9 AM: I woke up, and I used my phone to go on Facebook Messenger to check if any of my friends were awake. Due to it being a weekend, none of them were. Then I went on Instagram to check for new photos, which I do when I have a bit of time, and uploaded a new photo (bottom left on the Inside circle). I use Instagram to see images I'm interesting in such as food and animals, which make me a little bit happy. I also use it to share images with the world, and as a way to remember things I've done.
10 AM: Still in my room with none of my friends awake, I started watching Japanese TV (second row of the Inside circle). I used my laptop to go on video streaming websites to watch some talk shows focusing on Japanese celebrities. As I have AdBlock installed on Google Chrome and the video has the commercials removed, I didn't see a single ad. I mindlessly watched the shows to waste some time and be entertained.
11 AM: Some of my friends start waking up but they tell me that they have yet to get out of bed, so I decide to go back to bed. Before I fall asleep I play a phone game I'm addicted to, Puzzle and Dragons (intersection of the Inside and Outside circles). A game with simple gameplay and engaging graphics, it's one of my most opened apps on my phone. It keeps me entertained when I have nothing else to do, and also serves as a point of discussion with my friends that play the game.
3 PM: My friends and I decide to go to the Strip District, so we get on the bus. Inside the bus, I play some more Puzzle and Dragons, but I remember this assignment and decide to look around. Inside the bus there's an ad (bottom left of the Outside circle), on bus stations we pass by there are ads (bottom right of the Outside circle), and we pass by numerous billboards. There's also many walls we pass by with murals and graffiti on them. These are all forms of media that I wouldn't have noticed if not for the assignment, because normally I would have just stared at my phone screen or have been engaging in conversation with my friends. Even if I had glanced out of the window and saw an ad, I probably would have ignored it. The ads I saw because of this assignment didn't cause me to think deeply about anything. However, some of the murals I saw were pretty interesting and I recalled them later in the day. For example, there was a mural of comic-style thought bubbles turning into clouds that I speculated about the meaning of with some friends, showing how media can cause people to connect with each other.
6 PM: After I get back from the Strip, I go back to my room and in between working on some homework I watch some Japanese TV and also some Youtube videos on my laptop (top row of the Inside circle). Again, I didn't encounter any ads and used the videos as entertainment.
9 PM: I go outside again, to the Late Night event at the UC (represented by the top left picture in the Outside circle). A lot of student organizations are performing there, and I get to see acapella groups singing and dance groups dancing. There are a lot of purple lights and the sound is really loud. The groups were introducing themselves to try to get new members, and although I didn't feel compelled to join any of them I enjoyed their performances and was impressed with my peers for what they are able to do outside of schoolwork at CMU. In between performances I play Puzzle and Dragons.
Reflection:
Throughout noticing all the media that I was exposed to this day, I focused on the difference between the media that I was exposed to when I was in my room and the media that I was exposed to when I went out into the world. The major realization I had from looking at it from this angle is that I consciously expose myself to media when I’m inside, while it is more involuntary outside. However, I also felt that much of the media that I was exposed to outside I only saw because of this assignment, and that normally I would be staring at my phone screen, meaning that I would have control over my media exposure even when I’m outside. By looking through the bus window though, I was able to come in contact with media that I would normally not see and overall I would say that it was forced to think about what the media meant or why it was there, but it gave me insight and food for thought that I wouldn’t normally have. There's a lot of media in our lives that we normally don't dwell on, but taking a second to process it can lead to new revelations.