Modern day Media Maddness

Media Tracking

When first assigned this essay I made a very quick very pitiful assumption, I assumed I knew the amount of media I that I allowed into my daily life. I knew I enjoyed consuming information regardless of the type media it was, the subject of the media never really mattered. This assignment has definitely opened my eyes to the how the media I consume affects me.  

 The common term used with my generation to define someone who is very self-aware and socially conscience, is “Woke”. During this assignment making an effort to be more aware, becoming “Woke” while consuming media seemed like a simple task, however it’s not the case! Throughout this paper I will do my best to make points of how my media diet affected me in the three ways you specified.

 Overall Media Consumption

During the week that I tracked my media consumption I tried my best not to alter any of my daily patterns with regards to my social media usage, even though I had to take an unexpected during the time frame of the assignment. I was so shocked at how much of my time I throw away to sit around staring at a screen. I spent over forty hours during the week consuming media, that a fulltime job; and I already have one of those! The subject matter of the media I consumed varied so much that actually identifying what stuck out to me as an overall theme was a difficult task.

 Psychological Effects

The theme in the media I take in is usually balanced between sad things going on in the world, and stories from scientific outlets that usually leave me feeling inspired and curious about the future of our species. The politics of our country has left me with feelings of indifference towards the political system as a whole. We are governed by men and women who for the most part don’t truly care about people, they may care for their constituents but that’s as far as their empathy reaches. I know I shouldn’t have such a negative perspective of the leaders of our nation. It just seems to me that all the attack ads at every level of the process is disheartening and disenfranchising to young Americans across the nation. Now after I get done trying to process all the crazy things I may or may not have read. I like to go into reading about genetic research, our plans about humans going to Mars. Those things leave me feeling confident and inspired, it makes waking up every day a fun and exciting prospect, because we come one step closer to the future and the betterment of humanity. This assignment really made me think about how media affects me, and I have to say I feel better most of the time after I’m done consuming media, not because the world is all roses and peaches, but because the way in which I consume media.

 Physical Effects

During the week that I tracked my media usage I watched one of my favorite movies, “Batman V. Superman”. While watching the movie I remember feeling excited when the main characters engaged in hand to hand combat. I also remember feeling nervous when Louise Lane almost drown, maybe it’s the fact that I almost drowned as a young child that made me feel so uneasy.

 I also read a few articles that were about Donald Trump’s comments regarding women’s genitals. I became very upset and bothered by it, not just the statement but also the non-apology he issued in the wake of the calamity. The story legitimately had my blood pressure up and I felt like I could slap him if afforded the opportunity.

Emotional Effects

I am not an overly emotional being, I never have been. All I can do is try to be more in touch with my emotions, that is something this assignment helped me with in some regards. I did get angry and bothered by some things that came through our media cycle. I did get sad when superman died, I felt happy seeing batman in live action once again. So the emotional effects of the media I consumed did affect me.

Conclusion

The idea of Media in this day and age has been skewed due to the rhetoric about a biased media by the President-Elect Donald J. Trump. Journalist have an even harder task to complete today than ever before. Free speech is constantly under attack from the political left and right, however most attacks are from the right side of the spectrum.

It is imperative that journalist stay the course and keep reporting the facts as we discover them and their validity. Having a reporter who is considered all about the facts and they report the story as such are labeled, “straight reporters” Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009).  These type of reporters rely on facts and relaying those facts to the audience. How and if these facts are used in a positive manner can be uncovered by using the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion (ELM) we can figure out which thought process people used to come to their stance on a topic. Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009). The biggest issue we have to correct is that so many people fall for the political feel good stories, ones where the ad plays on your brains subconscious in order to incite positive feelings towards the candidate being shown. This is caused when you take the peripheral route described in the ELM model Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009) The overall goal as a journalist is to help keep the general public informed and aware of the events going on in our nation and across the world. Informing people the right way usually involves the Central route described in the ELM model, this involves critically thinking ability and self-awareness. This is the way we best inform the public about what is happening in the world, locally and abroad.

Media biased usually doesn’t start with the person actually reporting the news, they are probably being influenced by their bosses or the corporation that pays the bills. This is evident with news channels such as Fox News, which is a right leaning outlet; Or MSNBC which leans left on political issues. These major outlets reach millions of people here in America and play a role in the divide we see across our nation. Being about to spot that bias and understand the agenda that has been set by those in charge is important part of keeping yourself well informed. What is important and what isn’t on a news website or newspaper usually helps shape our definition of how big a problem or story is, for example a story on the front page or the headlining story will resonate more than say a story on the fourth page. Understanding that media is affected by the people putting out into our world is important so we can use our own brain to decide where we stand on issues.  

Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009). How fantasy becomes reality: Seeing through media influence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009). How fantasy becomes reality: Seeing through media influence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rap music has always been looked at in a very literal sense. People hear lyrics from rappers on the radio and automatically assume that was Rap music is all about. Rap is part of the Hip-Hop culture, many thing Hip-Hop and Rap are the same thing. Even though they are synonymous with each other, they are independent forms of artistry. Rap tends to focus on the material objects that society has deemed important due to various marketing schemes and ad campaigns. Hip-hop artists tend to be the underground artist, speaking on personal demons, or social injustices. Since its inception in, “Hip-hop music is generally considered to have been pioneered in New York's South Bronx in 1973 by Jamaican-born Kool DJ Herc” (Blanchard, B. 1999, June/July.) People tend to relate to Rap because for a good portion of urban America this is what we see portrayed in movies and on television. Art tends to reflect the artists life, with rappers it is important to remember this isn’t how society in general views women or material objects. I am no way condoning calling women the word “Bitch, Ho, or Whore” these words are used as descriptive words used to describe what subject the rapper is addressing, just like adjective in regular sentences.

One of the most interesting things about Rap music is that is primarily thought as an art form used and enjoyed by African Americans, However this is not the case. “The largest audience for Rap music is White kids from the Suburbs.” Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009). That statistic has always amazed me, I grew up in one of in not the worst neighborhood in the Las Vegas Valley. I grew up in the elements a lot of rappers describe in their lyrics, from drug dealers on the corners to police harassing kids on the basketball courts. Seeing violence and the gang mentality first hand really caused myself to become desensitized to violent imagery portrayed in some Rap Music and other forms of media. When people become desensitized to things in media they don’t get affected by what they see or here. Knowing that suburban kids listen to something they cannot relate to even if they tried. Rap is ingrained in a good portions of our nation’s population’s personality. It is what gives young men and women an outlet that is free and grants power to influence. It crosses racial and cultural boundaries all you have to have in Rap to be respected and revered, is talent. No one cares about the skin of the person rapping their bars during a cypher. It is in these cyphers were you are judge, on delivery, wit, and content of your Raps. This is a culture not a hobby or a group of people cursing. It is my hope that more and more people of different ethnic groups will view Rap for what it actually is, and not what people label it.  

  Blanchard, B. (1999, June/July). THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RAP & HIP-HOP CULTURE. Retrieved November 15, 2016, from https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.html

What is “race”? Webster’s dictionary tells us this about Race, “a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock.” I always found it odd that we as a species separate ourselves into categories. Black, Brown, White, and Asian the list by very definition separates us from one another, like we are from different planets. A popular term used today during immigration conversations is “Alien”, which always made me feel like our leaders wanted us to fear people from other nations. This is why I believe when watching movies or television shows that contain violence or criminal activity we always see consistent Schemas that lead to the characterization of Hispanic, Black, and Asian as bad scary people. These type of portrayals can lead to an overall bad view on various ethnicities and cause stereotypes to form Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009).

As the demographics shift here in the United States of America towards a more racial diverse country, representation will make sure we start seeing more and more of these negative portrayal in the media. “The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the commission is the United States' primary authority for communications laws, regulation and technological innovation.” (FCC.Gov)  We in America have some of the most laid back laws when it comes to what can and cannot be shown on television. Even though we have laws in place to protect us from blatant racism in our media the stereotyping of other ethnicities cannot be ignored. When men of color are portrayed they tend to fall into very few categories, the athlete, the gangster/drug dealer, or the poor intelligent kid. All while when white men are portrayed in media they tend to have a wide variety of character traits and story arks. This has to do with the Stereotyping Theory pertaining to Warmth and Acceptance. The Warmth and Acceptance Theory is defined as all stereotypes are categorized in two categories, Warmth and Competence. Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009). Warmth is how you perceive the individuals personality, and the Competence is the level in which the person being stereotyped can challenge us.

Even though representation is meant to depict our nation’s diversity in media properly it comes up very short when it actually comes down to depicting our diversity on a micro level. This is way I believe stereotypes are here to stay and an unavoidable part of our media diet. So all we can do as individuals is stay aware of what we are digesting in our media diets.      

   About the FCC. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from https://www.fcc.gov/about/overview

Dill-Shackleford, K. (2009 P52). How fantasy becomes reality: Seeing through media influence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.