E342-Literacy Snapshot (Jayne Royal)

Until this project I never really noticed how often I really do read throughout my daily activities. Honestly, I really only correlated reading and books. I did not even think about all the times I mindlessly read during the day. Many times I would notice after the fact that I had just read something.

            I really enjoy reading books in my spare time. One of my absolute favorite authors is Chuck Palahniuk. I am currently reading the book Choke by him and I try to read a few pages every night before I fall asleep.

            Besides books that I read for pleasure I read a lot for my classes. I have quite a few classes that require lots of reading so I spend a great deal of my time reading those things. Not only do I spend a lot of time reading textbooks, but I also read a lot of articles for my classes.

            One thing that I noticed is that I spend a lot of time reading signs. The amount that I read signs may also be unusually high because it was the first week of school, but I constantly found myself reading directions in order to understand where I was suppose to go. Granted these signs were a few words at the most, but they really seemed to add up in the end. Also this weekend I happened to spend a lot of time driving. I went to Indianapolis and am notorious for taking a wrong turn somewhere. I not only had directions in my lap as I drove, but I also have a habit of reading aloud every sign I pass to make sure I do not miss the correct exit.

            I constantly have my phone on me and like to keep in contact with my friends as much as possible. Therefore, I spend a great deal of time reading text messages. I find myself reading text messages  every ten to twenty minutes with the exception of when I am in class or working on something.

            Lastly, I spend a lot of time online. I check facebook an overwhelming amount. I would say that on average I check it twelve times a day. I also have the guilty pleasure of being a big fan of TMZ. I have a phone that is capable of getting on the Internet and alerts me whenever I have an email or a notification on facebook so I feel as if the amount of time I spend online has increased dramatically recently.