The Perfect Amount of Social Media
Daniel Tuley
Journal 1
I think that media can be defined as the multiple mediums in which news can be accessed through. Being media literate means that you are able to access, analyze, understand, and create media. It is the ability to interpret media through the many different mediums it is displayed through such as television, newspapers, social media, and more. Being able to access media would mean that you have a way to find out about current events through the internet or the news. Having the ability to analyze and infer would mean that you would be able to read a news article or watch a news segment, and be able to use information from the article or television segment to piece together a story. In order to understand media, you must be able to use context that you notice throughout a story to infer something about a story. It means that you are able to comprehend what the author of a story is trying to say, and then you decide how you feel about this news and base your opinion off of it. Lastly, creating media means that you contribute to the environment around you by acting on the opinions you have formed by accessing, analyzing, and understanding the media that you come across on a daily basis. It is necessary for us, citizens, to be able to form our own opinions so that we may have a sense of self-expression. In all, media literacy is one’s ability to comprehend media and use that information to generate their own opinions, and then expressing those opinions to others.
Media Mediums
Media Words
Social Media
Journal 2
Journal 3
Normally, when I see a commercial, I see it as a break from the television show I was watching to where I can get up stretch, use the restroom, or grab a bite to eat, however, after Ms. Lowe went over those commercials and how they appeal to certain parts of our human nature. The commercials we see on the television are so much more powerful than people give them credit for, these commercials trick people into buying their product by appealing to their emotions or some other sneaky way. Advertisements seek to gain clientele at any given costs, whether it be making someone laugh or even cry. They might promise you something that in all actuality you will never truly be able to obtain, such as "perfect looks" or "flawless skin." Other commercials have been know to fire put downs at rival competitors in an effort to make their own product look that much better. The most harmful way a commercial might appeal to a customer is they might appeal to their emotional sense, by making the audience cry. Then the potential customer feels obligated to buy the product. One perfect example of this would be Budweiser commercials. Budweiser will use their signature Clydesdale horse or sometimes a cute little puppy and they will somehow manage to create a storyline in the thirty seconds to a minute that they have allotted for their commercial. in this story the audience gains a personal connection with the animal, and then the next time they are at the grocery store looking for a drink, they will feel obligated to buy a Budweiser.
Journal 4
Journal 7
My views on Social Media and Media literacy have changed drastically throughout this semester. In my first Smore I saw media and social media as great things because they could help us in many ways, the most important being we are able to form our own opinions and connect with others; However, I also see how it can negatively affect society. Social Media can disconnect us from our friends despite its claim to “connect” us with more people. My opinion on media literacy has grown and deepened have learned how to not get addicted to technology and how to not live my life through the lens of a camera. I am taking away a deeper knowledge and understanding of the technology we live with and how we can co-exist with it, but also be able to exist without it. This class was different from most Language Arts classes because instead of reading four or five novels all year, and spending our time writing essays, we learned about moder literature which is seen through the medium of the media and the internet. This different style classroom helped me stay more interested and motivated by truly learning what was being taught through lots of student interaction. However, this class could be improved by providing more collaboration between students. With the ability to collaborate with others on a project or an assignment, we would be able to not only learn from the teacher, but also learn new things from each other. Looking back on this course, I have grown and learned lots. The texts we read, and the films we watched all related to the course, and the time they were studied was perfect. We continuously studied social media and media literacy, and as that study progressed we would read a book or watch a film that would support what was being taught perfectly. For example, when we read “1984” the themes of the book coincided with dystopian societies which was being taught at the time. The lessons and themes from the books and films we studied improved and supported the overall lesson of social media and media literacy that we were learning all year. I enjoyed this class and will miss it.
Journal 8
Technology was originally designed to connect everyone from all corners of the Earth; you could reconnect with old friends, or friends that moved far away. However, now it has morphed into something else; it is a plague that keeps spreading. Most people cannot go anywhere without their phone or tablet and it is so absurd that some people that go without their phone for a day literally start going through withdrawal. We have become addicted to our electronics. Even when we are sitting right next to someone, we tweet them, snap-chat them, and text them, but we do not talk to them. People are becoming more disconnected from one another, and are becoming less and less social. Social Media is disconnecting us and should be called "Anti-Social Media"(Can we auto-correct humanity). This addicting nature of technology can control and define us, however there are ways that we can control and suppress these addicting tendencies. We can control this addiction to technology by not letting it overtake and control our lives; we can continue to have multiple face-to-face conversations daily; we can put down our phones and see the world around you through your eyes not a camera lens. We can control this addictive nature by continuing to be interactive with the outside world, meaning socializing with others and truly living and learning through experience in the world. Social media and technology can harm and control us, but it can also help and benefit us. You can use the power of social media to spread a message to millions of people around the world in less than a second, and you can use social media to connect with past friends, and distant relatives. Social media can help us connect in ways never before imagined. We can use social media to spread our ideas and our opinions to help us truly learn by interacting with other people, which is what social media’s original intent was, however we need to be able to control ourselves and not use social media so much to where we become addicted; at this point we would stop learning and get lost in the numerous distractions of social media, making more of a disadvantage than a tool