My name is Katelyn Torres. I am a 20-year-old junior at the University of Michigan, studying communication. My every-day life is consumed by art and media. I am a dancer and a musician and the two intertwine to create my deepest passion. Although negative in some ways, today’s digital disruption allows me to cultivate my passion for the arts further, and provides a platform for me to share this passion with the world.
As much as I would love to take a rain check on college and pursue my artistic career full-time, I value my education and understand the importance of a college degree far too much to do so. This is why I attend this wonderful university, and study an area that largely affects my life each day.
In alignment with one of the trends discussed in Post-Industrial Journalism, an article published by the Tow Center For Digital Journalism, my media consumption habits consist primarily of activity on social media. I have an account on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat and I check each daily. Much of my news consumption, therefore, comes from these sources, primarily Facebook and Twitter. Throughout my use of these media, I have come to recognize the issues that arise within these consumption habits. One such issue is that many Facebook and Twitter users neglect to fact-check the articles or memes that they choose to share prior to sharing them.
For this reason, I often turn to my NYTimes app, a more sound source, to check up on the latest events. I also follow verified political figures on Twitter to conveniently gain a better understanding of their positions on certain issues, view their latest quotes and actions, etc.
My use of iPhone apps for social entertainment and news consumption has definitely increased in the last few years. Another change in my news consumption habits occurred upon my transition into college. I no longer have cable (a luxury for a starving college student. See 27 different ways to prepare Ramen Noodles) and therefore I no longer have the option of consuming news media through television. This was a bit of an inconvenience at first. Instead of being able to passively consume news media as it happens to appear on the television as I do something else, turning my head to give it my full attention only when convenient for me, I now have to actively seek out news media on other platforms.
These consumption habits differ from those of my parents. My mother never really sits down to watch the news on television anymore, but she does listen to NPR on her way to work, and she scrolls through news stories on her AOL account (yes, she still uses AOL.) My father, however, has continued his daily ritual of sitting down to watch the news on television after a long day of work. My parents still have not developed a very strong set of skills regarding the use of technology and social media applications, and I do not believe that they will ever switch their news consumption habits at this point, unless one day forced to do so. In some ways, they are of the few that largely stray from the trending transformation of consumption habits as outlined in Post-Industrial Journalism. Although they have contributed to the crash in newspaper revenue.
This semester, my blog will focus on Detroit’s performing arts industry; an underrated diamond in the rough. I am involved in this scene through dance and music, and therefore know where to go to get more in-depth information surrounding this thriving community. Hopefully my blog will help to bring awareness to the raw talent Detroit has to offer.
Detroit and Ann Arbor Performing Arts 