Students in media black-out experiment – unplugged: Living without the media!
The University of Maryland’s International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA), teamed with the Salzburg Global Seminar’s Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change is launching a global follow up to its first wildly successful “Without Media” study.
Analysis results were not yet published, but what we can find very intriguing is what students said about themselves:
“Usually, as I climb out of bed I would switch on the radio and listen to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 whilst I was getting dressed. Then I would walk to the nearby shop and buy The Times and the Bournemouth Echo to read over breakfast. Today, however, was unlike any other day. Today I was attempting to go 24 hours without media. Today my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air. Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty my life felt without the radio or newspapers.”
“I didn’t expect it, but being deprived of the media for 24 hours resulted in my day-to-day activities becoming so much harder to carry out than usual. I kept reaching for my smartphone to send e-mails, read texts and log on to the internet – only to remember I wasn’t allowed to use it! I felt isolated from society without knowing what the papers said or being able to contact friends at the touch of a button. I believe that the older generations of people in society would definitely find the challenge just as hard as my age group – we have all adapted to depending on the media to carry out tasks quickly and find out information on demand. I didn’t break out in a cold sweat like our lecturer expected us all to, but it’s not something I would like to do again!”
“After the experiment I realised how much media we are subliminally receiving and it’s not until you consciously try and shut it out then you notice the effects it must have on a person. During the task I found sitting in social areas the hardest to avoid the media, adverts everywhere, music being played the airwaves and everyone with their gadgets made the task near impossible to complete. I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been mobile, not only is it a social gadget, it’s my main access point of communication.”
“At first I thought it would just be not e-mailing or texting, I didn’t appreciate how much media there is all around me in day-to-day life,”
“I’m outside a classroom just now, there are TVs, posters, music – I was really shocked that it was absolutely everywhere.”
“Every single person [so far] has said there was an eerie or deafening silence – that it was scary and isolating. They are just not used to existing without background music.”
“If I were to do it again I’d probably plan a lot more in advance. I had a lot of situations where I’d reach into my bag to get my phone and check the time – I had to put a watch on half way through the day.”
“I think my mum would find it just as hard as I did – it’s not just my generation that’s grown up with it. My mum has a Facebook account, she has an iPod – society as a whole has changed.”
“I am online almost every waking minute in some form or another. I would find it impossible to do my job if I was ‘Unplugged’.”
Read more about this project on Bournemouth University website http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/unplugged/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/dorset/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9115000/9115504.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/10/unplugged_living_without_the_m.html
Hi, this is a great post! Thanks..
Hi, this is a great post! Thanks..