Module 3 Reflective response

Currently, societies communication within the medium of media has dictated individuals perception on issues, ideologies, and behavior through persuasive stimuli.  As a result, individuals no longer understand nor question consumed information. Yet, perceive said digested information as a norm that can not be changed. Thus, an illusion is created towards each individuals attention in the hope they are distracted from further intellectual growth. However, this distraction is not the fault of the eye of the beholder, but rather the lack of educational awareness of this structured power. I first want to discuss Lankshear and Knobel (2001) article titled, “Attention economy” to illustrate an understanding of the concepts and theories behind the relationship between both education and attention economy.

Although I found that this article to be a challenging read to dissect; it allowed a further understanding to each theory presented on an attention economy. Interestingly, there were two theorist who were of great interest to me because both shared similar points that made sense to me. These two men were Michael Golhaber and Richard Lanham. Golhaber hypothesized media as an abundance of information disallowing individuals the ability to fully understand intellectual property. Which I agree with completely. While, Lanham believed attention was losing its structure towards in-sighting wisdom and information sharing.  Lanham hypothesized this to be in short supply due to the lack of structure within the medium of media in regards to receiving information. While both theories made sense. I leaned more towards Goldhaber’s theory which further stemed towards the idea of human attention as an economy in regard to scarcity. Golhaber states, “when our material desires are more or less satisfied, such that we do not feel pressures of scarcity (such as being afraid of hunger or lack of shelter), we are driven increasingly by desires of a less strictly material kind” (1998a). Certainly this all made sense when comparing media and desensitization. The reason being is humans are statistically proven to spend more time on the cyber-web which Goldhaber stated would be the beginning of a new economy. Therefore, when one is subjugated to habituate into a behavior that simply consumes information, rather than question. That same individual is left to fall under the rule of power of misunderstanding how media facilitates its information or understand issues that are dire. A perfect example can be found within the coverage of poverty. This by far was the most disgusting information I was made aware of when I read the FAIR research. It was disgusting to see the lack of humanity behind the illusion of our news programs. This was a prime example of how behavior is changed only because information is not properly given or clarified. Thus, this is what I have learned thus far from our readings on attention economy, poverty, and behavioral change through media. It is disgusting to be aware of the true nature of how things are run through the means of media, but by knowing serves a greater purpose. By understanding the meta analysis behind this structure of power, one can determine where he/she attends their attention towards.