Meredith Monserez's Literacy Snapshot

Prior to completing this Literacy Snapshot, I never realized how much I truly read each day. I was very surprising to see how much reading is incorporated into my daily life. From reading for school, to reading for pleasure, to reading just to survive in my every-day environment, I was involved in some type of literacy.
From various text books, to articles located on oncourse, to reading through every class syllabus and checking their calendars hourly, I am engaged in reading for a great portion of my day. Every morning before I go to my first class, I check my e-mail, my Facebook, and the weather for that day. By reading through my e-mails I am able to stay up to date with what is going on in my classes, to actively communicate with my family members, and stay up to date with events going on in my sorority. If I was unable to read these I would be completely disorganized and unconnected with my friends and family. Facebook, where I tend to spend too much of my day, is also another tool that allows me to actively communicate with my friends and family. Every day before my first class I also read the Indiana Daily Student.
Reading occurs in everyday typical tasks that I would have never of considered literary if I had not been inclined to take notice of them. I went out to dinner Wednesday night and had to read the menu. I also went to a friend's lake house this weekend and had to read not only the directions i printed off mapquest, but also the street signs along the roads. Unfortunately, I also got sick this week and therefore had to read the directions on the back of each medicine container.
I also found that I spend time reading for pleasure. Just as I enjoy spending time on Facebook, I also tend to read many magazines (I subscribe to about five) and spend extremely too much time text messaging. I also am a huge fan of music and download new music about everyday and therefore I am continually looking up and reading the lyrics to many songs.
Prior to this assignment, I was not only unaware with how often literacy is used in my everyday life, but I was also unappreciative of the fact that I am literate. By recording the times I am interacting with literacy and how often this occurs, I can not possibly imagine a living life illiterate.