Chart Your Media Usage
Spend a week charting your media usage. Be conscious of all mass media on a daily basis. For example,
do you wake up to a clock radio, or a cell phone alarm that plays a downloaded mp3?
The former counts as listening to a radio. The latter counts as listening to a recording. Do you
use the Internet at school or work? You may shop at a market that plays music over an intercom. That counts as listening to
the radio. Fill out the media use Inventory Chart. Write no more than a two-page, double-spaced TYPED paper explaining your findings based on the following questions.
Be specific.
Staple this Media Use Inventory to your paper
and turn in.
Questions you must answer to get full credit on this report:
1. Page 47 of Chapter Two in your text lists the percentage of growth in Digital Platforms in this decade.
How many of these items do you have or use? How much do you use them and why?
2. Evaluate your own findings on media consumption. Do you use mass media wisely? Why or why not? Do you
consume too much, too little or about the right amount of mass media? Why or why not?
3. Is there anything you'd like to change about your media usage? Why or why not?
4. Do Americans consume too much, too little or about the right amount of mass media?
Why or why not?
5. In your opinion, what medium does the most complete job of informing the consumer about the things he
or she needs to know to be a productive member of our society? Why is this medium better than the others?
Media Use Inventory
Answer the following questions and tally your score at the end.
1. I do___ do not___ read a daily newspaper. (Estimate number of hours______).
I do __ do not ___ read more than one daily
newspaper.
I do __ do not ___ read a newspaper at least once a week. List the newspaper(s)
you read:
Estimate in hours the time each week you spend reading newspapers: _ Multiply
by 52: __
2. I read an average of _ magazines a month.
List the magazine(s) you read:
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Estimate in hours the time each week you spend reading magazines: __ Multiply
by 52: __
4. I listen to radio an average of __ hours a day. List station(s) you listen to & their formats:
5. Estimate in hours the time each week you listen to the radio: __ Multiply by 52: __
6. The TV is turned on in my household an average of __ hour(s) a day.
I watch TV an average of __ hour(s) a day. List the station(s) you watch most
frequently:
______________________________________________________________________________
Estimate in hours the time each week you watch TV: __ Multiply by 52: __
7. I go to movies about __ times a year. I rent an average of __ videos a year.
I buy an average of _ videos a year. Estimate in hours the time each week you spend at movies & watching videos:
8. I buy __ recordings a year. This includes __ tapes, __ CDs, ___Downloads.
Estimate the time in hours each week you spend listening to recordings: __
Multiply by 52: __
9. I buy an average of __ books a year. This includes (how many?):
__ textbooks
__ popular hardbacks
__ popular paperbacks
Estimate the hours each week you spend reading books: __ Multiply by 52: __
10. Do you own a computer? __ If so, do you use an online service at home?
__ At work? __
At school? _; Estimate time in hours each week spent online ____ Multiply by 52: __
11. Add the total hours you spend with the media (numbers 1-8): __ hours.
Divide by 24 for the number of total days yearly spent with the media __.
12. List your average daily hours spent sleeping __
Multiply times 365 (days) for total yearly hours spent sleeping __
Divide by 24 for total days spent sleeping __
days.
Total days in a year: 365
Subtract sleep days - ( ) (from #12)
Subtract total media days - ( ) (from #11)
Days spent without media ______
