Welcome to my 24-hour media diary, where I tracked an entire Thursday of media consumption. This day is usually when I dive deep into content planning for my social media clients. I figured this would be the perfect day to really take stock of how much media I’m consuming, especially since I’m glued to my phone a bit more than usual. Let’s jump in!
5 am: Thanks to 12 years of opening shifts as a barista, my body thinks 5 AM is a reasonable time to wake up. (It’s not, but here we are.) I usually start my day by scrolling through social media, but today I decided to skip the doom scrolling and instead made coffee while listening to a podcast episode from Upstream called “Better Lives for All with Jason Hickel.”
6:30 am: My mom sent me a TikTok of Harry Styles, and let’s be honest, I opened it immediately. Who can resist Harry Styles? Certainly not me.
6:35 am: And just like that, I’m down the TikTok rabbit hole, watching videos of Harry Styles at a Niall Horan concert. No regrets, but this is the kind of content that can quickly spiral into fan-made theories if you’re not careful. It’s all in good fun, but I have to remind myself to take certain things with a grain of salt.
8 am: Time for work! I had a meeting with one of my social media clients, but before diving in, I checked my email and headed over to Instagram. I saw a few articles from Al Jazeera and BreakThrough News in my feed. Both are generally trustworthy, but it’s a good reminder to dig deeper if something catches your eye.
12 pm: Lunchtime is usually when I spend the bulk of my day scrolling for entertainment. This day I went to YouTube to watch Andrew Lowe’s video, “I Ate Like Nara Smith’s Husband for a Day.” This one’s entertaining, but I’ve become wary of lifestyle and wellness content from certain influencers. Nara Smith has been known to promote some questionable health advice that isn’t always backed by science.
1 pm: After lunch, I got back to work, which meant more scrolling, but this time through Instagram Reels to spot trends, and checking out the Later Blog for updates. I trust Later for social media insights, but it’s still important to remember that industry blogs can have their own biases, especially when they’re pushing new features or trends for their brand.
5:30 pm: With my work wrapped up, I took a break and found myself scrolling through Instagram again. I came across Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s story where she talked about misinformation regarding her stance on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. She claimed she had already labeled it a genocide in a House floor speech, but I hadn’t heard this before. A quick Google search led me to a New York Times article that showed she had addressed the issue, but her language was more cautious than what she implied on Instagram. This was a good reminder that public figures can spin things a bit on social media.
7 pm: Before going to bed, I was back on TikTok (shocker, I know) and stumbled across a video about MSG (monosodium glutamate) and how it’s been unfairly demonized for years. I’ve seen this topic pop up a lot lately, so I decided to dig a bit deeper. I found an article from the Science History Institute that broke down the history of the MSG scare and how it’s been rooted in flawed science and xenophobia. This was a reality check on how misinformation can span decades.
Looking back on this day, what surprised me most was how easily misinformation can slip in, even in the most casual or seemingly harmless content. As someone who works in social media, I’m used to constantly consuming content, but this exercise reminded me how important it is to stay sharp and not take things at face value. Even though I spend a lot of time online, I found myself digging deeper into certain claims, especially those that popped up in quick 15 second videos. It’s a reminder that, in today’s media landscape, being a passive consumer isn’t an option. We need to be critical, do our research, and question what we see, even from sources we generally trust.
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