My “new” medium diet

In the beginning of the semester I wrote a paper in which I examined my media consumption. In this essay I detailed the source of my news consumption to the genesis. It was interesting, to say the least, to revisit this essay. By and large I would argue that my medium diet has not changed all that much. In the essay, from the beginning to the end, the reader was brought through a drastic change in the subject’s (me) consumption of media. However, that essay surveyed a span of twenty years. While the scale of the semester pales in comparison to twenty years, college is a time of growth, and subsequently changes occur. Although no rapid change was evident, after reading the aforementioned essay, there were slight variations within my media consumption. In the “Medium Diet” essay I stated that I read the Wall Street Journal three times a week. This is one source of consumption has changed in that I tend to read the paper version—where as I used to primarily read the online version—more often, now four  to five times a week. I still am an avid reader of The Economist magazine, however, currently, I find myself visiting The Economist website more often to see what special stories they have posted. I would say that the biggest change comes in my belief that the shows such as The Jersey Shore or The Real Housewives are bad for viewers. It is not that I am necessarily taking a Steven Johnson approach, but I feel that if one watches a little bit of these shows, it will make them feel as though they actually have a life, and make them appreciate that they are not as petulant and narcissistic as the people they are watching.

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