Observational Studies

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Recommended: Similarities between old and new media

An observational study was conducted with five subjects including myself, in order to understand the relation between the usage of old media and new media simultaneously. Old media is known as any source that entails the usage of television, books, newspaper, and radio among several other examples. New media on the other hand, is related to the use of cellphones, computers with access to social networks, and it is an evolving word along with the technology involved with it. This observational study was conducted in passive observation because not all subjects were approachable for permission and debriefing of the experiment. Therefore, this short paper will discuss the similarities, differences, and significance of the behaviours observed. …show more content…

As for the similarities, all subjects had a main task at hand until they were interrupted by cellphone use. The use was to primarily contact other people, while conducting the task with old media in the background. The longer the interruption took place, the longer it took for all subjects to get back to the primary task of using old media. In extreme cases where the interruption was more than a few minutes, the subjects cessated the use of old media altogether. In retrospect, the old media that was adopted by the subjects in this study mainly consisted of television, newspaper, and books. Thus, with the interruptions mentioned, it took the subjects extra time in order to focus on watching, reading, or studying from old media sources. Even though there are strong similarities amongst the subjects mentioned, the differences will now be …show more content…

Either watching the tv, reading the newspaper or a book, all these activities were primarily conducted by the subjects. Interestingly enough, conscious consumption was hardly observed because of all the distractions that new media involve. The distractions were mainly extended due to communication being established amongst the subjects observed and the people involved with the subject. In addition, the vibrating aspect of cellphones was also significant enough to deter all subjects from their primary task. A quantitative research conducted by Yahoo! and reported by Mike Melanson, concluded that over 86% of respondents claimed to watch Tv while also handling their own phone. However, the numbers go up to 92% amongst young adults and teenager users. With these thoughts in mind, the significance of these behaviours was that conscious consumption does not naturally happen, unless one is aware of the social and personal alienation that the use of new media can impose. However, further research into these aspects go beyond the scope of this

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