Media Blogs Reflection

Before we started going into media messages, I was not aware of how much media I took in and the overall effects it had on my mind. To me, the media messages were so frequent that I began ignoring them and incorporated their presence into my life. I got my first phone towards the beginning of last year, when I started to make social media accounts and use the internet more through my phone, I was being bombarded with all different kinds of media messages. However even before this, I now realized that through the TV, billboards, print ads, and many other types of advertising, media had always been a big part of my life. All this impacted my subconsciously, I wanted to buy different products because they "looked cool" or because everyone else had them, but when I actually got the product I didn't feel the sense of completion that I thought I would get.

The bottom line of all the media I saw throughout my life was that the companies who put out these messages just want me to buy their products. Which I did, whether it be a food, game, toy, shoe, I felt the need to buy these material items to make me whole. Through this class I have been able to identify the techniques that advertisers use as well as be more aware of the media's presence. This skill is useful and needed, especially today. I may no longer feel the need to buy something because I know now what message is being directed, and to analyze my thoughts and ask myself if I really need it. Media literacy is important to everyone because we need to understand how we are being affected and what we may think as our own thoughts, aren't. Understanding our surroundings is crucial to smarter consumption.

From these logs, I have been able to express more deeply, my thoughts about different forms of media and the messages that each one gives. Instead of conforming to popular opinion, being able to express another view is priceless. The skill of being a little more media literate is mine to keep, there isn't anything that can take away the knowledge that I've earned from the class and these logs. I used to look at the logs as just another assignment, but now I realize that I can tie in the rest of the world into what I've been learning. Media can be a great thing for everyone, but only in moderation and understanding of it. Over consumption of media and not being media literate will not only change what you are, but it wont really be you. Your thoughts and actions will be determined by someone else, most people do not realize that someone else's ideals are being directed towards you.

http://medialiteracyproject.org/learn/media-literacy/

How Big a Problem is Anxiety? Response

How Big a Problem is Anxiety?

According to Robert L Leahy, in 2008, everyone has a 17% chance of getting extreme anxiety. Many of the problems that cause anxiety were mentioned in the article are still present today. Unrealistic expectations of appearance, material items, health, work and finance. Its a lot to deal with. These trends may have actually grown since 2008 on. 

I can think of plenty of things to be stressed about that I've gotten used to. The idea of constant terrorism since my generation is the generation after 9/11, unrealistic body and fashion standards which may be more heightened since I live in California, the increasing population of California and how its getting more crowded as house prices go up. Especially for young adults who don't understand the world well, all these things appear confusing and dangerously close. 

An interesting factor that I find less relevant today, is the effect that "bad news" has on us. TV's popularity is slowly declining and more and more people use the internet for endless entertainment. Bad news still gives people anxiety of course, but now people get more news from handheld devices rather than TV stations. However, the constant stream of messages we get from media and all the different distractions we have each time we check our phone makes the real world seem not so bad. We focus less on the bad news and all the other attributes of anxiety and devote ourselves to entertainment. Sad about something? You can go watch YouTube or Netflix, listen to music from different streaming services, go on Instagram and SnapChat, there's so many other things that are better than hearing something you don't want to hear. 

So does having our phones next to us at all times limit the amount of stress and anxiety we deal with? Probably not, there's new things to worry about. Your social media accounts and personality, the constant idea of strangers connecting with you, addictiveness to a game, anxiety didn't go away, it just took another form. With anxiety comes negative physical and mental barriers, even the midst of our technology and advancements, are we less able to chill than people who had black and white TV's in the 50's?

YouTube Suggested Ads and Videos

It may already be obvious, but YouTube caters to its audience through ads and suggestive content. However what is impressive about this is the timing and predictability of YouTube. YouTube can suggest related videos to you through category or tags, but more than often you may be drawn to a new creator. This creates a cycle where you continue to find new things that interest you so you're on YouTube for long periods of time. YouTube's audience today is especially big, with so many different companies and creators supporting their product on it, nearly everyone has seen the YouTube logo.

When you watch a video from your creator that's sponsoring a product, the product will appear on your screen as promotion. Same thing happens when you watch a certain type of video that centers around an object. When I watching a video on guitars, an ad for picks came up. We may choose to ignore these messages but they do have an effect on us eventually. Without evening knowing it we may start to think a certain product is better than the rest and buy it just because we see it so often. When watching YouTube, you're guaranteed to see at least one ad every few videos.

The suggestive content that shows up on your recommended page is also timed. Similar types of videos that may grab your attention are shown, and there's a pretty good chance that you'll watch at least one of the videos that YouTube suggests for you.

Overall this advertising technique is fairly simple, one could argue that YouTube is just giving what the viewers want to see, but what if we want to see these ads and videos because we're shown them all the time?

Modern Rap Influence

Looking through some of the most popular rap songs today, I've noticed two categories of rappers. The first is the one hit wonder rappers, who are famous for a short period of time for one or two songs that then die off to be replaced. These rappers usually become famous through other, more famous rappers who find or add into their music, or become famous through YouTube or other forms of media. The second category of rappers are the rappers who've become popular for a longer period of time. Their content is regularly released and you may see from them in the very least once a year. These rappers dominate the modern rap culture of music.

So, what do these rappers actually rap about in their songs? Sometimes a listener may be drawn to the beat of song rather than its lyrics. Some may like a certain rap song just because a popular rapper (2nd category) made it. However, most of the modern rap songs I've heard, are heard to get the real meaning to unless you repeatedly listen to it or search the lyrics up online. While the rhythm and melody of the song is important, the arguably more important half are the lyrics. Which used to be the case a while back, say up to the mid 2000s, as evidenced by trends. (Also around the time where media had greater power and influence on the younger generation.)

The songs I've looked up that are trending on the radio usually include lyrics about drugs, sex, women, money, and other pleasurable luxurious activities which could come from being a rapper. Of course there are songs that have a deeper more complex meaning, but the amount of those types of rap songs has been steadily decreasing. I've noticed that a good beat can be all it really takes to top the charts, no one will really pay attention to the lyrics even if they are absurd as "eating the booty like groceries" (Post To Be). So what effect does this have on the people who listen to these rap songs? They may be more violent, aggressive, rebellious, greedy, misogynistic, and overall think that the lifestyle depicted by either the rapper or their songs is the lifestyle one should aim for. A more recent popular song "Bad and Boujee" has lyrics such as "Courtside with a bad bitch (bitch)
Then I send the bitch through Uber (go)" and "Introduce me to your b-tch as wifey and we know she sluttin' Broke a brick down, nutted butted, now that n-gga duckin". We can see from these lyrics that the artist depicts having sexual relations with women, then leaving, and being violent towards others. Why was this song so popular? Maybe because of the catchy melody and chorus, and of course because it promotes a lifestyle that places you on top, if you act a certain way of course.

However not all rap songs are like this, it just seems that thoughtless, easily to consume rap music is more popular than songs with deeper meanings. That in turn can cause the listeners to promote the one or two lines that they understand from the song because they enjoy it.

Access Hollywood's Issue (Miss Representation)

 I really hate this show, its as bad as MTV is. Access Hollywood is meant for easy consumption, you don't have to think to watch it. (Although if I watch it for longer than a 15 minutes I'll begin to get suicidal.) To summarize what it is, the show makes you care about celebrity problems. Such as what color of car should this person get and did she really gain 10 pounds in two weeks? Access Hollywood reinforces stereotypes on the "perfect" person and makes it so that whenever celebrities do something remotely human, they're bashed.  The main target audience for the show are people who like to gossip and talk about meaningless things to pass time. Access Hollywood knows that its viewers are normal people who are also very easy to market to in terms of beauty products, clothes, trendy items, etc. A single episode is pretty much a long advertisement for products, other shows, and magazines. With advertising techniques such as plain folks and autonomy, its not hard to see why people love it. Miss Representation, a recent documentary that we watched in class, mentioned Access Hollywood and described it as a constant stream of perfect images for young girls. Even the "news anchors" for the show dress as "perfect" as possible to enforce the idea onto its viewers that they need to look a certain way to be recognized and powerful which is further supported by the men on the show, which act similarly to the women who discourage certain traits of other women. 

Miss Representation Reflection

After seeing the film Miss Representation, my awareness of the popular media's portrayal of women to both women and men increased. Sometimes something becomes so regular as we see it or experience it that we take it as a norm. The film brought my attention to the normalization of the "perfect" women as well as the way the "perfect man" is supposed to act or treat such women. Many of the issues presented seemed more present and real as I saw not only young female students and adults talking about their issues, but also the input from more powerful or recognizable backgrounds. The political section of the film also made a lot of sense to me as I connected the previous things I have seen. Such as many TV politicians being old white males such as Bill O' Reilly. The comments that such people make on women and politics help set the bar for the normalization of women themselves. When I really thought about it, there aren't many female or diverse politicians currently that we see on a regular basis. This brings about the assumption that women don't want to take part in such jobs that are seen as meant for men, and that the media is just giving out what people want. However I see the real issue is that media's portrayal of women make it so that younger females think its taboo to hold primarily male jobs. The film was made in 2011, so some of the information is either outdated or not relevant any longer. I think the documentary focused too much on one perspective instead being more open to ideas. What could've made the message a whole lot stronger was having men influenced by a certain view by the media being interviewed and questioned. The main speakers of the film were women and men oriented to the cause, however the film didn't go find those types of people who were part of the problem. Still I found that the documentary was right on a lot of issues and certainly brought my attention to them.

The Merchants of Cool Reflection

The Merchants of Cool gave a deeper look into how teenagers are marketed towards. I found it very interesting that some of the same techniques are still used today. Hip hop and pop music have an especially strong influence on many teens today, radio stations that are catered towards genres like this are played over and over in shops, festivals, some restaurants, etc. I've noticed that some bigger brand stores play certain pop songs so that you may associate that store with a particular song. Upcoming movie or show trailers usually also play popular songs to hype up their product. One thing from the documentary that stayed with me was the idea that all the marketing towards teen is done because we want it to happen. Which may be true to an extent since many teens are easy consumers and think similarly. A certain group of people would like a certain artist and see them as the best thing ever, that makes it easy to sell products where the artist is associated with it. Even a product that is seen with a lot of people can become popular, such as fidget spinners. Half of the people who buy the product probably don't even need it but their need for autonomy makes it easy to market it to the masses. Since the definition of cool is constantly changing, teens will keep going for the next thing that all the other kids have. However there is the other side of the spectrum, teens who want to be unique and stand out. Some achieve this by liking things that are older or not as popular, of course eventually even this becomes available to everyone so these types of teens have to keep bouncing around. So what is "cool", do teens make it, or does someone else make it to market towards teens?