What Happens To You Here Is Forever
Media Literacy
Social Media Use
Media/Media Literate
Media is simply mass communication. It is a way for people to spread their words to the world. The scale of this really depends. It can be a person on Facebook with 25 friends, or it can be a massive news’ twitter with 500,000 followers. Social media is people’s way for social networking. Social media can be used in multiple ways. On a more personal scale, social media can be used to express one’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings. It can be defined as expressive and interactive, but really social media can be whatever you want it to be. It can be a way for people to share things they have been holding in on an anonymous account. It can also be just a way to communicate with friends. Today, there are so many variations of social media. There is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, Snapchat, and countless others. These are all very different concepts, but all share the same basis, which is social media, and it allows people to connect via technology. Social media has began to take over teenagers lives, and adults too. Humans rely on technology. Do we even know how to communicate without it? What is media literate? To me, to be media literate, you must know how to use some of the media sites. You do not have to be a computer whiz, you just need to know how to do the basic concepts of the network. Media Literacy, on the otherhand, is a completely different thing. Media Literacy is the class I am in right now. Clearly, this is more about analyzing the different genres of social media. We probably do not sit at home and do this on our own on a large level, but sometimes this might happen instinctively.
Media Tree
A tree with branches of all different types of media and related things
Word Jumble
Words describing media and media literacy
Thumbs Up
Facebook Like icon with pictures about media and social media inside.
Tim Tebow #NoContract T-Mobile Superbowl Commercial
Commercial Précis
T-Mobile in the commercial, “No Contract,” addresses that there are unlimited possibilities when you don’t have to worry about the stress of a contract. T-Mobile supports their claim by showing how Tim Tebow has more free time such as helping give birth to a baby and also catching Sasquatch. The purpose of this commercial was to advertise their new no contract clause in order to allow their customers more flexibility to get a new phone that suits them best at any time. The mood of this commercial is best described as humorous and informational for people of all ages who use cellular phones.
Satire Article
Internet: “Man’s Savior or Man’s Greatest Enemy”
Alison Mills, Staff Reporter
Tuesday March 11, 2014
DULUTH – EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! That catch phrase used to only be heard on the street corners however with the invention of the internet that catchphrase can only be heard in those black and white movies that are basically nonexistent to today’s generation. Today’s generation has become enamored with the fact that any small detail or piece of knowledge that was once desired can now be found with a simple click of a mouse rather than the flipping through dusty old library books.
When the Internet was invented in the 1950’s around the same time as the birth of the computer, it was simply designed for sending long distance messages and sharing information. While it appears to the common person that is the same reason why the Internet is used now, Facebook and Twitter where barely even fragments of ideas sixty something years ago. The sharing of information has increased a thousand fold even over the past ten year. “I don’t even have to read a book to write a book report anymore” stated John Hodgens (student at Peachtree Ridge High School). No longer do people really have to master a subject when all of “life’s mysteries” can be found with the click of a button.
“I no longer have to take my car to the dealership when it won’t start since I can just troubleshoot the issue online and save thousands of dollars,” Rhonda Barber reported to her local mechanic. Every problem that needed to be solved by specialist is now being attacked by the Internet; jobs are being taken away slowly as people can solve more and more issues without the help of people who took years and years to train for that area of expertise.
1984: It's the End of the World as We Know It
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It” is a song released by R.E.M. in 1987. The message portrayed in the song can easily describe a dystopian society such as the one George Orwell wrote about in the book 1984.The first line two lines of the song are “That's great, it starts with an earthquake. Birds and snakes, an aeroplane, and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.” This relates to 1984 because their society did not become dystopian overnight, it started with something natural. Although Winston only vaguely remembered the past, no one else did. Everyone thought the society was normal. No one was scared. The song talks about patriotism and uniform which were both required in 1984. The lyrics at the end of the fifth verse are “A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline.” This is exactly how Winston feels. His whole job is changing statistics to ensure the government is always right. If the government says 2+2=5, then that is the solution. Winston declined the governments rule and tried to join a secret Brotherhood against Big Brother. He wished he could’ve had some time alone like he thought he had been getting in Mr. Charrington’s room with no telescreen (so he thought), but when he got caught and found out Mr. Charrington and O’Brien were both workers of the government, it was the end of the world as he knew it.
Perfomance Final
Media literacy has been a course that has been really practical to real life, especially as a teenager. The first unit was on social media. My view on social media has definitely deepened. I always thought of social media as strictly a way of communicating with friends and family, but it is more than that. Social media can be the only way to define someone. It is an accumulation of someone’s life that can be seen by everybody. It never goes away. This is why social networking pages can be each person’s electronic tattoo. Knowing that, it makes the user think more before posting something that will be stuck on them forever.
I have learned many other things while in Media Literacy. I enhanced my writing skills in places that I was already weak. I learned how to cite my sources properly with the help of EasyBib. Now that I know how to use this website properly, it will help me significantly with papers in college as well. I have also learned how to quote and cite authors correctly, as well as properly inserting quotes into my writing. Learning the different methods of inserting quotes can make a dramatic difference in the level of writing. Annotating and writing precis are both something I did for the first time in this class. At first, they were a hard concept to grasp since I have never done anything like that, but with practice, it became much easier. I can definitely see the benefits of annotating. It helps with the understanding of the whole piece. I am taking away all of this information from this course, and will be entering college a better writer.
Although I have read many books, I never knew what a Dystopia was. I found the dystopian genre to be surprisingly interesting. A dystopian society is something that seems so farfetched but strangely so close to our society. It makes you doublethink on how much government involvement we have. Leaving this course, I will be more aware about our government and its scandals, for instance Edward Snowden, the Whistleblower.
This class has been slightly different than my other language arts classes. I think this class is more structured to today’s society. It makes it more interesting being that we can relate more to the curriculum. You and Mrs. Davis have done a great job dealing with the seniors. You understand our laziness but still bring out the best in us during class time. Reading strictly during class time takes a ton of time but students simply would not read it for homework, so this isn’t something that you could really change. I would read it for homework, though. So, I honestly think that this was a really interesting and challenging course that has pushed us to be the best students we can be. I really enjoyed taking media literacy and I’m glad you were my teacher to help prepare me for college next year!