Media Consumption, Habits, and Memories
In the 1940s, the media industry was dominated by print media, which was the most prevalent source of news at the time. This discussion will focus on examining the experiences and memories encountered by consumers of the print media during this period. I conducted a face-to-face interview with Ian Scope, an 80-year old World War 2 veteran, about his experiences and memories with the print media during this period. I found out that he is an avid reader of print media and dislikes the electronic media, which he terms as “sensational” and “time-wasting.” He reads newspapers daily and is a subscriber of the New York Times. It is his favorite newspaper because he grew up reading it since those early days of the war and has never quit that habit. He is loyal to the paper because he believes that it is trustworthy and reliable, given its history. However, he spends only two hours every morning reading the newspapers and uses the rest of his time engaging in his daily activities.
Generational Comparisons and Analysis
In contrast, digital media has become the dominant source of information and news for the younger generation. Technological advances occasioned by the emergence of information technology have led to a decline in print media consumption by the younger generation. The smartphone, internet, and social media phenomena have greatly impacted how our generation consumes information and news. For example, a young millennial named John depends on news aggregators such as Flipboard, Apple News, and Upday to access news features in “time filler moments” using his smartphone. In an article, Karogelopoulos thinks that the younger generation is more reliant on their phones than the older generation and spends a large amount of their waking time interacting with their devices to access information and news. He conducted a survey which revealed that 69% of individuals under the age of 35 used smartphones as the main device for accessing information and news (Karogelopoulos, 2019). The survey shows that the younger generation prefers to use digital devices like smartphones to access information and news as opposed to the older generation, whose consumption in using smartphones is lower. Additionally, a 2012 study conducted by Pew Research Center indicated that 77% of people under the age of 64 were using electronic media as opposed to a dismal number of people over the age of 70 (Towner and Munoz, 2016). These studies, therefore, indicate that the younger generation uses a considerable amount of time accessing information and news via digital devices as opposed to the older generation.
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Communication Goal
John, the young millennial, spends much of his time viewing news aggregators frequently. This habit wastes most of his time because it disrupts his work schedule and eats into his valuable time. It even affects his concentration at the workplace because he uses his smartphone to check on news updates from time to time. I also realized that I use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter frequently to update my profile to check what is going on in my social circle. This habit wastes much of my time, which could have been used to engage in other meaningful activities. I intend to use such time in doing my academic work and studying to improve my career prospects. I will reduce the time I spend on social media to one hour per day and use the remaining time on my studies.
References
Karologelopolous, A. (2019). How younger generations consume news differently. Digital News Report. https://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2019/how-younger-generations-consume-news-differently/
Towner, T. and Munoz, C. (2016). Boomers versus Millennials: Online Media Influence on Media Performance and Candidate Evaluations. Social Sciences.
