Reflection Analysis

Many questions have arisen in my mind since completing my 7 blog entries and analyses. They all predominantly revolve around the concept of passive consumption and how the feeling of addiction to online media can exist even when there is no active engagement. It’s a scary, bizarre thought and I’ve self-diagnosed myself as someone who fits the mould of this notion.

My intentions are to analyse why I consume more than anything else and why I do it so passively. In this, I’d like to understand more about passive audiences. Is being passive a repercussion of the social-media addicted society we live in? Is it a generational thing? Is there a difference between passively consuming and blinding engaging?

These notions are so intriguing to me; there’s a lifelessness that you associate with being so docile about your media engagement. It’s even more scary when I realise I am more often than not this kind of audience. Obviously I don’t think of myself as totally complacent and submissive to all online media, but I would like to explore why I’m drawn to being the consumer more than I am to publishing, authoring and distributing. Am I extremely lazy? Will this essay turn into a memoir of how I lost my greatest years fixated on watching every update of Kim Kardashian’s incredibly boring Snapchat story?

Usually I’d say I do enjoy distributing and occasionally authoring and publishing, however reflecting upon the week I blogged about it’s clear that lately that’s not what I do. Perhaps it’s a contextual thing; being a busy week, I didn’t have too much time to do much more than consume as it doesn’t take much effort. This is another aspect I’d like to learn more about; is consuming and in particular passive consumption popular (if that) because it doesn’t require much energy?

I personally believe this is amongst the reasons why I am a passive consumer. I also think that there’s an element of relaxation and fulfilment in not having to think and being entertained without doing much.