My Social Media Diet

    After a week of annotating my social media diet, I believe I can now accurately express my habits and preferences.  I'd say that I spend at least three to four hours visiting the internet daily through the use of my Macbook Pro.  I use the default apple web browser safari due to it's undeniably convenient "top sites" feature.  Through this feature, My top twelve sites are constantly available and updated throughout the day and are only one click of the mousepad away; However, this feature is both a gift and a curse.  Obviously, there is no denying the convenience of having my most coveted websites all in one virtual space but this also poses the problem of distractions.  My top sites, which consist of four music-oriented sites, ESPN's website, two all purpose sites (music, sports, men's style and fashion), three social networks (twitter, tumblr, facebook), and the gaming/pop culture website IGN, are where I spend all of my time online.  It's almost a sort of nervous impulse for me to click on the 'top sites' icon and check on these sites; it's second nature.  By frequently checking these sites, I can lose track of how long I have spent on the net and can forget about urging matters I must attend to in the real world.  I am capable of showing self-restraint for the most part, but that doesn't mean I can become easily side-tracked from time to time.
    As far as television concerned, I mostly just have the TV on to have it on.  I occasionally look up from my computer screen to check scores and highlights but the TV is undeniably secondary to the Internet.  My default channel is ESPN and I rarely change channels.  I watch all of the actual TV shows online because I usually forget when they come on and almost always miss their original showing.  These shows are usually HBO comedies, FX's phenomenal comedy Louie, or ABC comedies Modern Family and Happy Endings.  Not really big on dramas.
    I'm not proud to say it, but the only physical reading I do is completely school-orientated.  These reading usually take up 2 hours of my day but if I'm not reading an article or novel for class,  I'm most likey not reading recreationally; unless J.K. Rowling decides to pick up a pen again anytime soon.  All of my reading is done digitally.  I read sports articles, gaming articles, music articles,  and any other extended reading my top sites provide.  I know this is not ideal but I feel as if many kids in my internet-savvy generation are heading down the same path.
    I believe my social media diet pretty much says that I'm a frequent internet user and can occasionally become dependent on it.  My time on the internet is mostly spent on music based sites and that is the area where I like to be updated most.  I honestly believe that my generation vastly prefer the internet over TV because it provides information exponentially faster and almost everything found on TV can be found more quickly on the internet.  News sites such as CNN and MSNBC frequently update their sites so as opposed to waiting for the CBS evening news to come on at seven, an intrigued consumer can simply go to  a news-based website and fulfill his itching inquiry on the day's events.  This is the main reason I believe our generation are so internet-crazed; we get our information faster.  I personally see nothing wrong with this ideology and see no reason to change my internet consumption.  I use the internet for informative purposes mostly though the information does interest me.   I could cut down on how long I spend my time on the internet but I do not think it's jeopardizing any part of my life.  It's how today's society gets its information and there is see no shame in that.  No shame at all.