“Fast Media” is a concept based upon the way modern media is consumed and produced, as a result of a recent surge of digital resources in our media landscape. Similar to the idea of fast food or fast fashion,  it represents the multitude of ways modern media has affected our society. See MSC’s Center for Fast Media for more information. 

To address this modern phenomenon on a personal level, Media Smart Citizens has created a 24 Hour Fast Media Log to help you step back and take a look at the quantity and quality of media you consume on any given day.

Advantages

In order to get the most out of the way that we consume media, and to get the most out of our days, we designed the 24 Hour Fast Media Log to track all of the mediums, time frames, and reasons we consume media on an average day. With this log, you can track your own media consumption. One of the main functions of this log is to see how much of our day is spent consuming media so that we can be mindful of the trends and adjust accordingly. In highlighting these trends, we become aware of media consumption habits we didn’t even know we had. 

How it works

1. Make a copy of this spreadsheet or print out this table to write on (example).

2. In order to not lose track of what you’ve been up to, you can set timers throughout your day to remind you to log your data. These time intervals are up to you; hourly, every two hours, every ninety minutes, etc. 

3. At the end of each time interval, come back to your Media Tracking form and record the kinds of media you have engaged with during the interval:

• the medium (ie. television, social media, print)

• the category of the content (ie. shopping, work, entertainment)

• specific details of the content

• the duration of time spent with each media activity

4. At the end of the day, take time to reflect on how much time you spent consuming media, how much time you used media for a particular purpose, and how much time you spent with any one particular medium/device.

Helpful Tips

Repeat the 24 Hour Media Challenge as many times as you’d like. Remember to add up your total minutes per medium and content category. You can set a goal to change your media habits after your first log, and redo the challenge to see how you did.