Media Blog #12

            This media blog will be discussing my outlook on the media and how I will approach media going forwards in my life.

            At the start of the semester, I mindlessly consumed media, indulging on my Netflix and late night comedy TV shows. I wasn’t particularly open minded and did not possess many of the H/C of a critical thinker.

I somewhat lived in a bubble where all my reality assumptions were reinforced by the media I consumed. I loved my time watching Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers at the start of the semester, whereas now I just feel like I am in an echo chamber when I listen to them. That isn’t to say that I don’t still think that they are clever, witty people that contribute to society, but because of how I approach media and think in general, I find myself a bit nauseous after watching too much of them. It seems as if since Trump, their shows have become a showcase for the Tu Quoque fallacy, ranting on how hypocritical Trump and Fox News are. Before this semester, I was under the impression that those were legitimate points they were making. Before this semester, I never really broadened my horizons and never gave much thoughts to people with different viewpoints. The one thing that hasn’t changed since the start of the semester is my love for John Oliver because he does emphasize open-mindedness and takes into account multiple viewpoints, seeing things from all angles, allowing him to make points that wouldn’t normally resonate with, for example, a conservative when he discusses topics like healthcare.

Now that I have taken critical thinking, I try as best as I can to make sure that I see everything from multiple viewpoints. To ensure that I understand what people across the country are thinking and to have a more comprehensive view of the issues facing the country today, I will at least once a week, travel into the deep cold dark depths of Fox News and read at least one comprehensive article not senselessly bashing democrats in order to try and see things from a conservative point of view. This I consider to be of upmost importance because I live in a very liberal neighborhood where I know people who would and have cut ties with close family for supporting Trump. I live in a liberal household as well. In order to try and counteract the political polarization we see today, this is something I would recommend everyone do, no matter how bad it hurts to read Fox News.  

            I also now view advertising from a different perspective which is important because before this class, I was completely unaware of the techniques advertisers used to try and appeal to my basic needs. Before, I was susceptible to diversion and transfer association which slipped by me and embedded in my subconscious. Now, I filter out all of these techniques which cloud what the actual product does. I now view things from a more objective point of view with respect to advertising and marketing. The one thing that I still find hard to spot is Maddison and Vine. I think part of the reason for this is because I personally find it hard to believe that every corporation displayed in TV in any way, even if only for a second, paid to get there. At that point, the waters are muddied even more because then it becomes a question of which ads are meant to be there and which ones were just chance, making it difficult to try and block out the transfer association happening with the products shown in TV because I can’t differentiate between what to block and what not to block because it all looks the same to me.

            In all, Critical Thinking was a class that has in many ways changed the way in which I see the media around me and will change the way I act, talk, and think. It has provided me with life skills I don’t think I would have gotten anywhere else in the world and I cannot thank you enough Starace for providing me with them.

Media Blog #11

In this media blog, I want to talk about TV and my thoughts on that form of media.

TV is probably the largest form of media today and it has the largest impact on the American population. 99% of the American population has at least one TV. There are 2.24 television sets on average in an American household. Two thirds of Americans watch TV as a family and eat dinner together at the same time. I could go on but I think I have made my point by now. American culture nowadays is centered around TV and the consumption of that form of media. 

I personally can say that it is not uncommon for a TV to be turned on and playing something on Netflix in our household. I can freely admit that the amount of TV (or some other media) playing loudly in our house is large to the point where I feel a bit awkward when there isn't some ambient noise as I study for my tests and do homework. I watch a bit too much Netflix and looking back on the shows I like to watch and why I continue to watch them, I can kind of understand why so many people watch TV. Netflix for me is a distraction and it takes me out of my immediate surroundings, giving me other things to think about than my problems and my actual life. Furthermore, TV series often hook you and you begin to feel a vested interest in the characters, making you want to keep watching. Because of how good TV is at distracting you, time flies by until you realize that you have been sitting for a couple hours and it is now dark outside. 

Going back to the point about distraction, when we look at the statistics on stress rates in the American public, it makes sense that the amount of TV consumption is up. According to TIME magazine, 6% more Americans in 2015 said they were highly stressed than in 2014. 61% of adults said they were subject to unfair discrimination on a day to day basis. The American Psychiatric Association found that from 2014 to 2015, stress levels rose from a 4.9 to a 5.1 on a 10 point scale. The general public is becoming more stressed and likely dissatisfied with their lives and TV is providing a temporary escape, like sleep is to teenagers in school. 

Personally, I think that all of this TV is bad. In providing us with an escape, they show us things that aren't and can't possibly be real, filling us with negative messages and values that shouldn't actually have a place in real life. Humans are like sponges and will subconsciously absorb all that we see around us and with all this consumption of TV, humans are slowly taking in the values on TV. If people are watching TV for things like news, that is fine, but people do need to watch how and what they watch on TV and use traits of a critical thinker like metacognition to consciously assess how TV has changed us and how we can reclaim our old selves. 

In summation, it is my personal belief that TV can be a force for positive change on society, but people need to be careful about what and how they consume TV, especially how much as our lives slowly waste away. 

Source for Statistics:

http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/

http://time.com/4253107/americans-are-getting-more-stressed-out-study-finds/

Media Blog #10

In this blog, in no particular order and with no real plan in place, I want to talk about the importance and the role that the radio has played throughout its existence, and the role it plays today.

It was invented in 1894 by an Italian named Guglielmo Marconi. In its glory days, a radio could be found in most households, providing entertainment and news for the world. The news cycle was significantly shortened from a weekly cycle to a daily or even hourly news cycle as radio stations could pass on news shortly after it broke.  Up until the rise of MTV, it was and still even is one of the primary sources for music today. It has led to the rising of many famous radio personalities like the infamous Howard Stern. In short, the radio has led to a more informed population, shortened the news cycles, led to a more entertained population, and is still a driving media force today.

In my own life, the radio has played an important role. As a little kid, I would love to tool around with the radio and listen to music with my friends in our garage. Whether it was on an old analogue radio of my dad's or on a more modern digital radio, it exposed me to new musical genres and increased my understanding of the world. My parents always play the radio even today in the car, something I think everyone does for entertainment, to make time in the car pass faster. Today, whenever I am in the car or I am driving, I listen to NPR because it is a great analytical news source and I don't always have time to look at the news during the day.

The use of the radio has declined since the 1900s, but it is still a dominant force today in entertainment media. Everyone still has a radio in their car and frequently uses it, almost as much as we use our cars themselves. The radio plays the newest hits for people, also allowing people to tune into stations that play what they are interested in, playing the hits of today. In that way, the radio is good and bad in my personal opinion. On one hand, it gives consumers freedom of choice, but on the other hand, it overplays good songs, making them hard to enjoy, and this freedom of choice in terms  of radio stations keeps me from branching out and exploring new genres. I also want to point out that the quality of the radio is dependent on the people that broadcast. The radio is merely a way that people consume other people's content and if other people make bad content, then the radio as a whole will suffer.

In all, I think the radio is really important and one of the primary sources for entertainment media today with the capacity to give or take a lot from us. It has played an important role in my life and overall, I think it has changed the world for the better.