Looking back over the years I have realized that one of the most profound memories I have is of when I received my first cell phone. I was eleven or twelve and in sixth grade. I remember always being out of the house playing with friends, basketball practice, and being at church. I was always needing to be picked up from somewhere and complaining to my parents that I needed a phone, some friends of mine had one so of course I used that excuse to try and convince my parents to get me one. What it made it worse was that my siblings had one and they were always using it and teasing me because I didn't have one. One day my parents called me and my cousin into their room and after a long drawn out speech that I don't really remember, they handed us these small boxes and the only thing I remember seeing is NOKIA. I gave the typical "omg, no way! Thank you! I love you!" response and was soon on my way to my room to play with my new phone. It was a small white nokia phone that flipped open to a keyboard, kind of like a book. The feature that stood out the most to me was the small raised ball looking button that was the ok button, it could move in all directions and this was very memorable to me because I used this a lot to play two games, (which is really what I spent most of my time doing with the phone) one was this bouncing ball game where you had to keep a red ball bouncing through multiple platforms and obstacles, the other was snake. Now that was my game, I played that game more than anything else and like any kid that had just received a phone for the first time, I had become obsessed.
What it is really interesting to me is that I had no idea how crucial this moment of my childhood was for me until I started thinking about this assignment, I was truly submerged in everything that phone had to offer and from then on I have always been interested in not only the features of technology and new media but just how many different ways we can use them and why. Of course I loved having a phone to call and text on but I was equally interested in what else it could do and I have learned that this truly was the beginning spark that has now become my field of study. I didn't realize that my interest and fascination with media usage stemmed from this early memory.
I think the UGT would apply differently to me when I first received a cell phone to now because out of the four categories regarding why we consume media I think the one that sticks out the most is diversion, besides of the obvious use of phones in general for me it was a way for me to unwind and disconnect from reality. Now granted at that age I had no idea that was what I was doing, i just wanted to play on my phone whenever I could which led to my parents limiting how much time could spend using it and at first for a while I wasn't even allowed to take it to school which is interesting because nowadays some schools require you to bring some sort of learning smart device as a part of a new directive movement to allow students more "accessibility" to external educational resources.
Today I would say that my usage of media encompasses all four aspects of the UGT in some way or fashion. I still get on my phone or tablet at the end of the day to kind of unwind and what not but I don't see it as a crutch for an escape because honestly I don't really have time to enjoy a good book, I don't remember the last time I read a newspaper and I go see a movie maybe once a month. The two biggest categories for me are surveillance and personal identity. Through staying up to date with what is really going on I have really been able to form my own values and opinions on things and I don't mean just news online I mean tv and movies too. You would be surprised just what a lot our favorite movies and tv shows are telling us subliminally besides having a good story line. I take these things in and it really helps me in wanting to study just what we are getting from popular media sources and why we keep going back to it, just like why for me getting a cell phone got me hooked on using all this newer technology to help shape my own UGT profile if you will.
Being able to dissect this memory for what it is worth has revealed the connection between my study and understanding of UGT and how I have gotten to this point in my educational career and eventually to my professional career. The UGT is all about media consumption, not just cell phones but all media and why we consume it the way that we do. I have used my understanding of this theory and really applied it to this memory and have learned that my interest in wanting to be in Media Studies and wanting to reinvent the ways we use media all started before I was even a teenager and all it took was a cell phone.
This memory makes me realize where I stand out individually in my family. Both my parents were marketing majors, my brother went to seminary school, one of my sisters is a teacher and the other wants to be a vet. I am the only person in my family who has taken such an interest in the Communication field let alone media studies. I also use my phone for more than just games and Facebook which is the only thing my family seems to use their phones for. I am on my phone a lot but I use it to research a lot of things for the most part. Besides my personality and other obvious traits, I think this makes me stand out the most among my family and I realize that there is a sense of irony as well in that the object I chose for this discourse is also what sets me apart from my family but also connects all my work together on these exercises. It is kind of like the first building block.
This memory makes me realize where I stand out individually in my family. Both my parents were marketing majors, my brother went to seminary school, one of my sisters is a teacher and the other wants to be a vet. I am the only person in my family who has taken such an interest in the Communication field let alone media studies. I also use my phone for more than just games and Facebook which is the only thing my family seems to use their phones for. I am on my phone a lot but I use it to research a lot of things for the most part. Besides my personality and other obvious traits, I think this makes me stand out the most among my family and I realize that there is a sense of irony as well in that the object I chose for this discourse is also what sets me apart from my family but also connects all my work together on these exercises. It is kind of like the first building block.
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