Although I’m a huge advocate for digital media, I’ve realized as finals week approaches just how much the media world facilitates our distractions.  The past few days, I haven’t been feeling too well so I’ve gotten my work done pretty early in the day and hung out in my room the rest of the time.  Every night, I’ve sat on my bed and thought about how much studying I could get done for finals.  I think about all the Chinese characters I have to memorize or all the Calculus formulas I need to learn how to use.  But then I see my computer sitting on my desk and remember that I can spend my night watching Christmas movies.  Or looking online for Christmas presents for my friends.  Or finding new Christmas songs to listen to.  Much better use of my time Likewise, I always find myself on my phone texting or Snapchatting someone when I should be doing work.  Or even when I’m sitting with my friends — if my phone buzzes, I automatically pick it up to see what notification I got this time.  There is digital media all around us, which is a great thing most of the time.  But at points when we need to focus, it doesn’t go away.  I’d definitely say one of the hardest things I deal with is having the constant notification reminder that something is going on somewhere else, but having to put my phone on silent and tune out of my media to focus on my schoolwork.  I definitely don’t want media to go away anytime soon, but I do wish it wasn’t so hard to get away from at the times when I need to.