Media+Log

**Media Log** Make a list of the different media you interact with during the course of one normal day. List all of the media that you use for communication, entertainment, information, learning, pleasure and work in a given day. Include electronic media such as TV and computers as well as non-electronic media such as print-based texts and billboards. It will probably be a long list. Reflect on this list using the following questions as guidelines:
 * 1) Count the number of media examples that you interacted with during the day.
 * 2) Was the number more or less than you expected?
 * 3) Which interactions did you initiate and which were the result of other circumstances? e.g. **Muzak** in an elevator versus turning on your car radio?
 * 4) Could you have spent the day without using any one of these media?
 * 5) Which one(s) could you have avoided using? Why?
 * 6) What could you have done instead of using that media?
 * 7) What do you notice about the media that are part of your daily life?
 * 8) Is your involvement with the media positive in all cases?
 * 9) What does your media use “give” you?
 * 10) What did you actually need the media for during the day?

Before your test-subjects start creating their lists, ask them to estimate how many different types of media they think they come into contact with during the day. Have them record this number on one side of their worksheet. Then have them record their daily contact with media, as you did. Ask them to use their list as a starting point for thinking about the different kinds of media present in their environment.

Ask them to discuss the results either in groups, as a class, or with people they know. Allow them to reflect on the presence of media in their daily life.