During final stages of logging the time use diary I moved from my family home to an apartment in the city, I thought this was a great opportunity to see how my viewing habits might change, so in this reflection I plan on looking at various differences I found during my change of scenery.
as we learnt in the second lecture of the semester scheduling is one way audiences behaviour is regularised. ‘The means by which a days broadcasting is arranged so that particular programs coincide with particular supposed events in the life of the family’ – (Ellis 1982). In my early weeks of the Time-Use diary it is easy to see that there is a correlation between watching TV and eating dinner. On a regular basis, if I was home for dinner I was in front of the television with my Mum and Dad. When I moved however, as I was responsible for cooking my own food I began eating dinner a lot later, where once it was around 6:30 – 7:00 it was now 8:00. Another variable I’d like to throw into the mix is the fact that I’m currently watching all of my TV on Netflix, the program that allows you to watch programs whenever you want. So where the Broadcst networks were once able to choose when programs where on, thus in my case choosing when dinner was, I now have the power to choose when I watch.
Another interesting aspect about my habits when I moved were the types of shows that I watched before and after my move. When I was at home I noted that whenever we’d refer to a TV show it was classified as someone’s TV show; for example, whenever we mentioned Doctor Who it was said to be “Mum’s Show”, Later when we were watching Jag it was noted as “Dad’s Show” in regular conversation. When I moved I no longer had to watch anyone else show but “my show”. As it turns out I love a good comedy, however I’m now not reaching the range of different shows that I was once watching, I seem to be more honed in on a single series as well, not watching anything else until I finished the series that I was watching. Jason Mitten (2001) explains in his article that “Genre should be situated within larger systems, cultural hierarchies and power relations”, which is an interesting concept when I have changed the cultural hierarchy from my parents house to mine. Perhaps this also has something to do with the Flow that Netflix creates (as mentioned in the third lecture), one episodes starts playing right after the other and when you open Netflix it always asks you if you’d like to pick up where you left off.
I think it worth expanding on my choice of Netflix over other web services. As Mentioned in Lecture 9 on HBO certain brands are connected to “quality TV”. As Deborah L. Jaramillo (2013) explores AMC and “calls into question the power of the brand and its connection to quality TV” the power of “Netflix” as a brand is a lot stronger than Presto or Stan (I’ve never heard of “Presto and Chill” or “Stan and Chill”). Ultimately it was this Brand Power and promise of Netflix Exclusive shows such as Daredevil that brought me to Netflix.
As Ben Goldsmith states, Netflix could (and has) changed where and when and how viewers look for and watch content. I’m a perfect example of this, during my change over from watching Free-to-air with my parents to watching Netflix, it has changed my common viewing place, from the lounge room to my bedroom, it has changed when I watch things and how much I watch things (I tend to binge watch a lot now).
Ultimately the Time Use Diary has helped me explore the change in my viewing habits not only from changing location and cultures (from parents household to living alone), but the difference in changing the form platform I watch things on, which is not necessarily a good thing but interesting none-the-less.
References:
Ellis, J 1982, ‘Cinema, Television, video’, Visible fiction, London, RKP (1982).
Mitten, J 2001, ‘A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory’, Cinema Journal, vol. 40, pp. 3-24
Jaramillo, D.L. 2013, ‘AMC: Stumbling towards a New Television Canon’, Television and New Media, vol. 14, pp. 167-183
Goldsmith, B 2015, ‘What do Netflix, Stan and Presto mean for Australian TV?’, The conversation, viewed 28th October 2015, <https://theconversation.com/what-do-netflix-stan-and-presto-mean-for-australian-tv-39244>