Reality in Media
Smore 1 : What is Media Literacy?
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12 CP Lang Arts
January 7, 2016
I think the media is the way you can share your ideas, intentions, emotions, or objective information, which could be creative and critical, with other people in a society. It’s made up of people who are preparing to live in a new era through communicating. Since the technology developed, people have been communicating with each other more. There are different types of communication. People communicate mostly through television, radio, newspaper and the internet. Having the ability to acquire and understand knowledge and information from the media and to create media in a variety of forms is what I think media literate means. Not only that, someone who actively participates in the communication and uses it practically could be the media literate. With that ability, some people reinterpret the information they acquired from the media to create new information.
Media
Media Literacy
Media
Smore 2 : What can I do?
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12 CP Lang Arts
February 6, 2016
While a lot of inequality problem is going on in the workplace today, as a student, I don't think there is much for me to actually do about it to make a change. However, it is still something that must be changed. We need all of us to come together and work together to establish equitable workplaces. I believe judging other people is the one of the ways that could lead to the inequality because small things can lead to bigger problems. It is very common for middle school and high school students to judge other people. There is a saying, what's learned in the cradle is carried to the grave. Therefore, when they go in to the workplace, they will do the same thing to the people in their workplace. Which could result in unequal treatment. Then that will become inequality. I think that's the one thing I can do to make a change, don't judge other people. It will not work if I'm the only one who's doing that. So I should also tell my friends and other people to stop. Even if it's a very trivial thing to do, I think it will help making a change.
Smore 3 : Superbowl Commercial Analysis Preci
Mrs. Danley
12 CP Lang Arts
February 11, 2016
The director in the Hyudai’s Super Bowl Commercial claims that the Hyundai car stopped by itself when Ryan Reynolds and his dogs steps on the street and in front of the car. The director supports his/her claim by describing the setting of the commercial (“Ryanville”), by explaining the situation (two women driving down a street and get distracted), and by informing the Hyundai car’s braking system (automatic emergecy braking system). The director’s purpose is to point out Hyundai car’s automatic emergency braking system in order to tell to the car buyers that driving Hyundai car is safe even when a driver is distracted. The director uses a comedic situation and fascinating tone to tempt the people who are considering to buy a car that Hyundai is safe and adequate.
Smore 4 : How does gender in advertising affect society?
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
February 10, 2016
Technology lets the consumption of media through many ways. We mostly consume advertisements, which we see hundreds of every day. Many children watch TVs as well as advertisements. The advertisers think children as a highly profitable market and that children have buying power. However, the content of the advertisements can affect the ways children perceive the society, mostly gender roles. Children learn the gender roles through what they see, so when they watch the TV, they will think that the TV world is like the real world. Then they will behave like people from the advertisements because they will think it is okay to do that way since everyone from TV does that. It can be taken up as a habit because of its constant show in TV. Some advertisements reinforce gender stereotypes to young children. For example, boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls. Messages from advertisements can create a false idea of what a girl and a boy should be. Stereotyping is a huge problem in society today due to its negative effect on the children as it influences what is perceived in society.
Smore 5 : Media Manipulation
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
February 12, 2016
Media manipulation shapes everything people read, hear and watch today. The advertisers and newspaper authors now think what readers are clicking is important, not what real facts are. Media has became a trusted source of information for the people. People believe what they see from the media. They do what those people from advertisements do. Today, for example, most boys play with robots and girls play with dolls. No one born with that concept in mind. They "learn" as they grow up watching the advertisements. What if the advertisers have been advertising toys in opposite way? Then most people would think robots are for girls and dolls are for boys. The advertisers and authors know this fact that they are a trusted source, so they take advantage of it. They make advertisements and write articles for their own benefits. However, lots of people don't acknowledge the fact that media is manipulating them.
Smore 6 : Should Apple Fix?
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
February 22 2016
I've always wondered, what if there is someone who can read my text messages, look at my photos in my phone, and look through the camera on my phone at any time? Even though I've never done anything bad, I would hate to have someone who can search through my phone. Some people argue that if you haven't done anything wrong, why hide it? I think that is absolutely thoughtless. However, I think it is fair to look through someone's phone, who committed a crime to collect evidences of it for FBI. FBI have asked Apple to create a program that can help them unlock a phone and get the personal information of its owner. Of course the FBI is going to use it for good reasons but in my opinion, I think that is very unnecessary. It's unnecessary to have an access to every person's phone. If they need the information of someone specific, they can ask Apple for help. Apple will help them if it's reasonable. Therefore, I don't think the Apple should fix the program because it isn't really necessary, and people's privacy is important so it shouldn't be accessed by anyone.
Smore 7 : 1984 - Agree or Disagree
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
February 28 2016
I agree with the statement, "For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it" because ideas can't be spread unless someone speaks about it. It also can become bigger idea if many people talk about it. Some people would argue that ideas can be expressed through music and art. That is also true, however not all of us are good at understanding and discovering at what the artists are trying to tell us. It is difficult for some people. Having words is the easiest and fastest way to express an idea. If someone has an idea but doesn't talk about it with other people, it would disappear. An idea can't be exist unless many people talk about it. So I believe, in order for an idea to exist, we must have words to express it.
Smore 8 : Get It Straight
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
March 26 2016
After I read some quotes from the candidates, I realized almost half of them is not true. I think it is important to research the legitimacy of the candidate because they might be lying to make more people to support them. However, I don't think people actually fact check their candidates' words because they just think it must be true. So on the media, people say what their candidates tell them like it's the true fact. After reading some quotes, I realized that I shouldn't rely on the media to tell me the truth because they tell people lies to benefit themselves. I think it is really important to look up the truth because you can become one of them if you don't check if it's true or not. If you just go on and tell your friends what you saw and read from the media, they will believe it's true so it will keep going on like that.
Smore 9 : Ain't Rebellion Fine
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
March 26 2016
The Islamic Revolution is an event that involves the overthrow of Iran’s monarchy (Pahlavi dynasty) under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and which replaces its monarchy with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution. The major protest against the Shah first began in January, 1978. The massive strikes and protests paralyzed the country in between August and December of 1978. In January of 1979, the Shah left Iran for exile, and the resulting power vacuum was filled when Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran two weeks later to a greeting by several million Iranians. The royal government collapsed shortly after that. On February 11, the guerrillas and rebel troops took to armed street fighting and overwhelmed any troops still loyal to the Shah. After that, Iran voted to become an Islamic Republic on April 1st, 1979, and later, they approved a new theocratic formation where Khomeini became the Supreme Leader of Iran in December, 1979. I think the fact that there were lots of people that had the same thoughts made this rebellion more powerful because people tend to get more confident about their action if other people seem to do the same thing. However, I think it's always hard to start one so if anyone first starts it then other people get inspired by it, which makes it more powerful. They started the first protest to gain participants in the movement because like what I said before, people are more tend to do what other people do around them. I don't think this kind of problem isn't the common uprising today since monarchy is not common, but I think that the cellular devices are a world uprising in today's society because it's been developed so much that it affects our privacy.
Smore 10 : The Government Wins Again
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
March 26 2016
Winston from "1984" and Edward Snowden from NSA are both in the same workplace, they both worked for something related to state security and were both disgusted by what the government was doing. They were both disgusted by government's use of overwhelming technology, no privacy for the people. They also were shocked because people didn't even know or care about it. They both wanted to rebel against it. Winston is a worker of the Ministry of Truth. He is responsible for rewriting histories and propaganda so people support the party line, and he secretly dreams of rebelling against Big Brother. Edward Snowden is a former contractor for the NSA. He was disgusted by NSA's massive surveillance practices and leaked some of the governments' secrets. The only difference between them is that Snowden had the chance to do so, and Winston did not based on what I've read from "1984". They both had the same feelings and thoughts, but Winston is forced to hide it. On the other hand, Edward tells the world that we have sensors (cell phones) in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. He actually did something to reveal its government's secrets even it can threaten his job, but Winston just met up with Julia in hidden place secretly thinking it as a rebellious act.
Smore 11 : Is Technology really from Heaven
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
April 9 2016
“Science and technology were developing at a prodigious speed, and it seemed natural to assume that they would go on developing. This failed to happen, partly because of the impoverishment caused by a long series of wars and revolutions, partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought, which could not survive in a strictly regimented society. As a whole the world is more primitive today than it was fifty years ago” (Orwell).I think what Orwell means by “science and technology” is that science and technology had developed so much and it could’ve been developed farther but it failed. It is partly because impoverishment caused by wars and revolutions. However, the main reason is that science and technical progress is created from people’s thoughts, which could never be created in a strictly ruled society thus making scientific and technical progression weaken.
Smore 12 : What are your thoughts on Happiness vs. Freedom
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
April 22, 2016
Winston says that the choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness, and that happiness was better. I kind of don’t agree with that the choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness because I think without freedom, happiness can’t be existed. However. If I had to choose one, then I would choose happiness because I would live under control as long as it’s not bad as much as the society from 1984, if it guarantees me and my family happiness. Most people think as I do because in our society, governments say that they are providing us happiness by watching us and supervising us, but most people just accept it and live that way. Of course there are some people like Edward Snowden, who think it is not right and rebel. I think people like Snowden actually makes other people less rebellious since he has failed to actually rebel then got kicked out of US which makes them afraid of doing it. So I think it would be better to just live the way the government gives us.
Smore 13 : Gaslighting
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
May 1, 2016
Gaslighting is a form of intimidation where false information is presented to the people, making them doubt their own memory and perception. I think it became so popular and easy for people to have a power to gaslight the public because the technology has been so developed that people can do whatever they want. They say whatever they want to say on the internet, making people believe everything even though it’s not true. I think the way that people can combat being gaslighted is not to care about what other people are saying, but just do what they think it right.
Smore 14 : Performance Final
Soyoun Jeong
Mrs. Danley
12th Lang Arts
May 7, 2016
After I finished watchig Prince Ea's video, I had a guilty conscience because he was talking about people who are addicted to social network, and I thought he was talking about me. When I was really addicted to social network, I was so obsessed with the numbers of likes and views. I would get depressed because I got less likes than my friends got. But then after watching the video, I realized I shouldn't care about it at all and that I was the one who was really addicted to social network. I didn't really know that I was addicted. I think many people don't realize that they are addicted. People believe that the technology they are using is leading them to become more connected to each other. It was originally designed for that purpose. However, it's actually leading us more disconnected to each other. Some people wish to live like others only by looking at other people's social network, then get depressed because they can't. I used to be like that, but now I think it's stupid because people only show their good life on social network. They don't show what they are actually going through. I think if we try to stop relying on social network and actually meet people face to face, then we could ensure being disconnected with the world doesn't become a permanent reality. It would be hard to quit using the social network as much as we did before at first, but I think if we try really hard, then we would be able to become more connected to each other in real life, rather than on social network.
When I was writing the first smore from this semester, I thought the media was actually the way to communicate with each other and only gives us benefits. However, as I write more smores, I realized that it doesn't only give us benefits. It actually disconnects us from the world. People nowadays share fake informations and critical opinions on the social media. Before taking this class, I really didn't know about the social network becuase I was only caring about the numbers of likes and views on my SNSs. I didn't care about what it was actually leading us to. As I learn, I think I'm actually taking away some things from a class I took this time. To be honest, I thought school wasn't really helpful, that it's actually waste of time, especially English classes. However, I think this language arts class I took this semester was helpful because I actually learned and am able to take some things away from this class.