I thought my media consumption while I was still on campus was bad. It’s worse under quarantine.
While I was on campus, I was constantly busy, so I didn’t spend too much time on my phone. In fact, the week that USC announced the *first* extension of online classes, I only spent roughly 3 hours on my phone daily.
But as soon as I returned home, I started spending, on average, 5-6 hours on my phone daily – twice the time!
Still, my media consumption habits themselves haven’t really changed. I heavily use social media. My news consumption is still minimal, although the COVID-19 situation compels me to pay closer attention now.
One thing in the news I’ve paid more attention to is anti-Asian discrimination. Because the coronavirus originated in China, more Asians are being targeted with racist slurs and microagressions.
The discrimination resonated most when I read this article in Asian Journal about Filipinos. It was haunting to learn how Paola Mardo, producer of Long Distance Radio, while wearing a face mask, heard a woman say, “China brought the virus here!”
This reminded me that, as a Filipino woman, I was never protected from discrimination. The fear of coronavirus’s increasing death toll has uncovered this bleak reality.
Whenever I read the news now, I can feel the panic coming over me as I face the constant information overload. So, to avoid this oncoming dread, I bury myself in my social media, hoping to find some joy in this haystack of bad news.
And often, I do. Take this Instagram post from Humans of New York. The woman in the photo recounts how her mom miraculously found her long-lost, almost-forgotten duck toy online.
In this reality, the story brought me hope. Whatever is lost will eventually be found. That hopeful message reminded me that, eventually, I can find the happiness that this outbreak dampened.
It’s a disservice to myself to not constantly stay informed by the news – but I know that’s not what I want from the media.
What I want is community.
It wasn’t until classes began that I realized how physical a community is. The classroom, the band pavilion, my dorm, the Media Center… My daily interactions in these physical locations helped me establish a true community with other people. So when that disappeared, I started consuming more social media just to stay in touch.
Sometimes, this affects my mental health. The media reminds me how big my world is, but my reliance on it limits my world to the screen. It’s claustrophobic, to tell the truth.
But whenever I see a piece of good news or an uplifting post, it’s a breath of relief. Silver linings do exist somewhere; it’s a matter of where I look.
Eventually, this will become a story that I will tell my grandchildren when I’m old and gray. And for now, that makes me feel…okay.
Girl Meets The World of Media 