Not surprisingly, one of the main forms of media I encountered on Saturday was social media. Throughout the day I visited a number of social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Messenger, and GroupMe. The images and messages on those platforms weren’t a type of media I would have otherwise overlooked. However, even though platforms like Facebook primarily show media created and shared by our peers, I did notice the trending topics and an Amazon ad to the right of my Newsfeed.
I encountered a number of ads as I tried to listen to music throughout the day. When I went to watch a piano cover on YouTube I was shown the beginning of a Best Buy ad. Luckily, I was able to skip it. More annoying were the Spotify ads that appeared below or on top of the songs I was trying to play from my computer as well as the audio commercials Spotify played while I was listening.
Finally, while visiting a friend’s apartment I came across numerous product packages that I normally would have overlooked.
Reflection: Although I stayed mainly in my own room and my friend’s apartment, I still encountered a significant amount of media in the form of advertisements. This is surprising, as one would think we wouldn’t encounter so many ads in such a private setting. Most of it was found on a screen, and a good portion of it I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been looking out for it. Some of the media I encountered were forms I was actively seeking out, such as content on my Facebook Newsfeed or the music on YouTube and Spotify. Other forms were easy to ignore, such as the print ads and trending topics below and next to the main content on Spotify and Facebook. The audio ads on Spotify were harder to overlook, as they interrupted the music. Most of the media I encountered required little interaction. As I mentioned before, I was able to skip the YouTube commercial, and my interaction with the Facebook content was limited to just viewing; I did not post or Like anything. However, choosing music to play required some interaction, and communicating with my friends on a number of platforms required the most interaction of all of the media forms encountered.
