Julianne Pamela C.

Pascual 21L-9639
COMM04 Communication, Culture and Society Prof. Princess Pabellano

NOVEMBER 05, 2022

REFLECTION PAPER NO. 1

Media itself has made the biggest impact on my life. I made use of social media
at an early age, and I particularly use it to communicate. I personally believe that we
can’t live without communication. Because lack of communication may lead to
misunderstandings, missed opportunities, unnecessary conflicts, mistrust, and low
morale. Communication is a way to live and in our generation today, media is a
necessity to communicate. So to speak, media and communication are essential as our
basic needs.

Pandemic is a thing today and it limits our ability to have a face to face
interaction which led us to use media more, mobile media in particular. As a student
with so much going on and school work backlogs, and as a teen who grew up with
these technologies; one day without the media is tough. That alone says a lot about my
media consumption. I make use of it all day; to entertain myself, to study, to be in touch
with the online world, and to share and receive information. It is hard to disconnect from
these things and logout from everything. Therefore, I consider myself to belong in the
modern era of mass media. Wherein, I read articles on different websites instead of
newspapers, and listen to music on different music platforms instead of radio. As an
introvert, I prefer to be behind the screen more where I can express myself freely. I’m
also not comfortable having human interaction where I get conscious a lot and it
controls my capacity to think and move.

However, after observing myself for 24 hours doing a media break. I quite
appreciate the traditional ways of communication. I was also able to finish my house
chores which I used to do intermittently when I had my phone all day. It allowed me to
spend more time with my family which the media restricts me to do before, for the
reason that I consume my vacant hours in social media. We are able to eat breakfast
together and walk around the street which surprised my neighbors because I rarely go
outside our house. My parents were also shocked that I rode my indoor bike to exercise.
These are the things which I don't notice a lot because of media consumption hours.
Realization hit me that I’m fortunate that I have technologies that can help me to
communicate and share my thoughts online yet unlucky to miss out a lot with the
traditional way.

In conclusion with this activity, I still can’t sleep and wake up without the media
but I have learned now that limitations are important. Social media detox is good to do
sometimes especially when you're with family and a group of friends. In all, I enjoy
spending time with my family and doing school work without media and technology.

Houlis, A. M. (2022). 7 problems good communicators are able to avoid.

Fairygodboss. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from
https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/lack-of-communication