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.    

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