~9:30 A.M. : I wake up and check my phone to see if I missed any text messages, phone calls, or anything else important while I was asleep. I then open Twitter (X) and scroll through my feed for a couple minutes as I prepare to get out of bed and get ready for the day. I like a couple posts, which probably influence my algorithm for future usage on the app. They possibly even notice the time that I first open the app, which is around the same time every morning.
10:00 A.M. : I get out of bed and open Spotify to turn on some music as I shower, brush my teeth, get dressed, etc. I pick a song at random out of my likes and let it shuffle to random songs. Spotify is most likely using the data from which I pick songs and the other songs in my likes to recommend new playlists that are made for me, and influence other algorithms they use.
11:00 A.M. : I open YouTube as I have a quick snack for breakfast and click on a random video that was recommended to me on my homepage. The topic of the video was new interesting technology pieces that are coming out, which influenced my next recommended videos to be of similar topics. This influenced my future video algorithm and potentially future advertisements that I may see on the app.
2:00 P.M. : Opened Canvas to check my calendar and get started on some work for the upcoming week. Other than the data I have already provided, I assume the other source of information they receive is behavioral data of what times I usually open Canvas, which is around the same time every day.
5:00 P.M. : After finishing my work, I open Discord and X on my computer, providing further behavioral data for both websites and receive messages from Discord about promotions for upcoming video game releases. I decline these promotions as they are uninteresting to me, in which this data is collected and used for future Discord promotions to me.
8:30 P.M. : I need to wake up early the next day, so I wind down early and do so by opening Netflix and turning on a show that I have been watching recently. Netflix collects the behavioral data that I have provided, being the types of shows that I watch and if I actually finish the episode that I choose. This also influences my algorithm for future show recommendations the next time I open Netflix.
~11:00 P.M. : In bed, I check my Snapchat, view a couple stories, and reply to any snaps that I missed throughout the day. Responding to snaps influences my social data on the app, specifically the “friends” and “best friend” feature within the app. By opening Snapchat, I also provide locational data as I have my “SnapMaps” enabled so that chosen friends can see my location whenever I open the app. This locational data probably also influences potential targeted advertising.
Reflection: Throughout this daily media diary, the most common and consistent pattern of data collection throughout all of these media apps is the behavioral data that is collected from me every time I use the apps. This data is the biggest source that influences my algorithms that provide me similar content. The usage of Snapchat also reminded me of the potential locational data that I can be providing to certain apps, which I am not fully certain of other medias that I may have given access to my location. I typically do not consider how my data is being used in these apps other than behavioral, which makes the most sense for tailored recommendations as most of these medias use. Looking forward, I hope to be more aware of the data that I am providing, especially the more secure data such as locational or social data that may have a bigger impact on my future media usage.