconvenience in exiting the platform, I was able to continue scrolling through my newsfeed after publishing the post onto Holly’s wall. Over 50 people had already wished Holly a “Happy Birthday” via Facebook which shows how it is a popular way of communication within the digital age.
FOCUS: COMMENTING ON INSTAGRAM BY “TAGGING”
When I checked my phone this afternoon I had a notification on Instagram from my sister who had tagged me in a promo video for the latest episode of HBO series Girls. I’ve been so preoccupied this week so when I received this notification it tempted me to watch the episode this afternoon. Tagging in the comment section on Instagram serves many purposes, one being it can get someone’s attention to look at a post. A person who is tagged by another person is expected to respond to the comment by retagging their name with a message. Girls is a show I share a mutual bond over with my sister which makes tagging each other in memes, trailers and photos online an enjoyable experience for both of us. By tagging me in this video I was reminded to watch it which I did. I responded to my sister with the comment “@Daisyhamra thank you, will do!” to let her know I had received the notification.
FOCUS: WATCHING A TUTORIAL ON YOUTUBE
Recently I have been eager to learn how to self meditate to help relax my nerves and make me less anxious. I decided to follow an online tutorial video on my laptop which I sourced from YouTube before bed tonight. I googled “Meditation for Beginners” and browsed through a range of videos before selecting a video which looked suitable for me to practice. Once the video had loaded I laid on my back, closed my eyes and began focussing on my breathing exercises. The meditation lasted 8 minutes and actually did help to clear my mind from any stress or tension I had been feeling. I watched this video as an enjoyable experiment to test if meditating on YouTube would achieve successful results – which is did! When the video was over I became actively involved online by subscribing to the channel and recommending the videos to my friends via Facebook.