I have long admitted that I am a mass media junkie. I watch entirely too much tv, read more than my fair share of magazines (everything from cosmo to newseek), spend more than 8 hours a day on-line, and listen to the radio A LOT! And I am sure that it is by no mistake that all of my years of massive media consumption have lead me into further studying the area and its affects on people and the world. All of that said, sometimes it is just too much! Not that I don't enjoy all of it, but there is just no way to avoid the pleasure of surprise anymore.

Case in point...by no fault of her own, a friend of mine spilled the beans on her blog about the Dawson's Creek finale last night that I had taped to watch after work today (because of the numerous other tv shows I had to see, namely That 70's Show, American Idol and The West Wing.) It's a bit frustrating but obviously not the end of the world, yet it serves as a perfect example of what I am talking about. If I hadn't read it on her blog I could just as easily have heard about it on the radio this morning or read about it online in a chat room or the New York Times for goodness sakes. The element of surprise has been thrown out of the window thanks to all of the ways to consume media.

The funny thing is, this media overlaod is such a double edged sword! Thanks to the internet I can easily catch up on all of the things that I missed too. What happened on last weeks episodes of As The World Turns?...what will happen on the season finale of Friends?...is The Matrix Reloaded really going to be any good? This is the beautiful part about the media and the reason I don't mind spending hours online digging up the info.

I suppose there is no real way to get around it, you have to take the good with the bad. Some days I will be surprised by an event and some days I will be saddened because my morning radio DJ thought it was cool to talk all about who The Bachelor picks despite my taped copy waiting anxiously at home. One thing is certain though, next Wednesday as I am jammin out to the Dixie Chicks live in Austin, I will be taping the finale of American Idol and I will not turn on a radio in the car until I have had a chance to get home and pop in the tape. It will be just my luck that someone will put up a billborad though and I'll see it on the way home...