Media Literacy
Smores
Smore entry #1
What is media and what does it mean to be media literate?
What is Media? I believe media is people who bring us the latest news on events that are happening around us. Anyone who works with television, radio stations, magazines, and newspaper are all apart of the media. Media can be good and bad but what catches everyone’s attention is the drama and the media is quick to dish it out for our entertainment. It is somehow appealing to us to hear the latest gossip or rumor so the media can be portrayed as the bad guys. Media is apart of technology and Being literate means you have skills in reading, comprehending, and processing information. To be Media literate you have to acquire knowledge on all news. One main source to collect data is social media. Social media is used across the world and when something happens, the word spreads vastly. You have to understand the use of technology also to release news before another source does. TMZ is a great example. They give the latest gossip and they usually find out information about someone or something before the news does. They have workers and photographers out on the streets waiting for their next story to tell. The media team is only doing their job but to others they invade people’s privacy and they release information sometimes that should be secret. This mainly involves celebrities, the media is out 24/7 around the spots that the hottest celebs go to. Even though being apart of the media has its downfalls, If you are media literate the media is the place for you.
Smore Entry #2 (Social media reflection)
A nation controlled by robots
Smore entry #3 (Amazon Echo #Baldwinbowl Party)
Amazon, in its 2016 Super Bowl commercial, broadcasted their latest product called Amazon Echo, Similar to the Beats pill by Dr. Dre. This device is a Bluetooth, portable speaker that answers commands with the sound of a voice. In this commercial Amazon creates a scene as if it were a super bowl party hosted by Alec Baldwin and accompanied by Dan Marino, Jason Schwartzman, & Missy Elliot. The commercial begins with music playing and Missy Elliot dancing. Alec Baldwin walks in and talks to the speaker telling the programmed voice on the device to stop the music. Missy Elliot looks shocked and asks Baldwin how he turned the music off, this is when he shows her the Amazon Echo. He explains all the unique features it has such as streaming music and ordering things. Amazon’s purpose is to get people to see that there is no device that can compare to the Amazon Echo, so it is worth buying. The commercial ends with Missy Elliot telling the Amazon Echo to play her new song, then the guests of the party proceed to dance. This symbolizes how music can bring people together and that it makes people have a good time, which draws more attention to the product. Amazon doesn’t have a specific audience here, they are trying to reach everyone that likes music and will put the Amazon Echo to good use. The tone is Amusement because there is a little humor and lots of joy.
Smore entry #4 (Politifact: The Donald Trump Files)
Smore Prole Entry #5
The passage relates to today’s society because most of us are often distracted by social media, family, friends, work, and our lifestyles that we tend to look away from societal issues and what’s going on around us. We adapt to the way things are, good or bad; and we don’t make much of an effort to change things. Some people in the world today are satisfied with the way things are and look at it as though; this is how it should be. All these distractions keep us from facing the real world and all the obstacles that it brings. Social media, sports, movies, and reality TV all play a role in controlling our society because the media portrays an image of an almost perfect society and sports can bring people together if they are really passionate about a certain team. The media is full of opinions and everyone is bound to believe something they hear. We often don’t stop to think or understand that in society today, we barely have any privacy anymore. When we are on the internet, our every move is being tracked. Our browser history turns into preferable items on ads, our passwords are automatically saved in the system even though you are given the option to have a website remember your password or not. The passage basically says, everyone lives a traditional life living by a routine. Everyone goes through daily distractions so bigger issues don’t affect them so much, they have more things to worry about and even though they may be little things, anything is better than facing what is going on in the world. Avoiding conflict, tragedy, and war allows them to continue a happy life.