Effects of Mass Media Part II

As we talked about TV, I was surprised to find that to be considered a heavy TV watcher, you only have to watch 4 hours of TV a day. I am most certainly not a heavy watcher, but I do use TV and radio often for background noise and sometimes just for comfort when I am alone in my room doing work. But maybe, when I look at it that way, I may be considered a heavy consumer of TV and radio. I also found the Mean Scary World Syndrome to be very interesting. I do believe that TV does affect me and makes me believe that crime is more prevalent in my life. I used to be a big fan of scary movies in middle school and high school. I remember after I watched them, it would be very hard to go through the night and next few days without thinking about it and being paranoid about my surroundings. Mainstreaming does affect TV and influences opinions across all people.
I found the two-step flow very interesting and very true. I do agree with the fact that we are all highly influenced by opinion leaders, from actress and actors on TV, to the people in our very own community. I think that this idea of opinion leaders can be a negative or a positive thing, depending on what this leaders message is. But, I do think that opinion leaders are important and I do believe that as a member in society, I too, can become an opinion leader. I have really enjoyed learning about the effects of mass media and I do believe that the more educated I become on it, the better I will be able to educate and inform others on this issue that is such a big part of our society. I believe that God has a place for me in the education field and that He will reveal to me where exactly that is and how I can further His kingdom.

Effects of Mass Media Part I

For the past week, I was struggling to find motivation to blog. After class today, I found some motivation. Today we talked about the Effects of Mass Media. We have talked about this earlier in the semester and I have expressed the effects of media several times throughout other blogs. I do agree with parts of the Magic Silver Bullet Theory. This offers that media are direct, immediate, uniform, and powerful. I agree that media is direct and immediate, in the sense that we do have access to some form of media pretty much, anytime and anywhere we want. Media is also very powerful. Media does influence our views, whether we realize it or not. I don’t necessarily think that media is uniform because it doesn’t effect us all in the same ways and we don’t all consume the same amount of media or the same kinds.
I also found the different uses and gratifications to be very interesting. The two motives that we talked about were Utilitarian and Ritual. As I thought about both of these, I would say that I am more of a utilitarian user. When I look back on the past, I would say that I was more of a ritual user in high school. Now that I have a lot more work to do, I don’t find the time to use it for pleasure as often. I currently use media for lots of schoolwork, information seeking. I also use it to form my identity through Facebook and socialization, (which is pleasure as well).
To be continued....

Conglomerates

I felt kind of confused by the idea of conglomerates after discussing it in class earlier this week. I understand what a conglomerate is. It is a large oversight company, but some of the other ideas, such as vertical integration and synergy were kind of confusing to me. Then, I was sick on Thursday, this pass week, so I didn't get to attend class, which made me even more confused! I borrowed Ashley's notes. She explained to me that there was a debate in class over the idea of weather conglomerates were good or bad. After reading these notes and doing the reading, I feel much more confident about conglomerates. I do feel that conglomerates have many good and bad effects, and to be honest, I don’t think I know enough to make a choice at this point, but I am aware of their effects. I realize that conglomerates are huge, successful, corporations that have made their way to the top. They provide us with many pleasures, such as TV and radio, which at the same time, contain many harms. I look at Disney and all its success and how enormous it is, and think about how many people it effects. This is so crazy to think about…just how huge Disney is and how everyone knows about it! And it continues to grow today. The idea of conglomerates is hard to wrap my mind around- just how huge and powerful they really are, which is really kind of scary. I am not so sure that we want conglomerates to have so much power over our society if we look at the bad effects that TV has on people and is how greatly it is effecting generations of today. I am excited to explore much more about this idea of conglomerates and the effects they have on society and to understand ideas such as synergy and vertical integration better.

Media Effects Society

Today in class, we listed ways in which Media Effects Society. At first our group was having trouble coming up with five different ways. Our five ways were: media effects trends, it provides information, influences opinions, is an icon of entertainment value, and it effects us not only personally, but as a society. I think our five ways were a little vague compared to some others that we discussed in class, but as we discussed the issue in class, it was crazy to think about the ways in which media effects us as individuals and as a society (macro and micro) and also how each of the effects have a positive or negative effect, and sometimes, it is even hard for us to identify weather the effect is either positive or negative. I found the third person effect to be very interesting. I guess that I have noticed this belief, that other people are affected by media more than we are. I know that there have been times where I have thought that others around me were more influenced my media than I was. This self-serving bias is something that happens in society and is part of the media’s effect. As we discussed this idea, I realized that is something that most of us need to more aware of. I am not really sure how to make myself be more aware of it, considering it is a way of thinking, and sometimes I am not sure how to change a way of thinking, but I do realize that it kind of makes a person ignorant- in that we aren't seeing what is really happening- that not everyone may be impacted or affected by media in the same ways we are etc. I am excited to learn more about this idea of the third person effect. I think that the idea of the self-serving effect not only applies to media, but it also applied to all areas of our lives. I think that being aware of what others believe and the effects that people and media have on our lives affects us in all aspects of our lives and shape who we become.

Spring break Blog

(This blog was done yesterday, I just didn't have access to post it when I wrote it.)

I am currently sitting in the airport on my way home from Phoenix, Arizona for spring break- where I went by myself to stay with family. I have a layover, so I figured I would make some useful time of it and get some work done. As I look back and reflect on my week, I see that my use of media was pretty limited compared to when I am at school. I went to Arizona to visit family and just to spend some time to relax. Part of my relaxing was to spend quality time with my grandparents and my aunt, without the distraction of studying, Internet, TV, and other distractions. I would have to say that my media intake was pretty limited. I didn’t really watch any TV. My grandparents and my aunt (who I stayed with,) don’t really enjoy watching TV; rather, they are constantly reading books! So, TV wasn’t really an option with them. I did have a TV in my room there, but I did manage to only watch it for just a few minutes at a time at night sometimes before bed. Other than that, I usually would read my books, or study something for school. Oh…and I also had my computer with me, and I am rather ashamed of this because I did get on it more than I should have. But, I did use it to just mainly post pictures for my family and friends to see. Where as usually I would get on and chat with people etc. I have been reading the book, “Everything must Change,” and I can truly say that it is impacting me in a new way. I am reading it with a new aspect- in that it can truly make me more connected with the world. I can honestly say that I am currently very aware of the media around me and I am learning how to not let it overtake my life.

Active Learning

I really feel that I have recently seen myself being actively engaged in mass media. The past few weeks, I haven’t really had the time to sit down and actively engage myself in any sort of media, other than my textbooks and the media on my computer. But after learning about print media and realizing how important it is to be engaged with problems in society, I feel that the past week, I have really stepped out of my comfort zone. I have found myself more engaged in interacting with other people about issues. For example, on Sunday night, I went to a book club. My cross country coach began leading this book club for the team. We are reading a book called “Everything Must Change” by Brian Mclaren. I feel like book clubs are always a step out of my comfort zone, as I am usually not a very outgoing person when it comes to expressing my opinions and sharing my thoughts in a large group of people. I mainly just sat and listened to my coach and a few teammates talk about what our first impressions were about the author and about Mclaren views and what new ideas he will show us and what NEW Christian ideas, we, as Christians and as just as a society in general can do to better the world we are living in. So, I am excited to be engaged in this Semiotic Domain, but I do realize that I need to step out of my comfort zone and be a true member of this domain, in hopes that it will increase my being able to better understand media and the ways that it impacts the world. I think that being a part of this book club is a great way to really challenge my mind and apply the things that I have been learning and will in turn, make me more articulate, contextual, and better able to argue, just like my dad. :)