WHAT IS YOUR MORNING MEDIA?

Larry Rosin and the good folks at Edison Research continue to release fascinating, sometimes offbeat research about how people use media. Their most recent project is no exception. Edison has released Wake Me Up – a study of lifestyle and device use during this important time of the day.  The first media choices of the day are indications of which media platforms are important for a person's daily life. See the Wake Me Up study at LINK.

Edison conducted a national online survey of 1,550 respondents age 18-54 in January 2015. Let’s look at the top-line results:

HOW DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING?

About half of the Wake Me Up respondents use a device for an alarm.

IF YOU USED AN ALARM, WHAT KIND OF ALARM?

About half of the Wake Me Up respondents use a mobile device to wake themselves.

AT WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING?

I was surprised to learn that more than half of the Wake Me Up respondents said they are up by 6:30am.

MEET MY “ALARM CLOCKS”

SKYLAR & SCOUT -- 100% ANALOG ALARM CLOCKS

I am one of the 4% of people who is often awakened by pets. Today (Tuesday, March 31, 2015) I woke up at 5:55am to the sound of a fur ball being vomited.  The culpret, Scout is a very very fluffy Norwegian Forest Cat.  I didn;t use any media while I cleaned up the puke.

My typical morning routine, after getting out of bed, is a trip to my  home office via my laptop.  The first thing I do is check to see if this blog is still there and that today’s post is appearing.  Next I check my mobile to see if there are any incoming messages.  I don't use mobile as much as most folks because of my vision problems.

While checking messages I usually switch on the TV with the sound down.  It stays that way most of the day – video wallpaper for the blog newsroom.

Some days I listen on my headphones to NPR News from 91.1 KNOW or music from 89.3 The Current while reading news online.  But on other days, I don’t turn on any audio at all. I love the Zen of the morning -- the calm of silence.

Then I go totally old-school – I read the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper.  I love newspapers. I follow Rachel Maddow's advice and support local print journalism.

ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON?

Wake Me Up asked respondents if they consider themselves “a morning person”:

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to love mornings.  The world is fresh and I concentrate best on work then.

I used to be a night owl.  Not that long ago, a night was still early when it was midnight.  I disliked mornings, particularly when I was a doing the 6am – 9am airshift at a country music station.  I had a rough break up with a girlfriend and EVERY COUNTRY SONG WAS ABOUT ME. George Jones said it best:

From the blood of my body, I could start my own still.

If drinking don’t kill me, her memory will.