Module 4

Culture is learned behavior by individuals. People share experiences and traditions that make a person’s “culture” unique. Each of us can belong to several different cultures. Someone can have one culture at work, one at home, another with friends, and so on. From the first cave paintings to the internet there is a fear that the media has replaced the storytellers. Dugan (2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qSOdmCDoow) says, “when the media is the storyteller bad actions go unpunished”. People are afraid that TV shows like Homer Simpson are the new family values. Why is violence ok and sex not? “A culture of violence is ok, a culture of sex isn’t.” Dugan (2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qSOdmCDoow)

All communication used to be local because of mobility restrictions. Language and customs would stay within a village. After the twentieth century and America’s involvement with WWI people became interested in acting, talking on the radio, etc. By the 1930’s people wanted a true common experience and they were experiencing it through the radio. Dugan (2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qSOdmCDoow) states, “Mass communication can create a common culture through shared experiences.” These shared experiences are shared by listening to the same TV program or same radio station. Many Countries are now filtering what American programs are able to come into their Country. They are worried that the American culture will become their culture if too much is shared. The mass media is not mass anymore. There are more niche communication avenues then common culture. Advertisement is the only exception to this rule.

Karen Sternheimer shares a newspaper article in her book, “teenage boy from the Baltimore area who videotaped himself having sex with a classmate and then showed the video to his friends.” (Sternheimer, 2013, p.140). In the article it says that children will have spent 19,000 hours in front of the television by age nineteen. Sternheimer believes that it is not the sexual content from television that led to this horrendous crime. I on the other hand have to raise an eyebrow. Sternheimer (2013, p.140) states, “if our television culture is so sex laden and causes such inappropriate behavior, we would expect even more incidents like this”. I would like to remind everyone that victims of sexual abuse do not always step forward. They do not step forward because they are embarrassed, scared, the list goes on. Humiliation in a sexual nature can be just as emotionally damaging. The key is moderation when we are talking about television like Dr. Pabers explained in her lecture, ying and yang. Dr. Pabers says, “know when it’s time to turn it off”.

Obesity in the United States is an epidemic. Some experts say to cut TV out heavily. “The simplest way to reduce obesity risk is to cut TV time”, Boston Globe. The time that you sit in front of the TV is time you could be walking around being active. Before fast forward and recording options were available for TV programs advertisements were a huge influence. When these options were not available advertisements were always luring children into buying sugar loaded cereals. On the opposite side of the spectrum anorexia, bulimia and body image is a big problem with role models being people like Beyonce and Hillary Duff. They set unrealistic expectations for children and people. Sternheimer (2013, p. 203) says, “celebrities, magazines, websites, the fashion industry, and even Facebook” contribute to the overwhelming problem. Susan Patricio did her media critique on the deconstruction of Disney women. I think we can correlate the two of these together. These Disney characters give unrealistic expectations to children growing up causing health problems. Look how many people are suffering from eating disorders!