Nielsen Journal

Mary Wienke
Logged 30 October 2008

3. This watching was a little atypical. I was working on my halloween costume for work and so I was paying attention but not really watching the television. Hence, the reruns and random channel flipping. Also since I was preoccupied with working on my costume I watched more television than I normally do. I do not have a DVR and I only have basic cable so I usually watch most my programming online. Also since I work so much I usually do not have time to plan around television. I typically wait till the next day when the shows are posted online to watch them. I hate commercials and so I am a huge channel flipper which is more evident in the later viewing hours that I recorded because I was not busy with something else. I usually stay on a channel until the commercials hit and then I find something else. Most of the time the shows I am watching are easy to flip away from and require little to no deduction to get back into later. There were a few channel flips that I was surprised to see later on after recording my results. Such as The Real Exorcist and Most Haunted Light Houses.
4. Yes I have playlists that I made on youtube of movies or comedy specials and typically I log on and watch this. However, I watched a DVD of season 2 of Robot Chicken on this night. I do watch tv at work. The television is usually on in the background so I listen and sometimes pay attention. Most of the time I am by myself so I hardly am watching with another person. This is due to the fact that I am typically so busy and my friends and I do not have matching schedules. Also television is something I do to fill the time not occupy it so when I am with friends or family we are out and about.
5. I found that I watch way more television than I thought I did. I also found out that I really enjoy House and the USA channel in general. I also found that I get impatient with television and commercials. I also found that I do not watch particularly popular shows. I tried for the purpose of this assignment to watch as long as I can inbetween flipping channels so that I had something to record. What I found funny is that you can tell by looking at my journal when I stopped working on my halloween costume because I started flipping channels as soon as I was done. I do think that people may become self conscience about what they are watching and how that portrays them. Also I know that since I flip channels that the segments I recorded were more than likely not exactly 15 minutes and a shows ratings should not reflect my impatience. Also these journals from my understanding are done by a select few and those people are paid to do them so I think that it is not reflectsive of the current television environment.