My Relationship With Media 

The relationship I have with media has drastically progressed and evolved since 2015, the year of my first phone. 3 years ago, I would have been absorbed in angry birds, dumb ways to die, or any of the other mindless yet shockingly entertaining games. Though I still have some of these same games on my phone, I have noticed that my relationship with this media has progressed far beyond the innocent days of slingshotting large birds into the sky. 

Currently my phone is used as a platform to communicate with friends, keep up to date on politics, read about current events, and of course play games. This all extends past the one dimensional world I was engrossed in at 12 years old. As my interests have evolved so has the media and accompanying technology. There is more out there to read, to explore, to understand, and ways to connect.

 Though I am grateful for the influence media has had on me, there has still been a huge detriment to my productivity. I feel at times like I can't tear myself away from social media platforms (snapchat, and instagram) though I should and need to be productive. I can now easily complain about the copious amounts of homework to do, instead of actually doing it. Which is an efficient method 100% of the time. 

Besides my phone, netflix has posed as such an efficient way for me to stay interested and occupied in something besides reality. I really enjoy the documentary section on netflix I have watched films pertaining to everything from Auschwitz, to the sex trafficking network in America. I have decided that if I'm going to be unproductive in the conventional sense I might as well choose something intellectually stimulating. This philosophy stops when it comes to T.V. shows where I have a watched a show called "The Office" all the way through, a solid four times. This show is essentially where Steve Carell cracks dirty jokes in the setting of a failing paper supply company. I have always had an attachment to this show maybe because of the bland but simultaneously fascinating nature of the characters stories. Regardless of the subconscious motives that compel me towards some pieces of media but not to others, the common thread is the implications that they have on my perception of the real world. My mom funds sex trafficking rehabilitation centers and my grandma lived through the World War II, and saw the effects Auschwitz had on a global scale.

I have always found it interesting to know what is going on in the world. Whether this was sparked by the current event projects assigned to me in middle school or my compulsive desire to win debates at the dinner table, it has always been something that has stuck with me. I have been super reliant on large media sites to fuel that burning desire for knowledge of the world. 

As much as the media has negatively affected my life and so many other social media addicted teenagers, I think it has facilitated the spread of ideas and presented me with a new perception of the world around me. The duality of media for me is that sometimes it consumed my reality, it helped me escape into a world of flying birds and complaints of homework, whereas in other instances it has made me confront reality, and derive a perception and opinion on things that seemed so far out my grasp in the vast complex world we live in.