Tag Archive for: instructor-none-2

This week’s video lectures and readings were once again so interesting! It seems like as you go through each of the goals the readings and videos that are assigned in each one all begin to connect as they continue. This week there was some solidification of skills previously learned, while I was also introduced to other new concepts.

The lecture series by Terry Dugan was really interesting; I liked the fact that we had not one, but two guest lectures this week. It gives me the opportunity to draw from different people and hear their different perspectives. The lecture series by Terry Dugan was really interesting; I liked the fact that we had not one, but two guest lectures this week. It gives me the opportunity to draw from different people and hear their different perspectives. The videos were used as a way to introduce media and its influence on culture. Dugan starts of by defining culture, he says that culture is set of a learned behaviors. Culture is anything from traditions, the lifestyle one lives, or shared experiences between people. The developed culture is then passed down in forms of stories. Storytellers pass down the traditions and behaviors that they learned. Then someone will go and do the same thing time after time. This is when media comes into play, Dugan talks about how media has become the new storyteller, and instead of people passing down their culture media is reaching more people and passing down addition services. The way that media can impact culture is they use the ability for media to connect large groups of people, think about it. Many different forms of media can be used and the reach of media is on a scale of thousands, maybe even more. The fear is that media is becoming the storyteller and “bad things” are going to happen. This is because of the fact that although the media is seen as a source of violence and promiscuous behavior, they often don’t show consequences, this then encourages others to do “bad things.” He shows this change by showing the example of older TV shows that we valued, and the TV shows that we see today. He showed the example of Father Knows Best, a show that is said to represent the good values in our society. Compared to shows like The Simpsons, which is a show that is shown to be vulgar and promote negative behaviors. Because media is being used as the “new storytellers” parents are seeing children as rejecting their culture, they then need someone to blame for this. The easiest target for the blame is the media. This really connects to the Sternheimer because it is addressing the issue of the fact that our society is quick to blame media while ignoring the underlying issues. Also, similar to the text Dugan talks about the fact that the issues of blaming the media dates back to Socrates. This just goes to show that the issues don’t really change; it’s the same issue different time.

I really thought it was interesting that Dugan talked about the tension that is created in our society. He talks about how when people are confronted with a new culture they are often caught off guard, and don’t know their role. That statement right there, “their role.” When someone doesn’t know their role it brings up a feeling of being uncomfortable. Our culture, our learned behavior tells us how we are supposed to act, and because it is a different culture we are being presented with, we then don’t know how to act. I just thought that this was an interesting way to look at cultural tension and what one of the causes.

The videos were really just a good way to introduce culture and media at the same time. He went into a good amount of detail describing culture, what it is, how it is passed down. And the role, both old and new, that the media is playing in regards to culture. The media is helping to create a lot of common experiences linking many different culture groups together (as you can have more than one culture group i.e. family, friends, work, etc.). Given that media is reaching such a wide range of different people it is helping spread culture and experience faster than ever before. The videos showed how and why this happens.

Side note: Did anyone find it interesting when Dugan mentioned the fact that many foreign communities limit the amount of imports from the U.S. as they are looking to preserve their unique culture. I thought this was interesting because this is a prime example of how a culture can reject another “dominate culture.” It also shows just how impactful imports, be it American shows, Ads, or products can truly be on another culture.

The class text was also interesting this week. Chapter 6 talks about promiscuity and the influence that popular culture plays. I am like a lot of other people in this world, I look around and I’m in shock with how outrageously some young people are dressing, shirts that cover nothing more than what a bra would. So I see that yes, fashion choice have changed, but just because someone is scantily clad, does that mean that they are then more promiscuous? No, of course not, but it seems as though people often relate the two. Similar to other news stories, the issues of “more promiscuous teens” have recently been blasted all over many major news outlets. This seems like a reoccurring issue, where the news is playing on the fears of a lot of parents. They are making kids out to be out of control, and one thing parents don’t want, is to lose control of their kids.

The basis behind the “issue” we are facing is the idea that children copy what they see on TV, movies, etc. Unfortunately, the studies that are being done don’t have a very solid basis. I noticed a lot that individuals use the media as kind of scapegoat, especially in criminal cases. The text discusses a case where a teen recorded him having sex with someone and then circulated the video. His defense attorney was quick to blame the media, siting studies showing the wide range of sexual content that children and teens are exposed to. However, the study that was being referred to had a very broad definition of “sexual” siting that flirting, hand holding, and kissing was sexual. I think it is important to note that sexuality and sexual content in the media is nothing new and has been going on since the first motion picture was shot! (Sternheimer, 2013). The thing that has changed would be our thoughts about this sexual behavior and content. I don’t think that much has changed with our culture in regards to the “sexiness” of it all. For as long back as I can remember the idea of “sex sells” has been everywhere. They use sex to sell burgers, TVs, heck I’m sure they would use it to sell anything. I think similar to a lot of other issues; the problem dies out just to be refueled again when someone decides. I think that often times the media makes a mountain out of molehill and will portray that teens and children are out of control sexually, as if everyone is sexting and being promiscuous, when in reality it is a small percent of children and teens that are actually behaving this way. A Pew Internet and American Life study from 2011 states, “only 2 percent of twelve to seventeen year olds had ever sent a nude…by contrast more than double the percentage of people their parents’ age admitted they had” (Sternheimer, 2013, p. 149). This is just another example of how really the behavior of adults is being impacted much more strongly, but we are still continuing to focus on children. I think this is really because people are more likely to be struck by fear about the children, because they represent innocence. Just like so many of the issues today I agree with Sternheimer, if we are so concerned with the “drastic” change of promiscuity in our youth today, maybe we should consider the factors that are being  constantly ignored.

Chapter 8 of the class text introduces us to health in our society, and not only what health crisis that we are currently facing, but also the impact that the media has on influencing the people’s behavior in regards to health. The chapter starts off by recognizing the fact that media can be blamed for two issues that we are currently facing as a nation today, obesity and anorexia. When I first read this I was a bit confused, how can something be the source of two extremes this way? The easiest way that I could comprehend this was to divide the two topics.

So how does media relate to obesity in our world today? There is a clear weight gain trend in children and adolescences over the past several years, and the trend is said to be a direct result of sitting and watching TV.  Sternheimer explains that many studies have been linked to television watching and obesity. The studies suggest that those children (because we rarely focus on the behavior of adults), that watch more TV are more likely to be obese. Professor Steven Gortmaker, of Harvard School of Public Health writes, “Our children are spending more time that ever in front of the television…kids are being taught  to lead unhealthy lives from a very young age”  (Gortmaker, p. 199). Statements like this too many people, including myself, make sense. Those who sit in front of the TV for long periods of time are being inactive; therefore they would probably be gaining weight compared to a child that is outside. So, with this logic, just turning off the TV would take down obesity, right? Unfortunately, like many other issues we are facing the connection between the two isn’t that simple. This is another example of how many people are quick to point the figure at media as the root of all evil. If ads were really promoting unhealthy habits like many studies suggest the rate of obesity would match the amount of ads out there. However Sternheimer writes, “A Federal Trade Commission study from 2005 found that kids see fewer ads today than they did in the 1970s, when children weighed considerably less” (Sternheimer, 2013, p. 199). So why are people blaming the media and the influence of ads to purchase unhealthy food, and support unhealthy habits, when in reality they are seeing less ads than before? It feels almost as though people who aren’t fond of media are sharing half-truths. The text also goes onto address the fact that most of the studies that have been performed came up with mixed results. Much of the research that is out there about media and obesity is presented as cold hard facts, and that there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship, when at best the mixed results from the studies show a correlation, or association between the two. I think that much of the research and stories associated with obesity and media influence plays on the fear of a lot of the parents out there, and casts the media as the villain, yet again.

Now that we discussed the issue of obesity, how can media impact the public in the opposite way? How is it that the media is to blame for the unhealthy weight loss in our society? For one, I completely acknowledge that many fashion, news and various other outlets plaster unrealistic expectations of beauty all over the place. From billboards to magazines there are thin, white females surrounding young girl’s every day. They see these models as ideas of beauty and strive to look like that, when in fact the images have been severely altered. I didn’t really understand how we could justify the fact that the media can impact people in various ways, until I thought (DUH!) media impacts people in different ways. Similar to the obesity studies, many have linked the constant portrayal of thin models to the unfortunate epidemic of losing weight extremely, to the point of anorexia and bulimia. However, just as in the obesity studies a lot of this information are being presented as fact, when it is really weakly based. There have been additional studies in regards to outside influence (outside the media) and the studies have found that peer influence strongly impact people, and although media may play a role, the influence isn’t as strong as that of their peers (Sternheimer, 2013). I thought it was interesting that eating disorders were also linked to abuse. There was a statement that really resonated with me, and that was, “Eating problems are often not really about looks at all” (Sternheimer, 2013, p. 209). This is an important message to remember; because we are so busy blaming media we are failing to look deeper into the issues that people are facing. As someone who has struggled with eating disorders throughout my life, I know that I wasn’t really looking to better my appearance, rather I was looking to feel in control in a time in my life where I felt very out of control.

Sternheimer took these two chapters and really broke down a lot of issues that we are facing today, in a way to not blame media. She acknowledges the role that media does play in influencing the public, but she also is aware that there are so many other structural issues that are at play. Introducing the fact that many low-income neighborhoods are filled with fast food drive through and other junk food, but rarely do they have a store with fresh produce, showing the connection between lower income individuals and obesity? We are failing as a society to see our shortcomings. It is important to spread this media education and the analytical skills we are learning to help the public address, not only what is happening in the media, but the underlying issues that we are facing as well.

Also, I know we are supposed to be focusing on the class text and videos, but I also wanted to draw attention to the articles and videos that we read this module. First of all the guest lecture by Christina was very interesting. She did such an amazing job of introducing yin and yang in a way that I had never thought about. I also really liked the articles and videos on beauty and beauty standards of our society. The two that really stuck out to me the most were the short videos that were discussing male beauty standards in our society, I personally enjoyed this one because it shows the pressures that males are under, and I feel that we often ignore the internal struggles of boys and men and focus more on the pressures of women, in regards to appearance. I also really enjoyed the article Being Dishonest about Ugliness, written by Julia Baird. This article really appealed to me because it spoke so frankly, I think we often sugar coat a lot of social issues that we are facing, especially when it comes to trying to explain said issues to children. This article talks about the fact that we shouldn’t continue to tell children how looks don’t matter, and things along those lines. Instead we should discuss how looks matter, however they are not the only thing that matters. This article was just a fresh perspective that I hadn’t experienced before.

Currently, one major issue my children and I are faced with in our home is technology usage. It is not necessarily the exposure to technology but more how they choose to use technology. Often more times than not my children are attracted to violent, games, movie and other forms of media. As a parent, altogether avoiding “violent popular culture” is incredibly difficult. Not only are 7,9, and 11 year old exposed to violent content on television, theaters, as well as especially video games. It is very hard to eliminate exposure to violence when it is all around us. the According to Sternheimer (2013), “Because Americans spend so much time, energy, and money focusing on violent popular culture, ironically we fail to understand violence itself. If violence is really the issue of importance here, we should start by studying violence” (p. 103). In chapter five, Sternheimer goes on to discuss how crime and violence has gone down in the last two decades, as media begins to expand within the United States. She also makes a valid point in stating “It is important to consider the context of violence in media to understand how people of all ages make sense of violence in media, their communities, our nation, and the world” (104). In my opinion, this quote in simpler terms means for individuals to consider the source. Something my father whom is 61 years old and grew up in a different era might perceive something as more violent than I would. When studying the video games my children play and are exposed to, I am shocked to see the graphic content in those games. On game for example is “Grand Theft Auto”. To my son, the violence, cussing, and crude content is not shocking at all to him; whereas, my father and I myself are appalled and shocked so see images that that in a video games. One of the terms used in the text is “emotionally immune” and I would say this term applies to my children and other young children who are constantly being exposed to these types of games and shows. I would also agree with the text where Sternheimer (2013) states, “Of course, witnessing violence in person has a different meaning that mediated violence. Ironically, critics of media violence seem to have problems distinguishing between in-person violence and media violence” (125). (That game was given away to an adult friend by the way) As a parent, with all of the gadgets today, I have to be 100% on top of my children in what they are looking at online and with the games they are playing. I have been naive in the past, and they have pulled the wool over me in more than one instance. For these reasons, I am looking at things from a protectionist’s standpoint. It is my job to limit their exposure to media and content I find inappropriate for their age whether they like it or not. The chapter then goes on to state that people seem to think that child violence is on the rise when “the reality is that adults commit most crime, but a much smaller percentage of these stories make the news” (107). I would agree that the media focuses on stories that will gain attention and sell more newspapers and magazines. Which story would you as the audience be more interested in reading, “14 year Old Boy Murders His Siblings”, or “Man of Los Angeles Burglarizes and Murders”. I believe that the first headline would automatically draw more attention and therefore gain the popularity in the media. Sternheimer (2013) also goes on to state, “Violence may be an act committed by an individual, but violence is also a sociological, not just an individual phenomenon, one that is related to patterns of persistently high unemployment, limited educational opportunities, and geographic isolation from more stable communities” (108). Chapter five has plenty of great statistical information but overall in my opinion, children in the classroom as well as at home do not possess the skills at younger ages to be trusted whole heartily with technology.
According to the NCCP, “Being a child in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. Parental education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other factors are associated with children experiencing economic insecurity” (Jones, Ekono, & Skinner 2015). Their research supports the idea that the amount of children living in low income families is on the rise and has jumped from 39% to 44% from 2007 to 2013. The great thing about media, is the capability to shine light on major issues such as these. Child poverty is a huge deal. There is no reason why children in America should go to bed hungry. ty. The media can be put to good use and shine light on major issues such as these. Websites such as these can show statistics to educate Americans and facilitate change in society. People can create website and use their media knowledge for good use, but listing local resources and organizations people can turn to for support and assistance. YouTube is also a great source for bringing attention to real life issues. For example, in an additional resource retrieved from YouTube 60 Minutes visited homeless families and interviewed the parents and the children. They asked a group of children what it feels like to go to bed hungry. The children were very honest in describing their hunger pains and feelings. One quote from the video that stood out to me was (20011) “Homeless kids tiptoe in the world of insecurity, hoping to be invisible” (9:45). A person might see this video and find ways in their own capacity to make a difference in their community. This is a great example of how media can be used for the positive.

Before these readings I had never thought about how valuable society’s attention can be to media or when discussed by Goldhaber, he would call it “the money industry economy.” Due to the overwhelming about of information that our society gets easily lost in, attention from society is crucial in regards to media. Specifically, throughout Lankshear and Knobel’s article, “Attention Economy,” I learned about the importance of attention and the need for media to gain attention from its audience. Furthering this idea, Goldhaber writes:

“The energies set free by the success […] the money-industrial economy go more and more in the direction of obtaining attention. And that leads to growing competition for what is increasingly scarce, which is of attention. It sets up an unending scramble, a scramble that also increases the demands on each of us to pay what scarce attention we can” (Goldhaber 199, n.p.).

This quotes from Goldhaber is arguing that societies attention is limited because of the overwhelming amount of information available. From this I find that I am able to be in agreeance with Goldhaber, due to the fact that my attention is easily grabbed from things in media regarding beauty and/or animals; which, might not grab others attention. Thus, media has to attempt others attention, such as it did mine, through different topics and by possibly targeting specific gender, age, culture or ethnicity. A quote that stood out to me, such as that of Goldhaber, was from Adler’s reading. Adler stated that, “advertising is a domain of human practice with a strong stake in the economics of attention: the ‘first challenge for every advertiser is to capture and hold the attention of the intended audience’” (Adler 1997, p. 5). Overall, this quote assisted me in having a better understanding of Adler’s article because I was able to relate it to what Lankshear and Knobel were arguing throughout their article as well. Without societies attention, media will not be able to succeed nor profit from their advertisement. I find that this is why media advertisements use the techniques that were presented my Hausman, because those who are not media-literate are unaware to look deeper into the advertisement and see how the advertisement is lying to them.

When reading Neil deMause and Steve Rendell’s article, “The Poor Will Always Be with Us,” I was surprised to find out that, “According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 37 million Americans – one in eight – lived below the federal poverty line in 2005, defined as an annual income of $19,971 for a family of four.” This shocked me because with payments, taxes, etc., it seems nearly impossible to survive off of an annual income of less than $20,000, especially for a family of four. Further they mention that the news does not cover or bring attention to poverty stricken towns nor people, unless a natural disaster occurs, such as their example of Hurricane Katrina. They then go on to states that the news channels, ABC, CBS, and NBC only mentioned the poverty stricken towns affected by Hurricane Katrina a very select amount of times. DeMause and Rendell stated that, “during the more than three years studied, there were just 58 stories about poverty on the three network newscasts, including just 191 quoted sources.” This shows that media does not want to bring attention to the ugly truth of poverty within America. They also share that when those who are poverty stricken are brought to attention in the news, they are portrayed through someone whom is not nearly close to being considered poor. Thus, benefiting and bringing attention to those who brought the poverty to attention, rather than those who are suffering from the poverty. From this I began to go through the diary, “Global Food Disparity Photo Diary.” In the beginning of this article they discussed that, “if you look closely at the types of food being purchased you can see the difference between ‘eating to live’ and ‘living to eat’”. I thought this to be a great quote because some families are struggling to get enough food to survive, where other families have more than enough food. This diary enabled me to see the difference of those “eating to live” and those “living to eat”. This was extremely impactful to me because it showed the ugly truth of poverty stricken families compared to those whom are not.

From the previous articles, I then went on to read Shannon Ridgeway’s, “4 Problems with the Way the Media Depicts Poor People.” When discussing problem number one, Ridgeway uses the word, “escapism”, which is very real and something most people experience in their everyday life. Secondly, she addressing the problem of “the poor as statistics”, which she states are facts and/or rates that do not show them as human beings, but merely as statistics. She discussed that this problem makes people that do live in poverty feel as though they do not matter. The third problem she addresses is, “The Poor as Poor Due to Their Own Life Choices”, which is a false assumption. Some become stuck in a cycle of poverty stricken generations, due to the possibility of mental illness, medical costs, etc. the final problem that she discusses is “The Poor as Temporarily ‘Down on Their Luck’”, by this she means that people believe there is a way out of poverty because, going back to problem three, people believe being poor is a choice or just bad luck. Overall, this article saddened me because it brought my attention to the ugly truth of ignorant ways people view those who are poverty stricken.

Lastly, I read Sternheimer’s chapter 5. Specifically, I focused on her discussion on poverty, as it related to the readings and videos. Specifically, she brought to attention, “For most of those interviewed, poverty and neighborhood violence were overwhelming influences in their lives, shaping their interactions and their understanding of their futures” (Sternheimer, p.127). I find this to be true because dependent on where and whom you are raised from and with, greatly impacts who you are as a person and the future whom you will become. Sternheimer further gives statistics on how children are asked or even forced to become a part of a gang and how many children have been exposed to a shooting. From this, she discusses the struggle that these kids face because of where they live due to their impoverished family. This brought me back to the video, “Child Poverty” because those children suffered due to their family’s impoverishment.

In conclusion, I am now aware of how media greatly impacts people suffering from poverty. As Ridgeway stated, “poor people are invisible”, which is sadly true because society does not like to hear about poverty, thus, it is not brought to attention within media. Those who are media literate are able to see this sad truth, but those whom are not overlook poverty, which leaves it unaddressed and causes those affected by it to continue to suffer.