TELEVISION VIEWING HABITS REFLECTION
After keeping a time use diary from Weeks 6 to 12 of the Television Cultures course and attempting to monitor my TV viewing habits, the main takeaway I had was that – well, I don’t really watch TV at all in the traditional sense.
A quick scan through my log would reveal the abundance of the word ‘laptop’ as the platform for viewing. In fact, I have only watched free-to-air programming on a conventional television once over the entire seven weeks. It is plausible to say that my viewing habits don’t adhere to traditional viewing practices – on an actual TV screen, watching live at the time of air with advertisements, and with the content being network broadcasted regularly scheduled programming.
Instead, I prefer to almost exclusively use online downloads and streaming services such as Netflix. I believe this is because I have grown accustomed to the freedom and conveniency of online streaming. I no longer have to wait through ad breaks, watch a show within an already-dictated time period, or give my full attention to a program while its airs. With Netflix, I can choose freely what and when I watch, pause whenever I like and rewind if I miss something. It is evident that I take advantage of these choices as I often find myself pausing whatever a show multiple times during an episode to get snacks or quickly browse social media. As a result of these distractions, though, my viewing is very fragmented and hence I’m likely not experiencing the programs in the way they were intended.
Having said all this, it’s important to note that TV is not my primary source of entertainment. In this time use diary I haven’t included the time I spend on Youtube, which is actually more consistent and time consuming than my TV watching habits. Whilst there are some days where I watch no TV at all, I am guaranteed go through my Youtube subscriptions daily. It’s significant that online creators, not TV, is what makes up the bulk of my engagement with media content. These patterns are indicative of a wider shift of audience viewing habits especially within the younger generations; turning away from traditional programming and towards online distributed material. Statistically, between 2011 and 2015, TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds dropped by almost 8 hours per week (Nielsen, 2015).
As for scheduling, I can clearly see the diary being divided into two parts: before the premiere of what is regarded as the “Fall TV season” and after. Before October, I had viewed many shows with varied lengths of watching. For example, I would binge watch Girls for 3 hours late at night one day but weave in a short 20 minute episode of Community in between commitments another. However, after the return of new seasons and subsequently the influence of network scheduling, clearer patterns of watching emerged. Although there wasn’t specific times as is required by watching live, I was still watching set shows on set days – for example, streaming The Mindy Project on the day of its release every Wednesday.
Something else that stands out is the fact that I rarely watch TV with others, with most logs noting that I watch by myself in my room. However, instead of physically watching with others, there were instances where I would stream an episode at the same time as my friends, and live chat our reactions through Facebook message. I would participate in imagined communities and actively engage in fan culture. For example, in the case of How To Get Away With Murder, it has become a ritual for me to browse Tumblr after watching and view on comment on fan made gifs and episode theories. This supports Henry Jenkins’ (2006) ideas about convergence culture – how participatory fan culture as a product of Web 2.0 has revolutionalised traditional passive television viewing.
Overall, I think my watching habits are reflective of the habits of a new form of media consumption. As technological advances alter the television landscape, the rise in popularity of streaming services as well as shorter online creator content has emerged to replace scheduled episodic programming and accommodate the new generation of media consumers and makers.
References
1. 2015, T. (2015). The Total Audience Report: Q2 2015. [online] Nielsen.com. Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/the-total-audience-report-q2-2015.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2015].
2. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture. New York: New York University Press.
