When I was thinking about Why I Heart My Media, I was thinking of this quote I had read.
When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…
Luke Davies
This quote was referring to addiction, a concept that we have all heard of. When I think of addiction I think of alcohol, drugs or gambling for instance. I have not seen myself as an addict before, but after reading this quote I started doubting my media use. Am I an addict when I have a hard time putting my phone away? Am I an addict when I am looking at photos on Instagram not noticing I have been scrolling for hours? I do not believe I am addicted to Instagram nor my phone. I do believe there is a reason why I have such a hard time putting my media away.
Since I was a kid I have been in touch with all kinds of media. Just like the incredible Mark Deuze said in one of his lectures: Media is ubiquitous, it is everywhere. It was there when I was playing Minecraft in my bedroom, It was there when I was watching ICarly with my sister, it was there when I made and posted my first ever embarrassing selfie on snapchat (I still cringe thinking about it…).
So thinking about my media use, it is quite a lot, and maybe way too much, but it is unavoidable! Because media is not just something that you can put off, it is a variety of objects, events and displays, it is in fact so big that you literally can not live without it!
That is why I started embracing media. Media has given me so much, it has given me a name, a purpose, a culture, a history of embarrassing photos and textmessages, 427 followers on Instagram, it recently has given me a family of fellow media students and some really good friends.
So maybe I am indeed obsessed and addicted to media, but in my life media is everywhere and in everything. Media gives me love, hate, sadness, happiness, and so much more. That is why I Heart my media.
Silke Claassen
Why I Heart My Media 