My Media Diet (Meghan)

Level Five-Books, Magazines

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Level Four-Altoona Mirror, Movies

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Level Three-Juicy Campus, Evening News, Wired 96.5, youtube.com

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Level Two-Perez Hilton, Nytimes.com, CW Cable Channel, AIM, textbooks

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Level One-CNN.com, Facebook.com, weather.com, Albright Email, texting

The first level of my media pyramid represents media that I use throughout each day and read and comprehend in detail. Every single one of these different pieces of media I use consistently each day. I feel as though these types of media are always being updated with news, gossip, and information that I like to incorporate in my daily agenda. Both weather.com and CNN.com can also both be viewed via television, but it is easier just to use the website to find specific interests that appeal to me.

The second level consists of media that I take a lot of significance in, but do not look at every day. I watch and read these types of mediums whenever I have spare time. Perez Hilton is one of my favorite blogs that gets me in tune to the celebrity gossip, but I only view the blog whenever I find myself bored on the internet. The third level of my media pyramid is media that I listen to, read, and/or watch a couple of times a week. The evening news and the radio can be on and I may not be actually tuning in. I do not follow this information as much as I do my first two levels.

My fourth level of my pyramid is media that I only occasionally read or watch. The Altoona Mirror is a local newspaper in my hometown. Anytime I am home and am able to read the newspaper, I do, but I rarely go home and do not read the local newspaper online. Movies are also a piece of medium that I rarely watch, but whenever I have the time I watch movies. My final level is books and magazines and I would say that on a rare occasion will I actually read books or magazines. I would say that I use these mediums maybe once or twice every two months.

Maria Media Pyramid

Radio/Movies
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Magazines/ Ipod/Telemundo
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Wallstreetjournal.com/Washingtonpost.com
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Cable stations/juicycampus.com./evening and morning news
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Colbert Report/ Daily Show/ Perezhilton.com/CNN.com/ youtube
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Newyorktimes.com/facebook.com/weather.com/email/texting

My media pyramid was based on how much media I consume on a daily basis at any given time. I make an attempt to consume media from varying outlets. As my media pyramid shows I consume varying types of media, I try to not stick to one media for a prolonged amount of time, and I also look at similar stories from the perspectives of different media just to get different points of view on the same story. The bottom layer is an example of the media that I consume the most. As the layers go up my media consumption of what is listed is lessened. Therefore I consume facebook and newyorktimes.com more than I consume the magazines. I picked the placement of the media that I consume based on how many times I think I actually read or look at during a day. I did not consider media that I exposed to unless I actually pay attention to that media and let it affect my daily life or thoughts.

Radio
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Newspaper, Magazine
Morning and Evening News, CNN.com
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Books, textbooks
In-theater movies, special cable channels
Art galleries, museums, exhibits, film shows
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Television and film
DVD movies and made for TV movies
iPod, iTunes, podcasts, music videos, texting, AIM
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Computer and Internet:
Facebook, Albright e-mail, personal e-mail, wikipedia, Google
Youtube, humor sites (collegehumor etc.), IMDB, Flickr, blogs

I will be the first to admit, that my media diet is not exactly balanced or healthy, I suppose you could say. I know for a fact that I spend far too much time on Facebook and yet I still manage to obtain information about the world. If I am not watching the news, someone else out there will be, and it will undoubtedly end up in his or her status. My dad also frequently updates me through texting because he knows I will check my phone before the news any day. I know my media diet is like this because I choose it to be and I have the power to change it, but I may need a push in the right direction. I purposely avoid things like the radio; I don’t even listen to traffic reports, which is probably a bad idea. I pride myself on my movie and music knowledge as well as my visits to art exhibits. However, I need to watch the news on occasions other than major events, like an airplane landing in the Hudson.

Media Pyramid

Books
Myspace
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Cosmogirl Magazine

Vibe Magazine
Philadelphia Daily News

Philadelphia Inquirer
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ABC
BET/MTV
HBO
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Theater movies
Cell phone
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ipod
Gossip blogs
Facebook
Online newspapers
Youtube

For my media pyramid, I organized it in such a way where it describes the type of media that I use the most, and trickles down to the type that I use most often. At the top, in my first layer, there are books, and Myspace. I don’t read nearly as much as I used to, and really only do for school. The title, books, can range from novels and biographies, to textbooks that I have to study and read for classes. I use Myspace, mainly, because of its popularity, not because I like it (anymore). But it does provide new music updates and other information about celebrities that I like. Next, on the second level, there are magazines and newspapers. I subscribe to two magazines, Cosmogirl and Vibe Magazine, and will occasionally buy a couple others like: Seventeen, Us Weekly, Glamour and People. I read two physical newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Philadelphia Daily News, but its mainly when I am home in Philadelphia, because that is what my parents read and keep around the house. On the next level, there is ABC (the news channel), BET/MTV, HBO and the radio. ABC represents a channel that I watch quite frequently for television shows (like, Grey’s Anatomy and Jeopardy), and the news. It also, on a broader scale, represents all of the non-cable channels that I watch, like Fox, and KYW. BET/MTV are the two most popular music television channels, which is how I usually keep up with current music and celebrity news. I sometimes watch television shows on those channels too. They, like ABC, also represent a broader aspect of all of the cable channels that I watch, and HBO represents movie channels that I watch. On the next level are movies, and my cell phone. I watch a lot of movies, and learn some information from them, but I learn even more with the use of my cell phone. I can text people, send/receive pictures and videos, and of course talk with people, voice-to-voice. Lastly, there is my ipod, gossip blogs, Facebook, online newspapers, and Youtube. I listen to my ipod all day everyday, and am constantly updating it with music and movies. While I watch the news on television and read actual newspapers, I get the majority of my news off the internet, usually via Google News, which I use to give me many different newspaper articles on one specific topic at a time. I read gossip blogs everyday, sometimes the same ones more than once a day, like PerezHilton.com. I visit Yotube whenever I want to see anything from music videos, to political debates, to ‘how-to- demonstrations. Lastly, I use Facebook to keep in contact with friends and family, watch videos, upload pictures and to maintain and record my life (and look at the lives of others).

My Media Pyramid

Radio: Since I spend most of the time on campus, I hardly listen to the radio. I also don’t listen to the radio much because of the music that is played and annoying commercial breaks.

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USA Today: Even though I would like to read it everyday, I don’t read USA Today as much as I would like. I read about world news as well as entertainment news when I do pick it up.

Magazines: Because I don’t have access to many magazines I enjoy, I don’t read magazines as much as I’d like. Vibe and Essence are some of my favorites.

Books: I spend little time reading, leisurely and it usually isn’t more than one or two times a week, if I do.

Yahoo! Messenger: Another communication tool that I use to stay in touch with my friends.

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Myspace: Another way in which I communicate with family and friends.

Television: I do not watch nearly as much TV as I used to; but I consume about one-two hours of TV each day.

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Yahoo! / Albright Email: Another essential communication tool—I am able to keep in touch with teachers and my boss as well as anything relating to school in an easy and organized manner.

Google and Yahoo! News: In addition to updating myself on celebrity news, I update myself on the latest in world news through these two websites everyday.

iPod: Music is the center of my life and I listen to my iPod throughout the day—when I am getting dressed, walking to and from class, when I’m just relaxing in my room—several times a day.

Facebook: My main source of online communication with my friends. I converse with friends on IM and through messages, upload and view photos of friends. It is also a personal outlet for self-expression—for example, notes and statuses messages are ways that my friends and I write about things pertaining to our lives. Facebook is also the way that I learn about campus events and happenings.

Celebrity News and Gossip Blogs: By visiting my favorite gossip blogs (a collection of almost ten), I keep myself updated on the latest celebrity news.

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Media Pyramid

>My media pyramid is based off of music and indirect conversation with other people and then leads to more influence as you go up. However, the more influential media is also less used which does not really allow for information of the world around me. The fact that I do not really engage in very informational programming and media does influence how informed I am about the world around me, and because of this I often miss out on key or important factors that are happening. Although I do not always know the political surroundings that are happening around me the fact that I have most of my media coming from music helps me in my job at Hot Topic and allows me to have a greater knowledge about the bands that we are selling shirts for. Having a job that involves knowledge of music allows for it to not only be a bigger source of media but also a more helpful one, then T.V. and newspapers.

Media Pyramid

>My media pyramid is based off of music and indirect conversation with other people and then leads to more influence as you go up. However, the more influential media is also less used which does not really allow for information of the world around me. The fact that I do not really engage in very informational programming and media does influence how informed I am about the world around me, and because of this I often miss out on key or important factors that are happening. Although I do not always know the political surroundings that are happening around me the fact that I have most of my media coming from music helps me in my job at Hot Topic and allows me to have a greater knowledge about the bands that we are selling shirts for. Having a job that involves knowledge of music allows for it to not only be a bigger source of media but also a more helpful one, then T.V. and newspapers.

Brittani's Media Pyramid

My Media Pyramid

Philadelphia Inquirer, evening news
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In-theatre movies, DVDs, cable channel movies,
The Albrightian, morning television shows
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AOL news, youtube.com, Glamour magazine, books for
pleasure, primetime network television, talk on the phone
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Cosmopolitan magazine, school textbooks, the radio, Pandora radio
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Text message, Facebook, i-pod, e-mail

When I look at my media pyramid I admit I am somewhat ashamed of myself for not absorbing

more beneficial material. Overall, most of the media I consume on a daily basis barely provides me with any fruitful knowledge. I would claim my textbooks for my classes, are the only media

that I consume regularly that supply me with information besides gossip, the newest fashion trends, and photos of my friends. On the other hand, I actually enjoy reading books for pleasure and watching the evening news but many times with my busy schedule I find that I hardly have anytime to pick up a book for fun or watch the news without feeling guilty. I tend to feel guilty if I am reading a book that I am interested in if I am already two chapters behind in my school readings. The same feeling occurs when it comes to going to the movies and watching television. Even with a busy schedule I believe that I should still make time to catch up with local and worldwide news to become a more educated individual in general.

My Media Pyramid

Cable News
Various Women’s
Magazines
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Movies on Cable – Tabloid Magazines
The Albrightian – Movies In Theater – DVD’s
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Juicy Campus – OnDemand Movies - AIM
Books For Pleasure – Primetime Network TV – YouTube
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Specialized Cable Channels
Perez Hilton – Popular Music Radio Stations – ipod/itunes – Pandora Radio
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Albright E-mail – Facebook – Textbooks - Texting

Judging by the media listed in my pyramid it is obvious that I am getting a limited understanding of the world around me. There is virtually no news in my media diet. The closest thing to news that I have listed consistently throughout the pyramid are things like tabloid magazines and Perez Hilton. Those types of sources typically only give ‘news’ about celebrities not more concrete news.

This has shown me that I hardly ever seek out credible news sources to find out information. I mostly rely on word of mouth to understand things going on in the world such as the current economic crisis. I never thought to just take the time out to watch the news for a few minutes or pick up a newspaper to keep myself informed.

The pyramid shows me that instead of seeking out sources that will inform me of all types of information that I’m relatively selfish with my media consumption. I consume media that only pertains to my interests and likes and just disregard everything else even if it would keep me more informed. The bottom tiers of my pyramid deal predominantly with media that are tailored to my life such as Facebook and my E-mail, the rest of the tiers follow suit. It's opened my eyes and showed me that even though I thought I was getting a more 'balanced diet' of media, I'm actually saturating my consumption with things that only cater to my tastes.

Media Pyramid

Books
(Novels)
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Entertainment
(TV shows, music, Movies, etc.)
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Internet Entertainment Sites
(youtube.com, hulu.com)
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Online, social networking sites
(facebook.com, myspace.com, AIM, Albright email, personal email,
Text messages)
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News Channels
(CNN.com, the Weather Channel, Blogs, the Reading Eagle, the New York Times)


My media pyramid is composed of all the diverse types of media that I view, use, or listen to daily. I believe media, in this time, is all about control. Even from the top of my pyramid, what books I enjoy reading, even down to the News that I watch or read is all controlled. Because of advancements in technology, people are now more than able to keep tabs on what they are exposed to. You can control what news you receive, what one can entertain themselves with, and even to the social networking sites everyone can control how people view them even down to the way they look. Control is now the foundation of our media society, and the epicenter of my media diet.

Maria Media Pyramid

Radio/Movies

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Magazines/ Ipod/Telemundo

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Wallstreetjournal.com/Washingtonpost.com

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Cable stations/juicycampus.com./evening and morning news

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Colbert Report/ Daily Show/ Perezhilton.com/CNN.com/ youtube

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Newyorktimes.com/facebook.com/weather.com.email.texting

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My media pyramid was based on how much media I consume on a daily basis at any given time. I make an attempt to consume media from varying outlets. As my media pyramid shows I consume varying types of media, I try to not stick to one media for a prolonged amount of time, and I also look at similar stories from the perspectives of different media just to get different points of view on the same story. The bottom layer is an example of the media that I consume the most. As the layers go up my media consumption of what is listed is lessened. Therefore I consume facebook and newyorktimes.com more than I consume the magazines. I picked the placement of the media that I consume based on how many times I think I actually read or look at during a day. I did not consider media that I exposed to unless I actually pay attention to that media and let it affect my daily life or thoughts.

Media Pyramid

In-theater movies
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Magazines – Textbooks
Books – The Albrightian
Early morning talk shows
Specialized cable channels

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The Times of Trenton – Action News – facebook.com
msn.com – variety of country and hit music stations – ipod
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perezhilton.com – Albright and personal e-mail – people.com – instant message – texting
nascar.com – primetime network television – USA Today – jayski.com – The Trentonian

The first level of my media pyramid represents media that I use everyday and read thoroughly. Many of the website I access more than once a day because they are always being updated and I like to be the first in the know. Even though most of the news in both the USA Today and The Trentonian can be found online in different venues I still like to read them to a get a different and even sometimes more accurate account then what has been reported online. I also like to read the special columns in both. When I am here at school I do not have access to a hard copy of The Trentonian, as it is my hometown newspaper, so I read that online while I am here and in print at home for all of my local news. I use texting and instant messaging to talk to my friends and family all day several times a day.
The second level of my media pyramid represents media that I use on a daily basis, but often do not detailed pay attention to. My homepage for Internet Explorer is set to msn.com, and I often skim through the headlines but only click on articles that interest me. I access facebook.com several times a day but only really pay attention when someone has written to be or invited me to an event. I listen to music several times during the day using my ipod and the radio, but I often do not pay much attention as I am usually doing other things. Action News is usually something that I have on in the background while I am making dinner and generally only pay attention to the weather report. I access The Times to get another perspective on my local news as The Trentonian is usually considered to be a tabloid.
The third level of my pyramid is media that I use weekly. Classes require reading from textbooks but it is usually only one reading per week, which I can have done in one day. I read a lot of magazines but with classes and homework I can only read them in my spare time. I usually only watch specialized cable channels when there is nothing else on television and they have something that I find interesting or entertaining. The fourth level of my pyramid represents media that I use on a monthly basis. I really enjoy going to the movie theater, but with cost and time constraints it is something that I usually only do once or twice a month.