19SEP20104 Comments
by Carol in Uncategorized
09/18
I did my routine after I woke up today; after that, I ate lunch with my roommate and two of our friends. They made Taiwanese cuisine “chitterling thin noodles”; it was great. After that I did the homework of online course: took pictures, blogging, set a new Flickr account, and read the required articles. Also, I read the journal and my textbook for a while and I went to Twitter.com. It took me about 3 hours to do that. Then I played online mahjoun again. I had dinner with my boyfriend and we watched TV while eating (Band of Brothers). After that, we went to a 3D movie (Resident Evil: Afterlife.) 3D movies gets more and more popular these days, but I actually think it is not suitable for every movie. Some of the directors focus on the visual aesthetics more than storytelling, which I think is very unnecessary. I think this movie is so-so, I am a little disappointed.
By writing the media diary, I find it interesting to analyze my media using habits. There are some of the interesting things I find:
First, I think I have a very different media usage in United States compare to when I was in Taiwan. In Taiwan, I used text message to communicate with my friends, I went to bookstores about three times a week, I often watched TV, I didn’t use Facebook, I read newspaper every day, and I relied on my cell phone a lot. However, when I am in the U.S., I don’t have text massage plan (because it’s cheaper), I seldom go to bookstore (I go to Amazon instead), I don’t have a TV, I use Facebook a lot, and I seldom use my cell phone. I think I have a different media usage here because: 1) the expense here is higher than in Taiwan (especially the tuition and food), I cut some media usage down for saving money; 2) the place where I lived in Taiwan is a very big city, there are bookstores everywhere. I can find over five bookstores in one street without a long drive; therefore, I will have more chance to go to bookstore while in Taiwan. 3) I use Facebook because EVERYBODY uses it here, if I want to have a social life, I will have to have a Facebook account. Besides, my Taiwanese friends are now in different countries around the world (some of them are in England, Japan, France, and other cities in the U.S.), they start to use Facebook and I would like to know how their lives are like now.
When I was in Taiwan, I relied on my cell phone a lot, for I contacted with others by cell phone most of time. I find myself love and hate cell phone at the same time; I used to consider cell phone a thing that can easily interrupt my life and my work abruptly. Sometimes I will even leave my cell phone off and I will have my home phone unplugged to just have my “private time.” However, after I come to the U.S., I don’t think this way anymore. Maybe it is because I have a less social life here so I won’t need to use the phone that much and most of my Taiwanese friends contact me by MSN or Skype.
The most surprising thing I find is that I can’t believe not only I go to PTT2 a lot less than before, but also most of my friends did this. About several days ago, one of my friends post an article on his board which talked about how he misses the day when everyone posts their thoughts on PTT2. He points out that a lot of people go to PTT2 lesser after they got a Facebook account. I agree with it. I think most people go to Facebook because it shows pictures, games, and short messages on it. It is easier to read and it takes less time to know what everyone is doing. On the other hand, PTT2 only displays words, so people might not think it is visually attractive; also, the posts on PTT2 tend to be longer so people might not have time to read it. I will say Facebook let us know what people are “doing” right now; PTT2 let us know what people are “thinking” deep inside their hearts. Facebook helps me to broader my social life; PTT2 helps me to go deeper into my friends’ mind.
I think doing a media diary is quite fun and it really made me notice what kind of media I relied on and how I have changed my media usage compare to before. Also, I really think I should quit playing online mahjoun, for I spent too much time on it and I cannot concentrate on my reading while playing it at the same time!