My Media-Your Media

This past week, I was asked to take on the media consumption habits of a classmate. That's right, all of them. My partner, Else Puig, has very different media habits than I do, and after 48 hours of this, I think I may have gone into withdrawal.

One of the major differences between the two of us is the fact that she watches television to bond with her family. For a period of two to three hours a day, she sits with her parents and sister to watch Hispanic television, and discusses what they saw that night after the show. This is different for me because I do not watch Hispanic television and since I am no longer living with m family, I don't really have the opportunity to watch television with them. Watching shows like A Mano Limpia and MANAHIBIRA (SP), as well as Spanish News, was a completely different experience for me. I will be the first to say that I have a strong dislike for Hispanic television. I feel that is poorly produced, cheesy in the worst way, and show news that is worthless in the grand scheme of things. I may be biased, but watching some of these news shows makes FOX news look good(well, not really, but you get the picture) and that's saying something. I am not saying this to be mean, but compared to its American counterpart, Hispanic news has a long way to go. But viewing this show with the mindset of my partner, I was able to appreciate it a bit more. Else watches these shows to connect with her Cuban parents, and after sitting down and watching this with an open mind, I was surprised that I was able to actually receive some interesting information,

Another difference that Else and I share is the fact that the only show she watches in English is The Secret Life of the American Teenager. This was the hardest part for me, not only did I have to watch this shoe, but I couldn't watch the regular shows I watch Like House M.D. and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. It was horrible! The Secret Life is very corny, but if I was slightly more romantically inclined, I could see why it has viewers I suppose. But what really hurt me was the fact that Craig Ferguson had Stephan Fry has his guest for the entire show! It was very painful for me to not grab the remote and start watching. Stephan Fry is an amazing man, and I follow him on Twitter and on his blog, so not being able to do any of this stuff, seeing as she doesn't do this, was hard.

After experiencing Else's media habits, I found that I was surprised to find that although I didn't actually keep up with my normal media habits, I still stay informed. It broadened my perspective on the world around me, and I was able to understand that people stay informed in very different ways. This experience has thought me that the media I consume is shaped by the values I have, abd while Else's value don't necessarily match mine, out values expand our access to "actionable information."