SCA 542, Lopez, Assignment 1: Blog Post

Photo Credit:  http://www.tjsl.edu/the-jeffersonian/news/2011/04/know-media 

Within the past few years, my media consumption habits have changed drastically.  Five years ago, I did not use Facebook or any type of social media.  I just had received my first cell phone, which was a small flip phone that only made calls, so I did not text.  I did have a small iPod with minimal amount of space.  My only constant interaction with media was watching a few hours a television a day with my sister and using my computer to research and complete homework assignments.  When I become an online college student, my parents bought me a laptop, which made it very convenient to access various types of media.   I joined Facebook, learned how to view shows on Hulu, and read the online news websites.  The websites made it convenient to keep up with friends, watch movies and television shows, as well as a myriad of other tasks that I had become “too busy” to do on a regular basis.  In examining my current media consumption habits, I have found it is the convenience I desire which drives my media consumption habits.  Since my very first flip phone, which had almost no features, I have upgraded to an Android smart phone.  It offers convenience in virtually every way possible.  I can contact others, check my bank statements, take pictures and upload them to the Internet, share YouTube videos with friends, and even write a discussion post for school.  Cell phones allow media consumption to become mobile.  Philip Napoli notes, “The decision to consume a particular piece of media content often beings with the audience member becoming aware of that content’s availability in advance” (2010, p. 89).  The Nielsen ratings company conducted research on smart phone usage and found that application use is steadily increasing from year to year.  Specifically, smart phone users increased by more than 50% within the last year (Nielson Wire, 2012).  The average number of apps that are downloaded to each device went from 32 to 41 in between 2011 and 2012 (Nielson Wire, 2012).  The smart phone “apps” (applications) make up our media consumption habits.  Slowly, they replace actual tasks, like banking, reading print books, and turning on a radio.  Our phones allow us to complete these tasks simultaneously and with supreme convenience.      

References

Neilsen Wire. (2012). State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones. Retrieved August 29, 2012 from
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/state-of-the-appnation-%E2%80%93-a-year-of-change-and-growth-in-u-s-smartphones/

Napoli, P.M. (2011). Audience Evolution - New Technologies and the Transformation of Media Audiences. NY, New York: Columbia University Press