Is it possible for us to avoid from being overly dependent on media?
Media is a part of life and it is almost as if no human being could survive another day without the use or the presence of media. Research shows that in 2011, an average adult American spends about 12 hours 5 minutes per day of media usage. It is astonishing to see the figures of how much time we would spend using medias in a day. Media provides us so much information that we desire to know of, and allows us to have this platform of socialising with others without the need to actually travel to the place to meet the certain people. These are some of the examples of why I would believe it is hard for us to not be overly dependent on media. Thus, making it extremely difficult but not impossible to avoid the dependence on media, because of its convenience, efficiency and entertainment value.
Firstly, the convenience of media is what makes media so desirable and important to us. For instance, we would need to be dependent on mobile phones to be able to contact others who may be living far away from us, without it, conversing would be extremely difficult as we would need to travel all the way to a certain place to meet them. This would be extremely time consuming and costly. With the help of media, we can simply talk to a person without the need to put in that much effort.
Shopping becomes much more convenient with the help of the glorious and amazing internet as well. With just a simple click away, we are able to get whatever we want through that. The convenience of online shopping is not the only reason why we might find it hard to be less dependent upon media. Online shopping apps such as carousell, creates a platform for more job opportunities, allowing people who may not have the qualification to be in a office environment to earn their income as well. Other than that, it too helps the economy to grow as the goods get exported overseas.
Before moving on to the second point, what is efficiency? It can be described as wether if something is capable of giving the favourable results with the minimal use of effort, resources and time. Media’s efficiency is the second love to all entrepreneurs. Nowadays, promoting products is more efficient through media without the need to promote it face-to-face and passing out flyers. This saves more time as well as money, as it reduces the cost of hiring employees to hand out flyers or even getting the flyers printed out.
Getting updated with the outside world becomes extremely efficient as well with the help of media. We no longer have to buy newspapers or magazines to know what is going on out there, the TV, radio and the internet plays a vital role in that already. We get updated about events or activities that has already taken place or may take place in the future. If we were to avoid being overly dependent on media, we may become ignorant as things on the media take place so instant and fast that we would have to keep up with what is happening in every second.
TVs, radios and the internet too falls under the category of bringing us entertainment. We use it because of a few reasons, as cognition, as diversion, for social utility, as expression as well as to withdraw oneself. These may be some of the other reasons upon why it is highly unlikely for us to avoid being overly dependent on media. Without the existence of media, it becomes difficult to function daily.
Why is it not impossible to avoid being overly dependent you ask? I believe that with enough effort put in to change the amount of time used on medias, we are able to become less dependent. Little changes in life such as giving yourself a set time limit on your usage of medias, sleeping without distractions by turning off your phone when it is time for bed for instance, try to avoid using the phone during meal time etcetera.
In a nutshell, avoiding to be overly dependent on media is not impossible with the right attitude and self-control, however, as mentioned above, it is extremely difficult due to those reasons that media provides us. We may not be able to get completely independent without media but we can definitely make a change.