Digital Media: A day in the life

 

Digital media has become a significant part of my life, between work, school, and relaxation. I spend a large portion of my day online using many different programs, websites, and social media platforms.

For my position as an administrative assistant, I use Outlook 365 for email, Google calendars for scheduling, and my company has its own website, which contains almost everything else I need for tracking and resources. For my role as a recruiter, I use Indeed and Monster. These sites help me locate candidates who are looking for a job. I also use LinkedIn to make professional contacts, keep in touch with others in my field, and reach more candidates. For school, I use the school website, the Shapiro Library, and my outlook email. I use Google and other resources to do research for papers and projects. For fun, I use mainly Facebook to stay in contact with friends and family, and I enjoy watching true crime stories on YouTube, such as Kendall Rae and Lordan Arts. I also spend many hours reading on Amazon Kindle to relax.

Most of my experiences are positive when using digital media. It can be useful, help you relax, and bring you information at the touch of a button. However, when websites such as Indeed do updates that are supposed to make them easier to use but instead complicate them more, it creates a negative reaction. I also feel negative about the many ads that pop up on Facebook and YouTube. I find that the easier it is to use, the more it satisfies my needs, such as Kindle for reading. I tend not to play many games online because they are too fast-paced and hard to use.

I receive a great number of emails a day from different companies for both work and my personal life. I tend to ignore any emails that start with Sir/Madam, and I am more inclined to open one with my name as the greeting. I also look for professional, colorful emails. I often won't click on emails if their email address looks off, such as if it is really long or if it is coming from a specific company such as PayPal, but the email address is a Gmail address.

The most significant change I have noticed with digital media today is that it is everywhere. I was talking to my grandson yesterday about a research project he was doing. I mentioned that when I was in school, we went to the library and looked up information in encyclopedias and other reference books, and he had no idea what they were. He commented, "But Grandma, it's all online." They all play games online instead of on boards. There was a time we wrote letters to family that lived far away and waited for a response. Now we text or email and get an almost immediate response. While digital media makes life easier and faster, it also takes away some of the connections that we used to have.