Media Revelation 9-10

Media Revelation #9) Word to Image

Neil Postman in Amusing Ourselves to Death talks about how media trends have shifted away from the words and toward images (page 7).  This trend is due largely to television being a visual medium more so then a medium of sound.  Many people argue that there is a sort of advertising for things that happen because people get the idea through seeing it on television (postman bottom of page 7).  The difference between pictures and words is that pictures don't require you to think about it much.   They are mainly designed to target the limbic brain  in order to evoke an emotional response.  Advertisers have knowledge of this, and will use it when advertising to the mass public.   

Photography 

Media Revelation #10)  Personal Shifts

An important thing I learned from all of our books was that less and less people read newspapers and books while more people are using cellphones and computers.  The mass public has a computer with internet access at home that they use for a news source as well as keeping in touch with social networks such as facebook or twitter.  Our values are shifting away from personal and toward participatory partially due to advances in technology and their availability to the public.  As we get used to these things they will become a bigger part of our lives and I can guarantee the way we keep in touch will once again be revolutionized just as it has in the past years.   I feel as though this class has helped me become much more of a critical thinker about daily media issues.  I have learned a lot about media and how to use it as a tool to communicate.  Perhaps the most important thing I learned was to question what you hear and don't hear.    

Did You Know 

Media Revelation 7-8

Media Revelation #7): Cultural Shifts

One major revelation i had in this class was that media is changing our cultural values away from privacy and toward surveillance. This has partially to do with the connectivity available to us each and every day. I found it shocking to learn that advertisers monitor your internet searches, calls, ect, in order to build an advertising profile for each person. Then when you are online, pop-ups are designed to target you specifically. These profiles have also been used by politicians to narrowcast. These personality profiles are another way in which we are similar to the kids in Feed. This is evidence that we are moving toward an age of hyper-commercialism where advertising to us from as many mediums as possible as much as possible becomes the main goal. Also, sites such as twitter allow us to know what people are doing across the globe without even talking to them. This will eventually replace calling people because it's going to me much more convenient to check their tweet rather then calling them. As convergence continues to grow and we stay more connected social sites will continue to grow. In conclusion, what i gather is that we are only as subject to surveillance as we allow ourselves to be. I included the video below because it shows how surveillance can be used in a negative way rather then protecting our safety. The 2nd video below shows how each time you use technology it can be monitored, from computers to credit cards.

Harry The Hacker

Monitoring

Media Revelation #8) Media / Politics

A major thing I learned is that media influences the way politics are conducted. Page 97 in Amusing Ourselves To Death talks about how candidates were worried about their visual impressions rather then debating the issues. Television changed the way we elected our presidents because all of the sudden appearance began to play a role. One can argue that media has a positive change on the debates because now anybody could listen and watch them, but did it really? We as human being judge others, its part of our nature. If we see a candidate on television we will be influenced by their appearance even if we think we are not.

Also, now that advertisers are able to view individuals information they can narrowcast. This basically means telling certain people different things from other when door to door campaigning. This is shady business because everyone should know the same information about the candidate so they can make their best choice. Narrowcasting is a way for politicians to hide certain issues from some demographics because those facts will hurt their votes. The video below is Katie Couric talking about how the political news isn't really news because everyone knew who was going to run for president even before.

Announcing Presidential Candidates

Media Revelation 5-6

Media Revelation #5): Media is a GIANT Distraction

A big point I learned by reading Amusing Ourselves to Death was that modern media is changing society and its through the medias successful distractions. On page 52 Neil Postman talks about how meaningful content used to be the center of attention, now we are distracted by stories that have no influence on our lives. On page 16 Postman discusses how Tv sets the theme for the nation because it in a way defines us. This is because the majority of the country does not question the tube; many people rely on television as their only source of news. Television along with drugs, video games, amusement parks, and anything else entertaining is designed to distract the public off serious issues. Neil Postman on page xi says... the phenomenon whereby the reporting of a horrific event, a rape or a five alarm fire or global warming is followed immediately by the anchor cheerfully exclaiming... The video I posted below talks about how the Gaza story is below the fold on the main newspaper meaning it's not as important. They try to argue how we have more important issues to worry about then Gaza, but really its a distraction to take your mind off this serious issue. What i gather from this is that we are a very un-informed public, because we are far to distracted with living our daily lives which we take for granted.

VIDEO

Media Revelation #6): Convergence

Media is shifting away from discrete and toward convergence. What this means is that new technologies allow us to stay connected to anybody in the world at any time. Cell phones revolutionized the way we communicate when they became available to the mass public. Now cell phones have evolved into internet phones that allow us to keep in touch with individual people as well as our social networks. This new convergence allows advertisers to build personal profiles for people depending on their searches. The advertisers are then able to use this information to target audiences with individualized advertisements that will pop up. If this trend of connectivity continues to grow, which I'm sure it will be may soon be living in a world similar to that in FEED. On page 97 the book talks about how everything they grew up with, from the stories on the feed to the games, is just stem lining their personalities so that it is easier to sell to them. The video below touches on how print media is down while cell phone and internet usage is still increasing. Sites like myspace and facebook are also majors in pushing this trend of convergence because we are able to access them and keep in touch remotely.

Did You Know ? Convergence Video

Media Revelation 3-4

Media Revelation # 3:) The Triune Brain

One of the first things we learned about in this class is the triune brain. The triune brain consists of three parts; the reptilian brain, the limbic brain, and the neo-cortex. The reptilian brain controls all of our natural functions such as breathing, mating, fighting, ect. The limbic brain processes emotional stimulus such as pictures and music. The neo-cortex is the newest part of the brain, this is engaged when you are reading, writing, learning, or just in deep thought. If you have every worked on something and not realized how much time has passed that is because all three of your brains are engaged and you are very focused on what you are doing. Knowing about the triune brain is important when studying media because we can understand how the media is trying to target us. Many commercials aim to target the limbic brain because people have such strong emotions and will often act on them. Whenever an add begins with capturing photographs or music it is targeting your limbic brain. I am now aware of how advertisers will try to engage different parts of your brain through their commercials. Our cheat sheet we got for class lists many persuasive techniques found in modern day media. Each of these are designed to target different parts of the brain.

Example of limbic brain targeted video: There's a war going on for your mind

Media Revelation #4:) Ownership

When addressing mass media it is impossible to overlook the ownership of these outlets. What one will find is that all major companies are owned by one of 6 corporate conglomerates; Disney, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner, Sony, and Vivendi. Our textbook Media/Society talks about the issue of media ownership and how we cannot believe anything we hear because it is controlled by the same people. This ownership impacts what the public is told and is even the main cause behind media censorship. Media/ Society on pages 49-52 talks about how as these conglomerates continue to grow narrower the information available to us will become less diverse. In other word though more concentrated the ownership becomes though increasingly uniform the content will get. This is crucial because people don't realize that their lives are run by a few of the super wealthy that make up these corporations. The video below shows how this control is broken up between corporations.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy

Media Revelation 1-2

Media Revelation #1.) Hyper-reality

Media has created this hyper reality altering our image of reality. Most people don’t understand that media is just a tool of distraction and that it is designed to entertain us. Amusing Ourselves To Death on page 76 talks about how thing are not really as they appear. What we see is just a snapshot, which is often misleading when taken out of context. On page 87 the book talks about how television is turning media into pure entertainment. Even the news is structured to entertaining when it’s often presenting every serious context. The issues covered don’t get the airtime and the attention they deserve to be properly interpreted by the public. Therefore, one cannot simply believe everything that the media tells us. One must learn to critically question the media in search of the truth.

“network”

Media Revelation #2.) Censorship

Media has no obligation or inspiration to tell the truth. Many stories are censored or put out of context so that we don’t think too much about them. Once someone realizes that a few corporate conglomerates control the media they can understand why these stories are censored. These conglomerates will not let stories that will hurt their business get out to the public. Censored directly addresses many of these stories that never made it on the air. One of the more shocking stories in the book that I figured would get a lot of air time is the United States selling toxic products to the public. I never heard this story before reading the chapter in the book. Selling cloned meat to the public is another one of those stories that didn’t receive enough airtime to raise awareness of the issue. Yet both these things are happening as we speak, yet the news is not addressing them as serious issues as they really are.

Media / Truth –Short Video

Cloned Meat –CNN Story

Media Meditation #8: Racism in Modern Media

Oprah Racism Clip

Racism can partially be blamed on the media and the image it has created for the minorities other then white people. The video above with Oprah is shocking to see kids picking out the black doll as the "bad doll" without much hesitation. The black person is always shown as being a drug dealer, mess-up, or just bad person in general. Our book Media Society book talks about race created stereotypes. The media is what creates these stereotypes and after we are exposed to them for a while they start altering what we believe.

We teach our kids to be racist at a young age, this is evident through children's cartoons. The clip below shows Popey attacking a Japanese ship. We expose kids to these ideas and images at a young age, this is how racism is created. The kids then grow up thinking that it is alright to discriminate against other races. The other video below shows a number of cartoons being racist specifically toward African-Americans. If we expose kids to these ideas at a young age what kind of adults do we expect them to grow into? Obviously they will consider the white race superior therefore being racist. Other races are portrait as evil and inferior.

Racism in Children's Cartoons Video

Racism Cartoons

Media Meditation #7: Body Image

Body Image
Modern media has created an unrealistic image for both men and women. We tend to see these beautiful people on television and when we compare ourselves we tend to pick out our imperfections. A hyper reality has been created where everybody is beautiful and slim, but really the average person is much bigger then the average person in hollywood. There are always ads on television that want to incourage us to loose weight, why is this? The weight-loss industry makes a lot of money in this country, and that is more important to these rich elite then peoples image of themselves. Media once again is the cause behind the mass public being insecure with their body image because it doesn't conform with what media potraits as being beautiful. The Dove ad below is a great PSA that shows what a women really looks like before she is prepped for a photo shoot. Virtually everything about her is changed with makeup so that when the transformation is complete one cannot even recognize her as the same woman.

Dove Evolution
Media influence on Womans Image

Old Spice Man Commercial

I also saw this commercial the other day and it made me think of this media meditation. The image for men being rough, tough, and beastly is created by media through ads such as this one. The average man is nothing like this, yet the media has created this super rough, violent image for men, it is just as unrealistic as the image created for women.