Welcome back to another Media Diary! Today I’m focusing on Friday, Jan 30, to watch my media usage as well as look more closely at the information and data I’m giving up. Fridays are generally pretty open with no classes, but I still try to start my day early to keep with my routines. I am happy that since the last media diary, I have been able to reduce my screen time at least a small amount.

8:00 am – Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

After waking up a bit and making my bed, I sat down and read Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid. I’m about halfway through now, and I’m really enjoying the book. This took up about two hours of my morning, and I’m really enjoying the switch of reading right after waking up vs waking up and immediately checking Twitter or Instagram. It’s also nice knowing that I’m not giving up any data or information when I engage with this media, because the books were given to me as gifts. They’re physical copies, so no information was given up to get them.

10:30 am – Music

After reading for a bit, I went to the gym and listened to my playlist while working out. At first, without thinking, it feels like no information is being given up, but we still have data being shared, even with music streaming services (I use Apple Music). They have my email, they know my interests, and can suggest certain artists or songs based on my streaming history. This information can then be used to target certain concerts or merch to me.

11:30 am – Instagram

This was my first check on Instagram for the day. I do have a screen time lock on my most-used social media apps, which does help reduce my screen time. This allowed me 20 minutes to catch up and scroll. I try to be aware of the security settings that update on Instagram, recently turning off my location for the new feature they added that allowed others to see where I am and vice versa. This felt like a larger jump when it comes to sharing information, so I made sure that was turned off right as the update came out. What I like definitely sways what’s targeted to me; liking certain actors’ posts has given me ads for merch made for the show or movie they’re in. Following specific sports teams has given me more targeted ads for games or merchandise for the teams. It’s become even more apparent to me in the recent months just how much targeted ads are fed to me and that the algorithm is getting better at understanding what I like and don’t like based off the accounts and posts I engage with.

12:00 pm – Internship Prep

As a lot of the internships for the industry I would like to go into are just starting to open in January/ February, so right now is my time to do research on companies and apply. I use Chrome as my main browser and also have my Google account linked to a ton of different accounts, from YouTube to streaming services and a lot of others. This means that all of this data is being tracked in some way, shape, or form by Google. For this specifically, I was using the Google browser and Google Docs, which I know means that Google could then suggest certain jobs or internships when I search based on where I live, my other interests, and the previous searches I have made, amongst a lot of other information/data that Google has from my accounts.

4:00 pm – Criminal Minds

I spent a large chunk of my day with my friends, going out to grab lunch around 1pm, so for a few hours, I wasn’t using any media except replying to the occasional text. When I got back, my roommate and I watched Criminal Minds, a TV show that we stream through Hulu. The account we use is my roommate’s, which means that my data isn’t being taken for this account. However, this does mean that Hulu is getting data from the shows we watch and is then suggesting content based on that.

4:30 pm – Twitter

While watching Criminal Minds, I did pull up my laptop to scroll through Twitter for a few minutes. This class has made me a lot more aware of my data privacy and also just how much time I spend online, so I deleted Twitter from my phone. Now I only look at it from my laptop, which has reduced my phone screen time a lot. I liked some posts about a hockey game I had watched the previous night (my team lost, everyone boo), which could cause the algorithm to push me more hockey-related content moving forward.

5:00 pm – Blackhawks game

The Blackhawks were playing the Columbus Blue Jackets, so my roommate and I decided to watch. This was another streaming service that was hers, so my data wasn’t necessarily a concern. This one seemed like there was a bit less of an algorithm, although, since we mainly watch hockey games through it, it tends to recommend hockey over any other sports going on at the same time. For her, this could lead to other sites using this information to target her with specific ads, as well as know her location, as you have to put where you’re located to stream live.

9:00 pm – Tik Tok

My first TikTok usage of the day came when I was winding down for the day. I do want to review my usage of the app following a new update to their data/security policy. I’ve seen some people express concerns with it and it’s something I want to make sure I look into before continuing to use the app. TikTok and its algorithm is very good, and I can tell based off the posts I interact with that those heavily sway the posts I see as well as the ads I’m given.

Overall, this was a day that was pretty different from how a typical Friday would have looked at the beginning of the month. I’ve really enjoyed cutting back my internet usage, and as a whole it’s made me feel a bit better about the data that I give companies. While I know there is still a ton of information that I give to data brokers from my internet/media usage, being more aware of the data I’m giving up has given me a better sense of security. I could definitely tell a pattern in the ads and content suggested across platforms but it was also interesting to see how that changed depending on what accounts or emails I had linked to certain pages.