Hello there! Here’s another media consumption blog post coming your way. For this blog, I was asked to look at the Screen Time app on my phone to track how much time I spend on my device each day. Prior to this, I’d glanced at the Screen Time widget on my phone here and there but was never really surprised by the results. But boy was I in for a shock today. According to the app, I’ve been spending around 6 hours a day on my phone lately; this is 80% more than previous weeks.
This was very shocking to me, but not completely unexpected. Why? The answer is pretty simple: COVID-19. Since most of us began social distancing a little over two weeks ago, we’ve had a lot of free time on our hands. And most of this is filled with mindless scrolling through social media or obsessively checking news outlets every hour for updates on the coronavirus. According to the Screen Time app, I’ve spent an average of 3 hours a day on social media apps this week, with Instagram accounting for half of that time. The other half is a mix of apps that I don’t spend that much time on individually to make special note of (for example, I only spend about 6 minutes a day on Snapchat).
As annoying as the amount of time I’m spending on my phone is, it has helped me de-stress quite a bit. With all the uncertainty floating around, it’s nice to take a break and see how people are finding fun ways to cope with social distancing and home isolation. For example, I’ve seen some pretty choice memes and TikToks on Instagram this week. My absolute favorite from this past weekend was a meme comparing the world’s reaction to coronavirus to “The Office” fire drill episode. I was just about rolling on the floor while watching this.
This specific meme stood out to me because it closely resembles the kind of political satire you’d see on late night shows. In the meme, America is personified as Michael Scott (exhibiting a very delayed reaction to the emergency) and the World Health Organization is Dwight (which gave conflicting information and guidance during the pandemic’s earliest stages). Overall, I liked it because it provided much needed comedic relief from the global health crisis we’re facing.
In terms of news consumption, it’s unfortunately been a bit light this week. In a normal week, I get my news by going directly to the outlets’ websites, briefly scrolling through Twitter and sometimes through Instagram. But in the last two weeks, I’ve been getting most of my news from watching TV; specifically CNN because it’s constantly on in my house.
But one piece of news that stood out to me this week was a CNN broadcast story from this morning about the state of hospitals in New York City. What stood out most was that hospitals in the city are starting to use refrigerated trucks as overflow morgues for COVID-19 victims. The footage that they shot from outside the trucks was terrifying and really drove home how devastating the virus truly is.
Overall, I’d say I’m a bit disappointed with my news consumption at the moment. But I have to admit that it is difficult to be a voracious consumer of news right now without spiraling. And even though as a journalism student I should be better about this, I want to prioritize my mental health during this time and not spend significant time each day devoted to a depressive, deep-news dive. But I do enjoy the time that I’ve been spending on social media. During the quarantine, it’s been heartwarming to see people’s messages of solidarity and to see slogans like “Alone Together” really take off. So while my news engagement may be down, I feel more connected with the communities I’m a part of on social media.
Catherine Considers 