But First, Lemme Take a Moment to Reflect.

Introduction

When coming to a topic for my digital story, I toyed with various different ideas. Looking back over the course content, I noticed that a lot of importance was placed on more traditional medias like television and cinemas, however I wanted to look into some of the more modern media we have and the ways that these interacted with some of the theories we have spoken about during the subject. This lead me to my decision to look into photo and video sharing apps and websites, focusing on Instagram and Snapchat.

These Damn Teens and their Snapgram and Instachat

I’m sure you didn’t really consider the space you inhabit or create when you posted your last Instagram or Snapchat photo. All you’re focused on is getting the perfect flat lay of your newest outfit, or finding the right filter to make the green in your avocado smash really pop. But when we use social media and content sharing apps or websites, just like Instagram or Snapchat, what we are doing is creating and sharing a media space with potentially hundreds, if not thousands, and maybe if you’re popular enough, millions of people. And this sharing of space goes much further than your humble geotag.

These Damn Blogging Tasks

Compulsory weekly blogging has never been a task that I have particularly enjoyed. Unfortunately for me though, it has been a necessary part of many of my subjects in this degree and I have just had to do it. This subject is no exception. I understand that weekly blogging tasks allow us to learn valuable skills and give us the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject content, but personally, they’re not quite my cup of tea.

Malcolm in the Regulation

Growing up, my parents were always pretty relaxed about media consumption in our house. My brother and I were given free reign of the computer and Internet, and never had any parent blocks or anything placed on our usage. Mostly, our parents laid out some basic ground rules about what we could and couldn’t, or more shouldn’t, be consuming and then let us run free.

Cats and Birds and Trivia, Oh My!

Media multitasking is a large part of modern society. At the very least it’s a large part of my version of modern society. I can’t remember the last time I watched TV or a movie without regularly checking my phone, or playing a game throughout. I’d say the last time that happened would have been the last time I went to the movies, and as mentioned last week, that was a while ago now.

Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

It’s now more common than not to see someone on the street with a smartphone or some other type of modern technology. Whether they’re listening to music walking to work, or playing CandyCrush on the train, or catching up on a last minute assignment in a café, seeing people out and about with their eyes glued to a screen is now common practice.

Do We Really Need The Large Popcorn?

I don’t often go to the cinemas anymore. I can’t remember the last time I did, let alone what movie it was that I saw, but regardless, cinema attendance has always been something I’ve enjoyed. Even to the point that now that I don’t go very often, I wish I did.

Utterly Offline

The other week I spoke to my grandma about her memories related to TV. This week, I spoke to her again, this time about her use of, or more lack thereof, the Internet.

My grandmother is in her 80s and has never used the Internet. She’s never owned a computer, she only recently got her first mobile phone and almost exclusively uses the wall-mounted landline in her lounge room to make and receive calls.

In short, my grandma Doris is not the most technologically advanced person.

Television Memories and Media Space

“All over the place, at electrical stores, they’d have a television set in the window showing TV, and there’d be a crowd standing outside on the footpath about 6 deep all gazing in at these television sets”

This week, I spoke to my grandmother, Doris Perry, about her early experiences with television. During our conversation, she painted a picture of the earliest years of Australian television, and of the house favourite TV shows with her young children.