Exploring Mass Media (aka What I Wasted My Brain Cells On)

     Social media and television, oh how I have mixed feeling about thee.  I do watch a little television.    It's a nice waste of time at the end of a day.  I don't have regular TV, so I only watch Netflix, which is great because there are no ads or commercials.  I only watch about 4 hours of TV a week, mostly food network shows.  I almost never make anything that I see the food gurus make but I like to watch imaginative people with mad skills.  Its usually just playing in the background while I clean house or fold laundry.  Occasionally I will watch a movie with my daughter in the evening.
     Social media is another beast, I have a lot of mixed feelings about social media and the invasiveness and mind suck that it holds over some people.  I have a Facebook page for my farm where I post silly things the animals do.  I also have a personal page which I almost never post on or check.  Unfortunately, Facebook links my administrative rights to my farm page to my personal page or I would have dumped it long ago.  I post about once a week.  About a month ago, I deactivated all of my Facebook and didn't miss it at all, but I got numerous complaints from friends that they missed the antics of the goats, chickens, dogs or other 20 animals on the farm.  I found it ironic that they used Facebook as merely an entertainment factor than actual interaction.  So back on Facebook for The Loose Root Ranch.  I do have an Instagram account and spend far too much time on Pinterest.
For one week, I measured my social media and television watching.  I was afraid of the results because 20 minutes here and there can add up like a handful of M&M's, but was actually surprised that for the most part, I'm pretty good.  I could cut down on my pinterest viewing, but I actually see that as somewhat education, because I do get a lot of ideas that I actually use or try from that site.

Television
10/12/15
Chopped (Food Network)
Time watched-45 min
This show is a competition between 3 chef's to cook with specific ingredients.  There were 3 men and 1 woman chef.  Two were African American, one was Caucasion, and one was Asian.  The nature of the show was a competition so there was no cooperation.  They were all egomaniacs, who thought they were winners.  I had no bias over race while watching this show but I did root for the Asian woman to win because the other 3 chefs were just jerks.  No advertisements during this show (yeah Netflix!).

10/15/15
Love Actually
Time watched-1 hour 35 min
This movie was about different relationships in London around Christmastime.  Each was a separate story, but they were each connected in the scheme of the movie.  It was very racially diverse, the characters all had different jobs.  The social classes of the characters were also varied.  There were conflicts between people over romantic relationships.  No advertisements, again Netflix.

Social Media
Facebook
10/12/15-10/18/15
Total time spent on Facebook for the week was 12 minutes.  I added a picture of carving pumpkins and scrolled through the news feed twice.  There were several advertisements for People Magazine, REI Catalog, and Pottery Barn.

Instagram
10/12/15-10/18/15
Total time spent on Instagram was 8 minutes.  I saw a few advertisements for Ipsy and National Geographic .

Pinterest
10/12/15-10/18/15
Total time spent on Pinterest for the week was 4 hours and 20 minutes.  I spent several evenings looking at plans to build a deluxe rabbit hutch.  I saw no gender biases with regards to rabbits.  Each rabbit was treated equally in the building plan specifications.  Although size was an issue, I do not think it was meant to be derogatory.  The comments were made with the rabbit's comfort in mind.

Total time wasted in front of a screen 7 hours-eeekkk!