1F25 Blog Response 2: Wanted: The Media We Need

Upon reading the blogs written by my classmates, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have a very diverse and intelligent group of minds within our class. This being said, it can also be concluded that there are varying opinions about the media that we as a society receive. While there are some people that agree with my point of view and some that don’t, there were a few that had a completely different opinion. The blogs that I’m going to bring up later in this post argue that both standpoints are correct in certain aspects. This is a viewpoint that I considered, but I had decided didn’t have enough evidence to support it. These blogs proved me wrong and changed my perspective on the media.

Wes Kewley argued that “as you get older you start to mature and see everything form a different point of view.” He argues that you want different things at different stages of your life, and therefore you grow from wanting the media you get to getting the media you want. This is very interesting to me, as I am currently studying some aspects of child development in CHYS 1F90. There are many theories that support Wes’ view of the media, considering the fact that there are different worries and perspectives of the world with each stage in a person’s life, from birth to death.

Another opinion was that it varies depending on the person who is receiving the media, shared by two of my classmates. Justus Duntsch says it varies more upon the basis of “how conscious he or she is in their reception of the media and how willing one is to give up certain entertainment, tools and services to keep themselves isolated from intrusive media.” She takes a very cynical standpoint in which one has to, in a way, protect themselves from what the media feeds us. I agree with this opinion in that a person has to be aware of what they are watching. However, I don’t believe people need to isolate themselves in order to do so. The media is a part of our socialization in Western culture, and although it is damaging in someways it is an integral part of life.

Linnea Davis says that “people perceive the media in different ways so what you want someone else may not want, or even understand.” She goes on to talk about how different young girls may have different tastes in music. I, however, thought about culture gaps. In Canadian culture we may see Japanese shows as completely ridiculous, but in Japan it could be the complete opposite. There are vast differences between trends and norms in other cultures, and I think this contributes greatly to the media we want/media we get debate.

The blogs that I read changed my opinion on the matter greatly. This demonstrates how the media help society grow in everyday situations. This also demonstrates how while I do believe some of the cynical viewpoints on the media, I also believe that they are a vast and wonderful group of ways that make us grow as people. 

1F25 Blog Post 2: The Media We Want?

As discussed in previous blog posts, the media are very influential in everyday life. “The media – press, radio, television, cinema, and so on – have become the arenas through which people receive most of their entertainment and information about the world, so they are primary sources for how we see the world,” (O’Shaughnessy, & Stadler, How the media work, 35). Therefore, the media can very easily control what we want in the way of consumerism. This being said, I believe that we want the media we get, but the media make us think that we get the media we want.

This is the case in many situations, especially on television. More specifically, with ‘reality’ television, a great example being Jersey Shore. For those of you who don’t know (are you living under a rock?), Jersey Shore was a television show about eight people who moved to the Jersey Shore who partied non-stop and acted like children. Before this show came on, who would have wanted to watch it? Certainly not me, although I watched every single episode (I know, its sad…).

It is quite possible that this show was created to make the ‘upper class’ feel good about themselves. “Traditionally, low culture has been denigrated as inferior and potentially damaging, and the fact that it was a product of mass media was used to disparage it,” (O’Shaughnessy, & Stadler, Fears about the media’s influence on culture, 18). This perspective has become somewhat of a joke, leaving the ‘low culture’ to be humiliated and ridiculed because of its differences in social norms. Although this was technically always the case in the world outside television, this has become the norm within television. The media is perpetually trying to categorize the world, and, in turn, creates the philosophy that is displayed in Jersey Shore, thereby training us to want the media we get.

With the general public being in such a vulnerable and influential position, this is very easy for the media to do. With each product placement and focus group they are able to figure out what we want, or in this case what we think we want, and feed it to us through television, movies, radio, and whatever else we use on a daily basis. The media are in a very powerful position and without the ability to make us think that we get what we want, that would change very quickly.

 As a side note, I don’t know why the font changes size in each paragraph, and I’m not sure how to fix it. Sorry! 

1F25 Blog Response 1: Media Impact on Others

From what I’ve read on other people’s blogs, many others share the same perspectives that I do on mass media and its effects on us. Every blog that I read said that since we’re all bombarded with the media, it has a big impact on our lives. In many blogs I read, like Tiziana’s, it is noted that the media “has both positive and negative aspects.” There are also similarities in how we should conduct ourselves on the internet in regards to what we believe.

Although, there are also dissimilarities, and quite a few more than I was expecting there to be. For example, in Vincent’s blog, he touches on branding and people’s self image. He says that the media has “flooded the youth generation’s mind full of brands, clothes, shoes and the latest trends in order for them to stand out.” I completely agree, and never even thought of it like that. I took the meaning of impact on our world view to be more broad and political, whereas Vincent took both the general and the specific.

Haya and I shared a lot of the same perspectives that I outlined in the first paragraph, but there was one thing I didn’t exactly agree with. She says “the mass media has a significant effect on our societies that is more often bad than good.” I agree that there are many bad effects, but I don’t think those occur more often than good effects. This brings me to Brent, who mentions a “bias toward the negative” that our society has. We both believe that the media tends to show more negativity because it has that shock factor and it gets people’s attention. Brent also brings up television shows shaping the career he wanted to have as a child, which I didn’t include in my perspective of our world view.

So, it seems that there are many different perspectives of the mass media that all show the same opinion on the effect that it has on us. None of the other blogs I read changed my opinion, but they all added another element to the vast topic that is the media, so I guess they changed my impression. The blogs that I read widened my view of the mass media and world view as concepts, so to speak. They added more elements to both of those things: the media encompassing everything from brands to television shows, and world view including everything from political views to desired careers. Also, when I think about it, this whole experience has been a lesson in how the media impacts our world view. We’ve been reading other people’s opinions, through mass media, to talk about impact on world view, when other’s opinions might change our world view. Smart move, Professor Bradley.