24 hours without media. Simple enough right? I thought so. Charlotte Gay reports on coping with the unplugged experiment and spending the day with Rory Cellan-Jones and Peter Page.
Yes like most other people my age, I am a regular visitor to Facebook, I have my phone constantly in my pocket, and without my Ipod I don’t know when I would get to regularly listen to my favourite bands – plus who likes a silent bus journey?
The idea behind this experiment was if the removal of media for a day would simulate similar symptoms of an addiction. Me? A media junkie – just desperate for my next fix? I don’t think so….
The night before the big ‘Unplug’ I sensibly switched off my phone at midnight, announced to Facebook that I wouldn’t be contactable till this time tomorrow, and reluctantly left my Ipod in my draw waiting for another day.
“GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY…” Chris Moyles voice echoes around my room at 7am – I literally leapt from one side of the room to the other in a manic bid to turn off the radio. From here on in I had a silent morning – not quite as eerie as it could have been, but couldn’t help but think to myself “This walk would go so much better twinned with a bit of Arctic’s”.
Then I broke the experiment again – thanks to my lecturer linking up to a Dvd, “Hmm – technically that time it wasn’t my fault” - that was my excuse anyway!
But I could forget all of this – I was too excited to meet the Journalist who would be shadowing us. Walking into the Media school – eyes averted from the many a news screen – I was expecting to see an entourage of techno-geeks accumulating. Instead I was greeted by two friendly faces enjoying a cup of Costa’s finest.
Rory and Peter’s smiles were quite contagious, beginning by asking after how we’d coped so far.. The three of us agreed that it was more of a change of routine –than too much of a shock…. So far at least.
From here we, of what I initially prepared to be an hour or two of filming became a day in the life of BBC correspondent. Rory explaining how he usually goes about his daily routine and his addiction twitter (at least we’re not the only ones).
I asked him if he has completed an experiment like this one before, which surprisingly he had. Although would he do it again?
“No, I don’t so – I am literally always checking twitter”
To be fair he is the technology correspondent for the BBC, so like us, I think he could empathise with our usual daily updates. Even whilst waiting in the Student Village, Rory couldn’t resist a quick recording for AudioBoo for yet another twitter update!
However just as vital Cameraman Peter, who without him – there would simply be no report. Kept almost constantly busy unpacking and repacking the luggage that is that camera equipment, he still found plenty of time to give advice on getting a great shoot.
“Shoot hard - edit easy”
Sounds obvious, but neither Rory nor Peter have large amount of input into how to final piece is put together, and of course it is not always possible to return to the scene of the shoot. No truer this words when the three of us repeated the same walk into the sunlight on Bournemouth beach at least six times!
As you can probably imagine, this is not to say the pair didn’t have an idea how the film was to be used. Informing us throughout the day the running order and narrative they planned to portray, and how many different outlets the footage could potentially be used for – it felt more like working as part of a team as the day went on. Cliché as it sounds; I can honestly say the pair were genuinely welcoming and warm people to work with
When the filming was called to a finish, it was ironic to say I had spent the day ‘avoiding media’ being filmed by the BBC. Somehow felt wrong but did still make me consciously make me think about today’s media intake. For instance, put aside our gadgets – how many of us can walk down a street without looking at the posters in windows, the films printed on buses and the fliers outside the uni gates?
I’d like to challenge some of these commentators on our recent blog’s – if it is so easy to go without media, don’t you find it a tad ironic that you are commenting furiously on an internet based form of media? Yes we can live without our mobile phones – and even the internet if we had too. But would we want to? They call it evolution for a reason – it becomes a part of our lives.
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