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Media and I

When I think of media, several related but distinct concepts spring to mind. Most obviously, the word refers to social media and news media, but in reality it encompasses any means of conveying a message to many people, and thus deeply affects the life of anyone living in a modern society. As I am part of such a society, I am greatly influenced by the barrage of media to which I am exposed.

While it is an integral part of my life, the type of media I consume is relatively atypical. For example, I barely use social media. My forays into that thicket have so far been confined to using Twitter for the singular purpose of following @RealTimeWWII and creating a Facebook account in order to join a group chat. This form of media has thus not yet significantly affected me, though this may well change in the future.

The news media, on the other hand, is quite important to my thinking, as it provides the majority of the information I use to formulate opinions about the world. As I would like to have well-informed opinions, I spend a substantial amount of time browsing the New York Times or reading articles referred to me by others. This is generally a good thing, providing me with a basic understanding of what is occurring in the world, though I could be better at taking into account the motives of this media's creators.

Finally, I consume a wide variety of entertainment media for my personal enjoyment. This ranges from movies to webcomics to video games to actual paper books (gasp!) and accounts for a large portion of my free time. It is, however, barred from a majority by the amount of time I spend on more interactive and creative forms of entertainment, like non-video games, writing, and discussing. Actually, that's something I'm not quite sure about. Is a role-playing game a form of media? What about if it's played on an online forum? If so, then what about other board games? Is Monopoly media? Chess? I guess I'll have to ask Mr. Starace (or maybe he'll read this and answer in a comment). Anyway, while media does have significant drawbacks, such as distracting me from schoolwork and more direct interaction with other humans, I am quite glad that I live in a time when I have access to it in such variety and quantity. I don't think I would be very happy as an illiterate peasant.

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