Introduction
Modern youth spend their leisure time monotonously, unable to travel or devote time to an expensive hobby. Even the most common form of leisure, such as communication, has changed under the influence of modern technology, becoming the most petite deep. Social media, electronics, new security, and surveillance issues impact young people’s leisure choices. People draw energy from actions available to them in two clicks and open up new worlds simultaneously in front of them. Thus, news and general information consumption is rapidly changing, becoming faster and easier. This essay analyzes the role of media consumption in youth recreation, focusing on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and the Internet in general.
Personal Experience
I rarely turn off the Internet on my phone, making me a passive user of messengers and social networks. My usual week is spent reading the news or browsing the social networks of famous people: politicians, bloggers, or actors. I consume an increased amount of media and many hours of social media. I might give up in the future if it did not become a tough habit. However, without great analytics in my daily life, I don’t see anything special in my media consumption. It seems to me that I, along with messengers, use social networks to communicate and view interesting news.
Due to being busy with my studies, I cannot usually watch many TV shows, and I rarely watch YouTube videos with headphones. Therefore, I browse social networks five days a week and read posts on topics that interest me. I share links with friends, and we discuss these issues. These usually include cases of police brutality, international politics, and sports. I am an active Twitter user, allowing me to be a dynamic US citizen. I openly express my opinion on several issues and agree with other speakers. I usually watch big videos on YouTube (over one hour) and movies on weekends. I noticed, paying more attention to my consumption, that one channel of information intake is often not enough for me, which surprised me. Usually, when watching a movie, I like to write messages or browse the walls of the communities I am a part of (Harwell, 2019). Occasionally I play simple games on my phone, but I think it is more to clear my brain and relax.
Observing my behavior and media consumption, I was surprised by how thoughtless my actions in media spaces were. It was this that struck me, and not how much time I spend on the Internet. Reckless actions are manifested in the rapid writing of posts and the desire to take pictures or write to friends of little significant information. Other people also act thoughtlessly, considering the media space to be safe. This kind of security is possibly the key to the fact that people enjoy spending much of their free time on social networks and the Internet in general (Harwell, 2019). They usually do not feel distrustful of the platforms they use every day.
Stereotypes in Media
Usually, the media talk about age in terms of the well-known populist theory about boomers, millennials, and zoomers. I consider this theory accurate and usually do not feel wrong about a post referring to this terminology. Millennials are presented as champions of a healthy lifestyle and people who watch their diet. Boomers, and their parents, are sometimes called callous and insensitive people. Zoomers are often portrayed as stupid and dependent on a comfortable life. I find this fair, as I often find confirmation of these stereotypes in my personal life. My parents think I am a social media-obsessed child who could never survive in harsh conditions.
In my opinion, TikTok has forever changed the media perception of people with disabilities and people with chronic diseases. Tiktok gave people the freedom to talk in detail about the fight against the disease, demonstrating the daily routine in short videos. Videos like this challenge stereotypes about lonely people with disabilities who never get enough attention. At the same time, the question arises that they lack awareness in reality, so they are desperately looking for it on Tiktok.
Religious stereotypes have no place on social media because it is on the Internet that people can see many horrific details about religious cruelty. Murders and traditional rites do not always frighten and sometimes even attract onlookers from secular countries. The trend of recent years has become Muslim women who talk about Islam in the context of feminism and fashion. In the mentioned Tiktok, such women teach how to tie hijabs properly and talk about the wardrobe rules for Muslim women. In social networks, religion is separated from itself and becomes part of society and modern culture.
Leisure and Media Consumption
Social networks can cover a person’s needs in leisure if he uses one or two types. Learning foreign languages, socializing, traveling, movies, and reading can easily be satisfied on platforms such as YouTube, Tiktok, Twitter, and Facebook (Suttie, 2019). Sometimes social networks serve as inspiration for a change of leisure. For example, social media encourages travel and hobbies such as painting and photography (Russel, 2017). Often, Internet media becomes a cheap analog to an expensive hobby, for which 15-20 years ago, people spent a lot of money and effort. The fruits of their hobbies can be put on display in the media in an attempt to gain approval. It is another connection between leisure and media, which allows people with similar interests, having only a phone in their hands, to find allies.
People are so often consumed with communication in social networks through the phone or the game that they often show indifference to living communication. They usually show their interlocutors or random persons, lowering their faces, that they are not interested in the topic under discussion. Even if people consciously choose to build their leisure in this way, they deprive other people of the opportunity to join them (Suttie, 2019). It is noteworthy that such leisure is usually designed for one person. Multiplayer games try to break this stereotype by claiming that they enable companies to spend time together and achieve results.
Conclusion
Media consumption is increasing yearly, and platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Tiktok, and Twitter are prime examples of this. People consume less consciously and sacrifice the depth of communicative connections, paying attention first to breadth. My media consumption needs to be more conscious and regulated, and I need a physical break from social media. Such people can be recommended walks and communication with relatives, especially with the older generation. Therapeutic benefits can be provided by pets, dogs, or cats, with whom you can spend a lot of time and not be distracted by media.
References
Harwell, D. (2019). Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands. Washington Post. Web.
Russel, R. V. (2017). Pastimes The Context of Contemporary Leisure (6th ed.). Venture Publishing, Inc.
Suttie, J. (2019). How phones compromise our ability to connect. Greater Good. Web.