Module 3

/in /by

After the reading and videos, I came to the conclusion that we, as a society, turn our eyes to the poverty stricken, the low income, and poor families in our country as a whole. We tend to believe as if it’s not there and when we see it, we tend to whip it from our memory banks and we tend to focus our attention to those who seek it and who put themselves out there. While reading Attention Economy by Lankshear and Knobel, I learned that there are two classes in what they call the attention economy. There are those who are known as the stars or celebrities who have large chunks of attention towards them and the other class being fans which is us, who hand over our attention to the stars. I also learned that “attention involves an exchange.”(Lankshear and Knobel 2001). Reading about the Attention Economy, made me really think about attention. I never really thought that in order to get attention you have to be doing something in exchange for it. I interpreted this as like a comedy show. For instance, at a comedy show, we, the audience, expect an enjoyable time with many laughs, but if the comedian, who desires our attention, isn’t funny or has terrible jokes, our attention will soon be redirected to something else like our phones or each other. Goldhaber stated that it is difficult to  get new attention ‘by repeating exactly what you or someone else has done before.’ That is why comedians have to come up with new set lists for each show or tour. I know I would not enjoy having to be the same comedian twice who served us the same jokes as before. It said to be the that attention economy is always changing and is based on our originality or attempt to it.

While watching the assigned video of Child Poverty and reading Basic Facts about Low-Income Children, I learned that many children are below the line. Meaning that they are either a low income family or a poor family. Most of the time, those who are under the line try to rise above it and those who are above the line try to not go below it. In the video,  I saw the hurt in the Asiae Roberts eyes when he sang, “It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die because I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky.” It is heart breaking to hear a young man sing a song that he shouldn’t have to sing or even know that feeling of hurt. This video helped me go more into depth about how children cope or react to their unchosen lifestyle. They didn’t choose to be in a poverty stricken area or in a family who is below the line. It showed me that some children are forced to go days without eating and have to wait to eat at school the next day. It hurt me to see a young lady loose five dress sizes because she couldn’t afford to eat. For a sixteen year old kid to understand that he can’t eat or call anything his home is eye opening. One even said her life was chaotic and she couldn’t feel secure about anything. I learned that the necessity of food was all these children concerns and that’s a problem. I learned that 44 percent of all children live in low-income families and approximately 22 percent live in poor families. The parents education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other factors are connected with children encountering economic uncertainty. It was reinforced to me that when parents level of education is higher then the  likelihood of a child living in a low-income or poor family is decreased.

While listening to the Press Briefing that Marian Wright Edelman provided, I learned that Dr. King knew what it took to end poverty and how America was going down the drain. We need to use our extensive resources so that all children will have the fundamental essentials of life.  I also came to the agreement that it is a shame that so many of our children in the U.S., which has the largest economy, live in poverty. I also found it moving that if we as a country expand investments and programs that work, we can lower all child poverty by 60%. Lowering the poverty line for children and their families, allows them to feel secure and able to make their dreams come true. Children are our future and when they feel insecure or as if they can’t call something their own, we, as the world, are in trouble for a dull upcoming.

Continuing my reading with Simon Kuper and Sternheimer and connecting them to the word attention, I realized that when it comes to poverty it doesn’t make the media. Since poverty isn’t on the media, it doesn’t grab our attention. I agree that media tends to leave out the poor even though poverty is the most critical problem in growing countries. It has come to my knowledge that ‘One in seven Americans now lives below the official poverty line, ever more jobless people kill themselves…’ (Kruper 2013). People are killing themselves because they are poor. They feel as if there is no other way to become better in the world or provide or them and their families. This type of news never make media. The kind of new that airs are when the poor cause disturbance or start to riot, but when it came to an actor who didn’t want to pay taxes due to the increase, he got the media’s attention.

Many say that juveniles that are poverty stricken tend to drop out of school, join gangs, and/or end up in jail due to a violent or drug related crime. While reading Chapter 5, I learned that adults are more likely to do a violent crime than juveniles are and there is no youth crime wave at the moment. This chapter confirmed that although violence is linked to a variety of issues, poverty is the most important one.

While partaking in all the assigned readings, I feel like they all were connected. The poverty of our country is viewed as invisible to us. We look the other way whenever we see someone on the street begging or we change the channel when we see a sad story of a poor neighborhood. Poverty has never had the media attention and therefore has never had our attention. I also learned that not every person is the same. I grew up in a home who always went out to the “poor areas” and helped out. My parents taught me to love everyone regardless of there social economic status, race, sexual orientation, etc. Although media refuses to promote these stories, I believe the the light will be shown soon enough.

The link that is listed below is a short video of those who live above or below the line. It also explains their troubles and what the line is.

  1. Lankshear, C., and M. Knobel. “Attention Economy.” Everyday Literacies. N.p., 26 Jan. 2001. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
  2. Childrensdefense. “Child Poverty: In Their Own Words.” YouTube. YouTube, 20 July 2015. Web. 12 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrTZ5IG_Eg>.
  3. DeMause, Neil, and Steve Rendall. “The Poor Will Always Be With Us.” Fair Study. Fair Study, 7 Sept. 2007. Web. 12 June 2016.
  4. Jiang, Yang, Mercedes Ekono, and Curtis Skinner. “Basic Facts About Low-Income Children.” New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University., Jan. 2015. Web. 12 June 2016.
  5. Childrensdefense. “Marian Wright Edelman: 2015 Poverty Report.” YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 12 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_hnQAzzww>.
  6. Sternheimer (2013). What’s dumbing down America: Media zombies or educational disparities? In Connecting social problems and popular culture: Why media is not the answer (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press (pp. -101-133)
  7. Kuper, Simon. “Poverty’s Poor Show in the Media – FT.com.” Financial Times. The Financial Times LTD, 29 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 June 2016. <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6e8b7882-9672-11e2-9ab2-00144feabdc0.html>.

 

https://youtu.be/RE-VlC9Ck28

Module 3 Readings!

/in /by

This article really addresses the economic inequalities that our nation is facing today. However, instead of speaking about why or how the issue of poverty is still so prevalent in our society, or even the hardships that lower income people are facing. Instead the article talks about the lack of representation of “poor people” in media. Simon Kuper, author of the article, writes “One in seven Americans live below the official poverty line…yet we still look away.” This quote prompt the question why is it that we as a society are more interested in watching the upper “one percent” compared to the 2.5 billion other people who are struggling? I think that it is directly linked to their lack of representation in the media. The media chooses what they are going to show and report on. Similar to what we saw when “channel surfing” there is a clear indication who is most likely to be represented. When I did this experiment it was clear at the end that white males were shown more than any other minority group. Kuper writes, “2.5 billion people on less than $2 a day – are considered even more boring, due to the triple whammy of being non-white, non-Anglophone and poor.” This quote is drawing attention to the fact that poor individual don’t draw in viewers for various news networks and ultimately the viewer’s make the networks their money, so they will show what the viewers want to see. Kuper did a good job at placing the accountability back into the hands of the reporters, they often interview people like themselves, and although many journalist are considered liberals many of those who are their higher ups are not. This article really goes into how the media, more specifically, journalists are at fault for not reporting a lot of the issues that we are facing as a society. This furthers the idea that the ruling class are controls what we see and influence what we are interested in. I agree with the author when he said that they could represent the poor individuals as people who are fighting to “beat the odds” instead of only portraying them as victims, but instead we as a society have chosen to ignore them. This has to change because we are missing out on so much that is going on in our world today economically.

 

Similar to Kuper’s article author Shannon Ridgway wrote about the problems with the way that the media is representing the poor. Similar to the theme of the class last week Ridgway discusses representation. There is a lack of representation in regards to the poor and underprivileged in our society; this is an issue because with the underrepresentation of these people we are deciding to make them invisible. She writes how we use different forms of media to escape from our everyday realities. This is a very true statement for me, when I turn on the TV I’m looking to see something positive, nothing too strenuous, as I am looking to forget about the stresses of the day. Unfortunately, when we do this we are ignoring much of the population. This connects to Kuper’s article, when he discusses the fact that the stories about those living in poor conditions don’t bring in the audience, because people aren’t looking to see reality on TV. The lack of representation in the media also leads to a lack of empathy for most other people. Ridgway writes, “We need to see this and hear about it, so that we can keep our humanity intact and maintain our ability to have empathy and compassion for others.” Without seeing the issues that many people are facing we just don’t care, it’s an out of sight out of mind type of idea. Ridgway continues on to say that the media also uses numbers as a way to almost dehumanize people. Most times we hear about people living in poverty they are described as numbers. For example, over 40 million people are living at or below the poverty line. Now although this may be factual information it is making humans into statistics, this furthers the issue of the media using tactics to dehumanize them. If we continue to not represent them we are continuing the idea that their struggles don’t matter, therefore they don’t matter. One thing that really stood out to me in this article was the 3rd point she made. ; The idea that those who are poor are poor due to their own choices. She emphasizes that even when people who are poor or in poverty are shown their stories are told without any context to back it up. This perpetuates the idea that they are poor because of their own choices. A family could be struggling due to a sick family member, or have a history of mental illness. Although these issues are very real they are often ignored. This makes it easier for many to assume that they are poor because of their choices, this relates back to the issue of empathy, and many people not being empathetic in regards to others struggles. “…If they just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, they could find a decent job, get an education, and escape poverty once and for all.” Many people believe that if those who are poor could just do these things they would be fine. This idea comes from the inequality that people are facing racially, economically and educationally. People who think this way often have the resources to do so. They have the privilege to go to school have things paid for or not have to worry about a job, and then assume everyone has equal access to these resources. This article was really impactful and went into detail about just how flawed the Medias representation of the poor and those living in poverty is, and the effects that it has on our society as a whole.

 

The third article that really spoke about the underrepresentation of the poor in media was written by Neil deMause and Steven Rendall. They start off by talking about how the media and what it shows can really impact public opinion. For example, after the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, 52% of poll respondents said that income inequality was a serious problem. However in the year before only 38% said it was a problem. This is due to the fact that so many news stories and outlets were covering the damage of Katrina, making it obvious to the viewers. This shows that the exposure or lack of exposure of an issue can really shift public opinion on the issue. The authors write, “Poverty and inequality receive astonishingly little coverage on nightly network newscasts.” They go on to discuss how on there almost double the amount of coverage for celebrity news than that were discussing poverty. This is due to the fact that people are more interested in seeing the upper 1%, as that is what they have been conditioned to like.  This article relates to Kuper’s article as well, as they discuss the fact that those we are non-white have even less representation than those who are white and poor. Kuper refers to this as a “triple whammy.” The article goes on to discuss the fact that even when poverty is being discussed the media turns to “experts” never really getting any point of view from those who are actually facing struggles. These first three articles really show the lack of representation and the consequences we face as a result. The consequences are anything from a lack of empathy and dehumanization, to the misinformation that is circulating. These articles addressed poverty and the role the media plays in covering these stories.

 

The next two articles were really directed at children and families and the struggles that the families are facing both in our society and worldwide. These articles really related to the video where the children were talking about poverty from their own points of view. Often, as I have previously talked about we have experts, or those who are not in poverty, discussing the struggles people are facing, instead of actually having those in the situation speak on the issues. Global Food Disparity: A Photo Diary and Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 18 years do a good job of providing perspective. The global food diary documents different families from around the world. Under the picture you see how much money the family is able to spend on food weekly and what they buy with that money. Some pictures were very shocking. It is clear that those with more money spend it on more junk food, instead of focusing on fruits and vegetables, or things need to sustain one. Those with more money, like the Italian family, had a surplus of breads. The American family had a large variety of junk food, whereas the families who had far less to spend on food had a lot more vegetable and less food all together. The American family had $341 to spend on food to support a 4 person family. Compared to the Bhutan family who only had $5 to spend on a family of 11. This article goes to show you just how much can change when you are so limited on funds, and the visuals made a real impact.

The article Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 18 years, written by Yang Jiang and contributors, again focuses on children. This article went into detail about the characteristics that contribute to a family being poor, or living in poverty. The article begins by stating that children account for 33% of all people who are in poverty. This is a huge chunk of the population, and before this section I was embarrassingly unaware of what an issue children and poverty is. The article breaks down regions, race, sex, family education/income, and several other factors that contribute to poverty. I didn’t like the fact that a lot of this article was numbers, this is due to the previous article we read that address the issue of using numbers to dehumanize people. I think that the numbers were impactful and showed just how much of an issue we are facing, but I felt that we were using numbers to not address the actual people who are suffering.

Module 3 Blog assignment 1!

/in /by

Hey everyone!  This week we read a LOT.  Honestly, I am going into a little bit of information overload over here.  Anywho..

The module this week focused on the idea of attention.  It was stated that attention is a scarce resource within a reading from Lankshear and Knobel (2001).  In the same paper, it was discussed that our future economy will rely greatly on that of attention, taking the place of information.  Within the same paper, they talk about how Goldhaber makes six points of relevance which talk about how we have become overly interested in receiving attention from others.  He then goes on to split people in to ‘Stars’ and ‘Fans’, which is fairly self-explanatory but fascinated me.  I started to wonder if I were ever a star and a fan.  I think that based on his definition of each, people can switch between these classes.  For instance, I have had times where I am very popular, such as my wedding day, and everything is about me, and I’ve also had other times when I give someone else all of my attention, like my husband.  However, I don’t believe that my experiences are as shallow as the ones he described.  He goes on the talk about illusory attention which was interesting and made sense because if ‘Fans’ don’t feel appreciated, they will move on to someone who will appreciate them.  Although he talks about getting attention through an electronic jacket, this article is older and today we have things such as Instagram that provide us with instant gratification and attention.

The next few readings switched us over to talk about poverty and low-income children.  Throughout the readings, it was made clear that we don’t like to see poor people on our televisions and we don’t like to hear about how children don’t have enough to eat.  Even when stories are done on the poor, they don’t show actual photos of the people.  I for one get extremely frustrated when I see sad commercials where they are asking for money to feed children.  Of course we want to help kids but I don’t trust the person who made the commercial.  According to DeMause (2007), news coverage in relation to the poor gives off the sense that poverty is a problem to mostly be worried about on holidays, when poverty is considered to be shameful.  After all that talk about hungry children, we viewed the food diary, provided by Fricat (2008).  This showed families from all over the world with their food for the week and how much was spent.  The least expensive and best looking food included mostly fresh fruits and vegetables.  Unfortunately in the United States, we consume an abundance of processed foods which make us unhealthy and fat.  Some of the families pictured were feedings close to 10 people with the same amount of food we use to feed a family of four!

The most challenging part of this module so far is hearing about how many children are living in low-income or poor homes.  I realized that although I don’t make much, I still make more than what the qualification for being poor is.  Unfortunately, I blame the parent of these hungry and poor children for not taking care of their kids.  The YouTube video that had the kids talk about how they would only put 50 cents in the gas tank broke my heart and the young man who sang throughout the video was definitely adding to the experience.  This country offers many programs so that people can get what they need, as far as I know and I personally want them to work harder for their children and provide.  According to Jiang (2013), the likelihood that a child would live in a low-income or poor family decreased if the parents had higher levels of education.  This is important because if education can help people provide for their families then we need to help get them educated!  There were two other readings that talked about how we don’t like to see the poor in person or have reporters go to those impoverished neighborhoods.  They also talked about how those stories are usually filled with boring and depressing statistics rather than personal stories from the people living that life.

Finally, I want to discuss violence, which we learned about from Karen Sternheimer.  She talked a lot about video games and the relationship to actual violence.  In reality, there is no cause-effect relationship.  Instead, there is only a correlation, which was elaborated on by Bruce Bartholow.  It turns out that we want to blame video games so badly for people’s heinous actions that we completely ignore the research.  I was surprised to hear that the average video game player is 37!  This also corresponds with the previous chapter where we learned that cyber bullying is mostly performed by middle aged people rather than teens.  I was happy to hear that we have decline in crime rates and that our youth isn’t any more violent now than they were in the past.  In fact, people aged 24-29 were the most likely to murder someone!

Overall, I learned many different things from the readings and videos this week and I will probably re-watch a few of them.  They made me feel differently about video games in relation to violence and more specifically, school shootings and they also made me more aware of how our media definitely does not reflect our society which includes the poor and low-income!

 

Module 2

/in /by

When learning about the “three models of media literacy” in module one, I believed that we could only be one. This caused some concern because I saw points within each that I could agree with. In the beginning of module two, we were asked to give thought to which model we felt we fit into. I was relieved to hear that it is common to be representative of more than one. I, like our professor, find myself connecting with both the Protectionist and Constructivist models. A quote from our textbook helped me to finalize my stance; “focusing on popular culture places the entire burden of educational disparities onto individuals or parents, while completely disregarding the stubborn nature of racial and economic inequality, which is often reflected and reproduced in our educational system” (Sternheimer, 2013). What that quote meant to me is that there is not one way or one blame, but a mix of things that either works or doesn’t.

I found The Children are Watching: Struggling with Stereotypes to be incredibly impactful. This chapter really put into words what I believe many of us think about all the time. “Media can contribute to a stereotype just by reporting it often” (Cortes, 2000). That quote made me think about the way media contributes to the depiction of individuals with disabilities as: victims, struggling, special, and needy. The way they report us with hero worship and pity creates and continues the stereotype of individuals with disabilities being less than those without. I realize that may seem like a drastic comparison, but I challenge you to watch news stories about people with disabilities and really think about how they are categorized. The other day I saw a story where they continuously called one of the students “special needs” and the other “normal.”

I find myself looking at much of the reading from the lens of disability because of my personal and professional experiences with it. When reading Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities and the Mass Media, I could not help but think of voting of all things. The quote that sparked the though was “representation in the mediated reality of our mass culture is in itself “power. Those out of the media are powerless” (Gross, 2001). We are in election time and right now there is a huge campaign to get out the disability vote. That quote made me think about how the media chooses who is important. They focus on the veteran vote, the female vote, and the young vote, but even though individuals with disabilities are the second largest minority group, the media does not give them “power.” The campaign I mentioned lends to the notion in Professor Tollefson’s book; The Inversion of Visibility that the “biggest problem we are facing in society is that we have a hard time believing in possibility and imagining that things could be otherwise” (p. 125). If society were able to look past the depiction media has provided of individuals with disabilities and could see them as the strong minority group that they are could you imagine how different things would be?

In the Persuasion and Argumentation class I took last semester, we watched a movie called Merchants of Cool and much of what was discussed in the Advertising to Children and Teens article made me think of the film. Teenagers in the film were spotlighted as the main group to be sold things and to make things cool. A main point that was made in both the article and in the film was how important product placement is. Whether a banner at a concert or a favorite actor drinking from a Starbucks cup, the small message is getting through to the viewer. Children and teens specifically feed off of anything that will create or maintain “cool” status. In this day and age, these age groups are clinging to this status for the same reasons as their parents and grandparents, to feel good. However, young people these days carry the stress of cyberbullying on top of the normal playground spats of previous generations. “Cyberbullying seems like a new, more menacing form a bullying, like a mutating virus that is more dangerous than the one from which it originates” (Sternheimer, 2013).

As an ending, since watching the video about the Bechdel Test, it is not looking good out there! I have found a few more to add to her list.

Hello!

/in /by

Hi everyone! I’m Dani the newest member of group 5. I look forward to getting to know you all virtually!

Jessica Zarate – Module 2 Recap

/in /by

 

I found the readings from Module 2 to be very interesting. I also enjoyed watching the videos and analyzing them. One of the topics that interested me were found in Sternheimer’s readings from chapter four. The topic shined light on ADHD  and television. As a parent, I have often wondered how having two young boys whom are severely ADHD can sit perfectly still for over an hour to watch a television program, According to the text, in a study done in 2006, found that “children who have difficulty paying attention may favor television and other electronic media to a greater extent then the media environment of children without attention problems”. (Sternheimer, 2013). It was unclear whether or not these children were actually diagnosed with ADHD, which could alter the study; however, I would agree that my own ADHD children can be entertained by television, ipads, and other electronic gadgets for long periods of time.

One of the things that caught my interest were the YouTube videos that discussed women in the media. According to “#3, The Smurfette Video Principle (Trophes vs. Women) at 1:23 the video discusses a female essayist wrote an article for the New York Times, It goes on to say she was “disturbed by the lack of female characters for her young daughter to watch” and that “most programming aimed at young people had a majority of male characters with just one female in the group. The journalist called this the “Smurfette Principle”.  The idea came from the cartoon “Smurfs” where in Smurfville there was only one female among the group of males.  The lack of female roles in the media is a real problem,  How are women today, in this day and age still seen as unimportant in society. What exactly does this say about how our society views and values women as a whole? Does media decide what we consume and what is acceptable? And why does the movie industry cater so much to men? In the other YouTube video in our assigned list, “Example media literacy final” A quote from Reese Weatherspoon stood out to me. It reads, “Women make up 50% of the population, and we should be playing 50% of the rolls on screen”. In my opinion, Reese Weatherspoon is correct. There should be many programs and movies available to women and young children. Women and little girls need to feel empowered, not seen on screen as the token female or the “sexy vixen” that makes a two second appearance. Women should be seen as equals in every form of capacity not just on the screen, but in the workplace as well.

 

MODULE 2

/in /by

This week’s module was fun and interesting to me it was very engaging, something that I had already looked at before in a more detailed perspective, if that makes sense.

In the reading The inversion of Visibility Chapter six, there’s was something the author said that really stood out to me, which was “Perhaps the biggest problem that Americans are facing as a society is that we have a hard time believing in possibility, imaging that things could be otherwise.” This was very interesting to me because I always see things this way, that this may be that because we as a society allow it, things continue to be the way they are because society sees it that way, we know better, but we don’t think that there is anything that we can possibly do about it, so we continue to let it just be. This is a great example with all the ads that we were exposed to throughout this module, we see ads like these all the time, especially where the women is being sexualized. Women don’t like to be viewed as this, but instead of changing it, they continue to do the ads for reasons such as it pays them, it’s their job, whatever it may be.

The messages that are being portrayed are not really what women want to be viewed as or what the ads are trying to tell us aren’t really what is going to happen. I mean do we really think that if we wear dolce and Gabana, or spray a famous persons perfume on, we are going to get all this attention? I don’t think so. This falls back on what we also learned about the denotations and connotations of the ads, what we see and view, and what it really is telling you. The ads are very sexualized in the viewers eyes, and what the ads are really trying to possibly say and the way that they are displayed all the get the consumers buying their products, not cool! I think often times because of the way that the ads are displayed we don’t really give it the attention and time it should, we just see it as “it’s just another one of those ads. The steps for deconstructing an ad were described in this module as Making observations, and describing the ads with adjectives, determining the purpose of the ad (selling their products), determine the assumptions the AD & the messages it sends, and considering the possible consequences of these messages.

Which then falls into the five core concepts that we viewed this module as well, all media messages are ‘constructed,’ Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules, different people experience the same media message differently, media have embedded values and points of view. Most media messages are organized to gain profit t and/or power. Which is a great example of the way we all viewed the Vikings track and field recap, some of us may have seen it as what it was just a recap of a meet, others deconstructed the ad and viewed it differently, and gave it more attention, I for example made it be sort of equal display for everyone, because just because one didn’t win first place doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be acknowledged and recognized like the first place winners, and gave them more of the attention they all deserved.

 

Module 2 Reading Reflection

/in /by

In Chapter 3 of Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture, Sternheimer challenges the paranoia of the Internet causing dangerous trends in youth culture. Although new media has changed our culture and the way people communicate and navigate relationships, Sternheimer argues that there is no solid proof that it is responsible for spiking harmful trends. In fact, Sternheimer even shows convincing evidence that crime rates have gone down significantly over the past several decades. “The stories we hear might be shocking and familiar, and although powerful examples, they are not necessarily representative of a larger trend of increased danger to young people” (Sternheimer, pg. 50). Her argument and evidence is very persuasive, but part of me cannot fully trust anything after studying Carl Hausman’s techniques for lying with words, numbers and images. Since bullying, homophobia, pedophilia, and suicide have existed within our society long before the internet, it is not surprising that these these trends still exist and are now expressed through the Internet (especially due to its uncensored and anonymous nature). As times change, similar trends take different forms to adapt to the present. I agree with Sternheimer that the Internet and social networking is not alone a main cause of depression and suicide. But I also understand “the Internet and new electronic communications create additional complexities in our lives and relationships” (Sternheimer, pg.52). These complexities can be a lot to handle when you are young, making growing up even more hard and confusing than it already is. Especially since things that are posted on the Internet never really go away entirely. I believe that parents should not allow their children to have free rein over the Internet until they are mature enough to handle the responsibility. However, some full grown adults aren’t mature enough to handle the responsibility, proving that there will always be some level of conflict associated with this powerful platform. Whether we love it or hate it, the Internet is only going to become a more invasive, intertwined part of the world we live in. Sure the Internet can be harmful, but so can going to the grocery store or taking the dog for a walk if we are not aware of our surroundings. Learning to navigate the Internet with our best judgement is what determines if it is a safe place or not.

In Chapter 4, Sternheimer challenges another fear that is increasing as fast as our online habits: Is popular culture turning us into a nation of shallow idiots? Sternheimer questions those who believe electronics and popular culture are to blame for educational failure. However, the reality and source of ignorance in our country is much more complex than people realize. Sternheimer explains, “Problems within education stem from structural factors bigger than pop culture: lack of resources, inconsistent family and community support, and inequality” (pg.73). Inequality in American society has lead to a population that is vastly divided when it comes to education and intellectual achievement. While many believe that television is detrimental to the growth of children, there is no evidence that suggests that it has a negative effect on youth. It doesn’t necessarily always support their growth, but it is also not necessarily harmful either (as long as its age appropriate). While the Internet and many TV programs are full of useless junk, there are also many incredible sources to learn from that technological advances have made accessible to almost anyone who has a WiFi connection. Several decades ago, if I wanted to know what the capital of Sweden was, I would have to go down to the local public library and look it up using an encyclopedia. Knowing myself, I probably wouldn’t do that and I would go on the rest of my life without ever knowing what the capital of Sweden was. However, the technological advances of today make it possible for me to look up the capital of Sweden within seconds, something that was not even imaginable 50 years ago. Overall, I agree with Sternheimer that electronics and popular culture cannot be blamed for educational failure. According to the reading, The Inversion of Visibility, the public school system is severely flawed as a result of our culture valuing of corporate over public welfare. Philosopher, Micheal Foucault, coined the phrase “inversion of visibility” to describe the modern of exercise of power. This involves the higher-ups avoiding the public eye in order to control what is not being seen by the public. Since we come from a culture where seeing is believing, it is easy for the those in power to pull the strings of society without being detected or influenced by those who suffer the consequences. Education should be motivated by genuine commitment to public welfare, not motivated by private interest. Even in the different neighborhoods of Santa Barbara, the difference in the quality of schools varies vastly depending on the neighborhood. I agree that we must feel a sense of responsibility in every school and neighborhood in order for all youth the gain access to a bright future.

Young people are exposed to media messages just as often, if not more, than adults. This fact is only going to become more and more evident as the level of media exposure we receive everyday increases. Corporations are shameless when it comes to marketing their products.  Our capitalism fueled society will not hesitate to manipulate even the most vulnerable members of society. In a Common Sense Media article discussing the issue of advertising to young people, Common Sense Media shines a spotlight on the recent explosion of new techniques for advertising to the youth demographic. Researchers have been unable to develop a proper way of measuring young people’s exposure to such marketing and their ability to understand the intent of these messages. While it could be a while before researchers agree upon a way to accurately measure these impacts, it is crucial that in the meantime young people learn the purpose and intentions of these messages so they do not fall into the traps of these highly manipulative corporations. In Struggling with Stereotypes: Uses and Abuses of a Critical Concept, Cortes acknowledges that as humans, we all generalize to make sense of the world around us. However, the creation of stereotypes works more as “a function of selectivity and frequency than of accuracy” (Cortes, 2000, pg.148). The media works as a huge source for fueling stereotypes regarding certain groups, individuals, places, events, etc. These stereotypes can be very limiting and very dangerous at a time when our society desperately needs tolerance and understanding for diversity. In the article, Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities and the Mass Media, Larry Gross expresses his protectionist view on the inaccuracies of mass media. He uses 5 characteristics to describe the role of mass media within our society. (1) Modern industrial society allows few communities or individuals to maintain independent integrity, creating a heterogeneous national community  (2) Groups that do not possess significant power are hardly represented (3) When groups are represented, they are represented in a way that reflects the biases and interests of the elite who create the public agenda (4) News, drama, quiz shows, sports, and commercials share underlying similarities of them , emphasis and value (5) The dominant conventions of our media are those of “realism” and psychologically grounded realism. (Gross, 2001). While children are young and still forming their views on the world, it is crucial that schools help students learn the difference between generalizing and stereotyping, reality and mediated reality, so they can grow to be positive, constructive members of our multicultural communities. Cortes claims, “The issues of mass media stereotyping, as well as the broader goal of helping students learn to generalize without stereotyping, are too important to be deal with in a facile manner. They are also too important for schools to avoid” (2000, pg.161). While other subjects are also important, the subject of media literacy is one that is monumentally important in the 21st century and needs to be recognized on a national level.

Module 2 Readings

/in /by

It seems Sebastian and I had some similar thoughts on the readings this week.  Like him, I began to question my own experiences when reading the articles and watching the videos from this week.

Although this was not part of the readings in question, I will be discussing the advertising videos from activity 13. I used to work in retail. I worked at Babies R Us for nearly a year and in that short time I learned how to manipulate objects to get them sold. I mainly worked at the service desk and cashiers, I was good at selling credit cards to my customers. Near my station there was always candy fully stocked. This is surprise to anyone, the placement is normal. However, I would put the more expensive candy at a toddler’s height, just so I could make that one extra sale. Let me be clear though, I did not want to do this, my boss did. I followed orders. I made small sales at the front desk just getting kids to want candy. Normally, kids would throw a tantrum when they would not get the candy they saw, so parents would give into their children’s tantrums and buy the candy for them. I find it fascinating and a little crazy how much placement affects our buying abilities.

Onto the readings now. I know I probably should not have a favorite article, but I do. I found Tollefson’s article, The inversion of visibility. In Volatile knowing: Parents, teachers and the censored story of accountability in American public schools. I found it to be the most important of all articles. “Accountability, not possibility, is the ruling paradigm in the lives of children and teachers in America’s schools.” (Tollefson,  125) I think this quote is the most important quote out of the entire chapter, simply because it involves so much; it’s a broad quote, but I will try to condense it for the sake of my reflection.

Our education system is flawed. This is a known fact and our government has made efforts to change the deterioration of our system. Media, as we all know, is growing rapidly in our society. Many of my peers and I were in school during the blossoming of media education. We grew up in a time where our teachers did not know much media literacy or media education because it was still relatively new. One of the articles from last week stated that media education is not a new concept. I’d have to disagree. Based on the context of our modern society, media education is pretty new. Cortes wrote the article on generalizations and stereotypes. I never learned that in my K-12 education, although that article came out in 2000, when I finishing Kindergarten. I felt that Cortes was telling us to take action. He was telling us we need to teach this to our youth.  Gross discussed the representation of sexual minorities in the media and how we don’t teach these concepts. We have a protectionist ideal of media education. I disagree with that form of media education. I think teaching these ideas to our youth will help them understand these concepts and look at the media with a more analytical eye. I think I, as a future teacher, am accountable for teaching my students to be media literate.

Reflections on Module 2 Readings.

/in /by

I want to start off with the very first question we came in contact with once this module opened. The very first question was from Joel Barker , who asked, and studied “where children learn their sense of identity, value and place in the world.” When thinking about this, the first word that came to mind was everything. Children are constantly picking up their identity from the people, and experiences they come into contact with everyday. If someone tells a child that they are useless, because they didn’t quite get a homework assignment right, or because they are being forced to do something they’ve never done before and didn’t quite grasp the concept they are more than likely going to feel as though they don’t have a value, place, or a worthy identity.

I think this is a great start to tie in my reflections, beginning with the section On Visibility, power and Media Literacy. It’s interesting to make the connection between the way media delivers its messages (i.e. message contents, such as words or phrases, the people in it, the objects in it, the scenery, etc.) the way children perceive their value, and the ideas of power and visibility, especially in the hands of media conglomerates. It’s interesting to think about how that connection affects us, affects children, and empowers or dis empowers a particular medium when they are being called out.  In Dr. Tollefson’s book, Volatile knowing, in chapter 6, the first paragraph under the heading Spotlighting accountability, not Possibility, on page 125 really opened my eyes about how we basically accept the idea that corporations are more perceived as more valuable than the public good. We form our schools agendas with the ultimate goal of producing a child who is ready to enter the workforce, doesn’t question things, and is basically a blank slate to be trained as the employer sees fit. Anyone who starts to think outside the box is punished or ridiculed for having an outlandish opinion that couldn’t possibly be accurate because it isn’t the popular opinion. More often than not, this starts at a very early age as well.

I can’t remember off the top of my head which article I remember reading this from in Module 1, but I believe if it was the University of Michigan Health System article about Your Child, in which it states that children’s programming often contains more acts of violence than adult TV programming. (Pg. 4) When thinking about this set of data,  in terms of visibility, I want to connect it to the 5 questions we should be asking as media literate individuals that we learned in module 1. One of the questions in particular, that is preceded by the statement “media does not represent the values of the country, it represents the values of the person who created the media,” asks “What values, lifestyles, and points of view are represented in and from this particular message.” When we think about where children gain their sense of identity, Dr. Tollefson mentioned that according to ourselves, (the population as a general whole) we believe that media is the most influential. While others may disagree, I definitely think this is true when it comes to Generation Z, mainly because of their incredible dependency on technology. Their identities are constantly being built, almost exclusively through technological means, with virtual friends from all over the world. When something exciting happens, they must “experience” the moment by taking a picture of the events, and then posting it on their Instagram or Tumblr. Instead of learning about the rises and pitfalls of a working friendship through face to face interaction, they instead choose to talk with friends via Facebook messenger. It’s no surprise then that children are picking up their sense of identities from what they are surrounded by the most: their technology.

It’s important to think about then, the agenda of media corporations. As stated before, television is teeming with children’s programming that portrays violence, deception, individualization (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when coupled with ideas of intense competition just to better than others, that’s when it creates problems), tons of sexual references, and more often than not, cut-throat practices. This is not just opinion, but also from experience. I have two younger siblings, one who is just a year younger than me, and another who is about 12 years younger than me. Me and my sister grew up watching shows like Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Fosters home for Imaginary friends, and even more adult shows such as South Park, and once in a while we would be able to catch Adult Swim on cartoon network (this is a variety of live action and cartoon shows created for older audiences, think TV shows where the main themes were raunchy, sarcastic humor). When I compare the programming me and my sister watched as children, to the TV shows that are available to my younger brother, it absolutely blows my mind with what they’re allowing to be viewed by children. I honestly thought that I was watching Comedy Central or another adult-centered channel, and not Cartoon Network, at 3pm when children are just getting home and winding down with some TV.

With these experiences, and the idea of visibility, and identity, it’s no wonder that so many children are confused. Most parents try to raise their kids to become epitomes of well-behaved children; but fail to realize that the media they allow their children to experience (and usually spend the most time with), tends to preach the very ideas that parents try to protect their kids from. It doesn’t help that children, especially Generation Z have lived nearly their whole lives online, and because of it, have created an identity where they feel the most comfortable when they have technology at their disposal. The Internet, Movies, TV, these all contribute heavily to the concept of identity within youths.

Pop culture has always been such a large part of youth culture. Growing up, you weren’t cool if you didn’t have the latest trends, the newest cool toy, clothes, or for kids now– tech. In our textbook, Sternheimer mentions one medium in particular, social media, and the ideas of whether it is affecting the lives of those in the cyber age. As a more technological attuned individual, I have quite a bit to say about this section but will try to keep it short because this post is getting a little long. I mainly want to comment on the specific question Sternheimer raises about the safety of social media (pg. 47). I became a very prominent user of social media at the age of 12 where I joined forums for video games that I would play. Throughout the years, I’ve witnessed many positives of social media, but I think I’ve witnessed more negative interactions, and I’ve had the chance to get to know some of these individuals (both those getting cyber bullied, and doing the cyber bullying). While others may disagree, I definitely think that social media is a safe platform for individuals, at least in the sense of you can somewhat control what content people see. As Sternheimer said “people of all ages are still learning how to navigate [the internet],” (pg. 62) and this is very true. Children are learning what is safe for them to post, through the experiences of feedback from others, and adults are using the internet as an extension of already familiar mediums such as email or letters. There’s also no doubt that many people use the internet in ways it was perhaps not intended. Some seek information about illness, others use the internet as a way to vent, without second thought that they more often than not are taking their anger out on individuals who do not deserve to be treated in such a way where they are put down by strangers. Still, a majority use social media as a way to connect, bring together people with similar ideas, and create safe spaces for people with similar interests to gather and discuss without repercussions.

For this final portion of my reflection, I want to focus on chapter 4 of our readings from the textbook. I think chapter four hit on some key points that is inherently intertwined with the ideas of visibility and power. Sternheimer explains that youths have always been the center of ridicule, often mocked and put down because older generations believe that children now-a-days have no clue about anything in the world.(Sternheimer, p.85) While I believe that there is certainly a trend that seems to be happening, especially in low-income areas, where more and more children are becoming illiterate (I’ve seen it first hand in elementary school, all the way to some of my college classes, where students struggle to keep a steady pace, and often have to stop for assistance for understanding or pronouncing a 6th grade vocabulary word). While some seem to be attributing that incline of illiteracy to increasing TV and new media use, other studies have concluded that TV does not affect literacy, and I think I can positively agree with this. For children, there are many TV shows dedicated to teaching kids how to read, and talk. Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Between the Lions, Super Why, Word World, and many more are examples of programming dedicated to increasing literacy among children specifically. While some questions can be raised about certain aspects of these shows, such as agendas, portrayal of certain “scandalous” situations (the first that comes to mind is the Sesame Street episode with Katy Perry that garnered a lot of negative attention from many parents), I think that these kinds of shows are very beneficial to children who may be in a low income area.

I personally grew up reading books, and playing a lot of video games over watching TV. I may be a little biased because of my own personal experiences, but I believe that video games, especially those where you are interacting with other human players, can be so much more beneficial than TV watching. I have several online friends from different non-English-speaking countries who, because of their interactions with English-speaking players have been able to bring themselves to a fluent status in their speaking and understanding abilities. If an adolescent who has never spoken English can learn how to read and write through the use of interactions in video games, I think it can be even more beneficial for children to use these methods as well. Especially when you throw in all of the other benefits that playing video games can introduce into an individuals skill set (such as motor skills, logic, and creative thinking skills, and more).

The biggest draw back to literacy and media literacy is the sad fact that we just don’t put in enough resources for teachers to effectively teach. Instead of small classes where teachers can give more one on one interaction and attention, classrooms are a 40:1 ratio of children per teacher. This leads to having to standardize everything in order to get around to assessing each child, but in the end, the methods are also standardized, and children aren’t praised for their individual strengths, instead they’re punished for their weaknesses, not being able to keep up with the class. Classroom agendas are standardized, children leave the classroom each day with the same or less information than their peers. There’s no individual learning, no critical thinking. What teacher wants to read 40 five to eight page papers? It becomes a burden, and so teachers resort to bare minimums, they align their classrooms to standards set by districts, which in turn have been set by the local or state government by some politician with their own agendas. I remember a couple of year ago when “unschooling” became a popular method where parents would homeschool their children and let them do what they wanted. It reminded me of my childhood. My family often multiple cross country trips, and I missed a lot elementary school, and was in middle school for a total of 1 month before I was pulled out. When we finally settled down in a small town in Tennessee, I had to take a placement test because I had been out of school for so long that they weren’t sure if I was ready to enter high school. After a very long and noisy (the school had me out in the hallway in a tiny wooden desk, and class was released twice during my testing! I’m sure you all can remember high school, the halls filled loudly with kids chatting with friends as they walk to their next class) 3 hours, the test results determined that I was proficient enough in all areas except math (I had to take remedial classes) and was allowed to enter high school. After the first semester, I also took standardized tests given to students to evaluate performance. I scored advance in all areas (English, Sciences, Social Sciences) but still had trouble with my math where I earned an average score.

I’m curious about the opinions that people have for my ideas on chapter 4. I know a lot of people are cynical of video games, argue they’re a waste of time, and that they influence kids to turn aggressive and shoot up schools (definitely NOT the case!). After hearing about my experience where I was out of school, and relied solely on video games, books, and traveling to places such as national parks, do you think this kind of approach, of “unschooling” is more effective than traditional schooling, where children are essentially bred to be the same, blank slate as everyone else. Where they learn skills that only translate to a 9-5, where you spend the rest of your awake time that isn’t dedicated to making a living, and enjoying entertainment mindlessly.

This reflection ended up way longer than I expected to write, but for me at least, it has really helped me bring together concepts I didn’t even make connections to before. I also had the pleasure of getting to talk about some of these aspects with Kam before I wrote this post, and that helped me narrow down some of the ideas from this module I wanted to talk about.