The Future Generation
What is the future coming to?
Media, the one word that defines a generation. Media revolves around every single person you see, even yourself. The radio, the TV, the internet, all of these are available to us anytime of the day when we want it. The most beloved piece of media that you probably have right now, is your phone. This allows all of us to access social media 24/7. Access to your friends photos, to their information, to their lives, right there in your hand. Upload one photo and it will be there forever. This is the world we live in and defines us. The Media is the world that most likely, you yourself is addicted to.
With this, comes the ability to be Media Literate. This is the ability to understand information that is given to you over any type of media. This means listening and understanding the songs over the radio, or reading the news on your local news website, or watching tv shows and commercial. Most likely everyone you know around you is media literate: able to read texts and internet slang such as”lol” and able to like funny cat videos on the new feed of Facebook. This allows the upcoming generation to utilize this access to the internet for the use of education. Famous documents, useful article, and videos just in the reach of every student and teacher. With this information so easily accessible, why not use it? Media Literacy is one of the most helpful thing since our take home books, and a lot more environmental friendly.
Most popular form of Media
Media in one picture
Connections to the rest of the world
What is Dystopia?
A dystopia is an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.
Jaguar USA
Jaguar USA’s “British Villain’s 'Rendezvous'” (2014), illustrates the power and strength that comes with driving a jaguar. The commercial does this through explaining how you can become handsome, smart, and strategic, much like the famous British actors that are depicted to drive the same cars. Their purpose for this commercial is to make their target audience feel like they can be just as cool and charming as the bad guys in famous movies that get all that they want, including money, cars, and women in order to sell their car to a large population. Through using a sophisticated and stylish tone, they show that their target audiences are mostly young men in their 20s that wish to have fame and fortune.
“Can We Auto-Correct Humanity.”
These days, no matter where we look, technology will always be under our skin. This new generation has brought so many extravagant ideas and important inventions to further the advancement and connection of the world. However, along with this development, humanity has also taken a huge step back and suffered the consequences because of this. Not only are we always connect to our screen, we have yet to take a real look at the world in front of us or stop and smell the roses. In order for us to prevent the future becoming just screens, we must take a look at the bigger picture and realize that we must set down our phones and just experience the real world, not the one on the screen. We must take a moment to live in the moment, to make real connections with other people, and to not judge ourselves and other on the amount of likes or followers we have. Not only will this prevent a much larger permanent change, it will also improve what we interpret as the real world, not the one we only see on the screen.
The addiction to the screen is just like any other addiction. It will be one of the most difficult one to overcome, but one of the most beneficial. If the world does not learn how to control this addiction, then there will be serious consequences that may be irreversible if not stopped. We can control this addiction by only using our phones for absolute necessities, such as emergency situations that require a phone call or maybe the maps on our phone when we are lost. However, that does not mean we have to completely shut off ourselves from our loved ones. Texting has separated us from a large part of society by completely erasing the quality of emotion. Cutting off this aspect of conversations causes a huge gap in the way relationships are made. The addiction towards texting should and can be eliminated and at least replaced by calls, but only if society tries hard enough. If not fixed, the implications may be dire and could impact how relationships are reflected between generations.
Social media creates a huge window for opportunity and going viral creates a huge impact on this society, which can be used for a much greater power. When you go online to social media, you can get your own words and opinions out to the public in less than a second, which can be used for good and bad. Spreading the awareness of the problems in the world can impact and help millions and even billions or people that may not be as fortunate as others. With the power of technology, getting my own opinion of these people can alert many ignorant people of what is truly out there. I would use social media to an appropriate extent to show how many innocent people suffer for no reason other than the power of their bad situations without become a victim to social media.
Relfections
Throughout the course, my views of media and the impacts of it have changed drastically. Not only have I realized the true influence Social Media has on life as we know it, I have realized how much I am always online and the control media has on my own life. Because of this realization, I have started to look at the bigger picture of life and I have started to put down my phone more to experience the real world instead of always being connected to the internet. I have appreciated the fact that I wasn’t always born with a phone in my hand and I have had a childhood that wasn’t only apps on an iPad or texting my 5th grade friends. This is probably the reason why I will grow up with a better understanding and appreciation of the world than some younger children that have always lived with technology at their fingertips do. This course has also taught me the reality of the dystopia that we may be living in right now, that I haven’t noticed before and the realism of the future if more people do not understand the lasting effect of controlling governments. During the course, I would have loved it if we talked more about dystopia and studied more works, such as “Brave New World” or more. The fact that the world as we know it may turn into something much like these book opens my eyes and brings to light something that I never thought about before this course. I would have also liked to incorporate more group activities that would opened more perspectives and required more participation from everyone in the class.