Findings

Fifty years ago televisions could only broadcast in black and white, on a 15cm screen with limited channels. The radio didn’t even exist and computers of the future were thought to be as big as a desk. Nowadays, the media is very comprehensive and tries to cater channels for every person, with whatever interests, wherever they are. Radios are built into your shower and laptops are as thin as a sheet of paper. The latest touch screen cellphones have broadband, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and even GPS facility built in them. It’s only natural that some people’s knowledge of technology is falling behind.

My research subject, Maureen Young, spent her adolescence in the 50’s. This means that she isn’t as fluent or confident when it comes to “modern” technology as I am. The internet is relatively new itself, but because teenagers grew up with it, it’s our instinct to effortlessly click a few buttons and get to where we want. As the saying goes, you can’t teach an old dog, new tricks.

Both Maureen and I had watching television as the majority of our media intake. Maureen basically only watched the news on TV1 for the whole week. This was done everyday in the morning around 7am to 9am. For her this could be because she wants to see if anything new happened overnight or just to catch up. Her computer and internet skills are still in their early stages; she only just recently got a laptop (used mostly by her husband for no more than 10 minutes a day). I thought this was a very typical log for a person of her age and situation. However, our weekly media consumption was disrupted by the February 22^nd earthquake; she only started her log on the 28^th of February and I had started my log on the 17^th of February so I got some average description of my media consumption before the earthquake.

More people watched TV and listened to the radio after the earthquake for information on where to go, what to do or how to help. Maureen watched for any updates in the CBD or on rescue missions. I never used to watch the news. A change in this key pattern happened on February 22^nd. The first few days TV1 and TV3 were my main media intake. In my opinion this is what most of us would typically do when experiencing a natural disaster of that size; people are interested in how their city and loved ones are.

Under normal circumstances, I watch shows like ‘Glee’ and ‘Drop Dead Diva', usually at night. This is for entertainment purposes only. Maureen feels the same way; her favourite programs are Border Security, 60 Minute Makeover, and Criminal Minds; although she sometimes watches the news. I think watching TV is so popular because everyone owns at least one television set so they are easy to get a hold of, are simple to use, they provide programs that appeal to every audience and are an effective way of finding out what you want (weather forecast, Lotto results etc.). All you have to do is turn it on.

My concentration levels are lower than Maureen’s when doing anything media related. I think my generation is used to doing more than one task at once. By doing this, none of the things being done are completed using my full potential. I always multitask; I do a combination of homework, internet and listening to the radio or iPod. Sometimes even watch TV while listening to the radio. I concentrate on all of them but none of them is done using 100% of my concentration.

Maureen always remembers what she watches and what happens. She only does one or two things at once while watching TV; mostly knitting or eating dinner. I think this is common amongst elderly people, as they may not have a range of activities to do at the same time.

Over the week I used a much wider range of media sources than Maureen. She only used the TV and CD player, while I had more diverse list of media sources. She isn’t familiar with using the internet; she doesn’t have a personal e-mail address, or a social networking account like the one on Facebook. Maureen prefers listening to her own CD’s rather than the radio and is more comfortable watching TV, especially TV1, a trustworthy channel and her personal favourite.

Although I spent more time online than Maureen, it was nothing compared to people my age who go on Facebook every hour. It’s not like I didn’t want to go on the internet, but, at that time, we still had dial-up so I didn’t have the necessary patience. Plus, when my household was on the internet, the phone landline didn’t work, so I wasn’t allowed online for too long.

After the earthquake, some aspects of my media consumption changed considerably while others stayed exactly the same.

Media	Before Earthquake	After earthquake
TV	54%	32%
Magazine	8%	11%
Facebook	5%	4%
Internet	2%	17%
Radio	21%	27%
iPod	9%	9%
CD	1%	-

I think that I didn’t watch as much TV because after a few days, the only thing they showed was the news on a loop, and infomercials. Every other program was sacrificed for the “live” shots in the Christchurch CBD. In fact I wasn’t actually home as much because I helped out at a Welfare Center. When I was home I read, listened to the radio and went on the internet more because of boredom, as we had no school for almost 3 weeks, and everything around the city was closed.  

In conclusion, while Maureen and I have similarities like we are both females and live in the same neighbourhood, we have major contrast in our media intake. This is because of our ages and difference in interests. I think we represent typical people of our age, and have shown how we would go about using the media, although the earthquake disturbed our routine.