Connecting with the Outside World
Nate Reichard
Journal #1
Media Literacy
Media is all around us and is readily available to us in many different forms. Whether through television, print, or on social media sites, media is our main source of news and provides us with up to date knowledge of our world. In the constantly modernizing world we live in, the accessibility of these resources has never been greater. With assistance of the Internet, it takes mere minutes now for word to spread of any noteworthy events. But with this great power also comes resulting consequences due to people’s inability to use and understand media properly. This is why the topic of media literacy is quite important and why everyone should know what it means to be media literate.
Being media literate goes beyond just understanding the definition and purpose of media, it also includes the ability to interact with media around you and understand the personal image you portray through your use of media. The inability to portray a positive image of yourself can be seen everywhere, whether it’s a professional athlete who is negatively quoted in an article or interview to the most recent derogative tweet one of your friends posted on twitter. It is important to understand what to say and when you should say it. Though media has many positives, the negatives that can derive from what you say can often times to much harm to your image as well. By being able to both understand and comprehend information obtained through media and have awareness and be able to say the proper things to the media you are on the right path towards mastering media literacy.
Social Media
Media Word Cloud
Television
Journal #2
Social Media Challenge
Cell Phones
Social Media Sites
Social Media Challenge
Journal #3
Gender in Advertising
Journal #4
Presidential Fact Check
Spreading news
Faulty Sources
News
Journal #5
Orange Revolution
"Ukrainians Overthrow Dictatorship (Orange Revolution), 2004." Ukrainians Overthrow Dictatorship (Orange Revolution), 2004. Max Rennebohm, 9 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Journal #6
O'Brien: Victim or Villain?
Journal #7
Reflection
At the conclusion of this class, I will take away multiple things that will help me in college and beyond. First, I was reminded of the dangers of social media and the electronic footprint that we leave behind with the photos and posts that we put on the internet. I learned to always try to look at how your daily actions will affect the big picture, no matter how minute they appear at the time. This was the message that was conveyed in my independent reading book, The Compound Effect, along with the lessons learned in our social media unit. In our Advertising unit I learned about ways that companies try to deceive and subconsciously try to draw us toward their products. I enjoyed our unit on totalitarian states and how they surpass the media and ways that people learn about things. I also learned about satire, in its many forms, and ways that it can be used positively to invoke change within our society. I would not consider this class conventional in structure. We did not take any written tests, nor were we required to memorize vocab or sharpen our grammar skills. We were given opportunities to reflect on our lives and were able to improve our habits that we use while interacting with media. Because of this class I truly feel that I have become more media literate over the past semester. Overall there would be few things that I would change about the course. I enjoyed the interactive activities, the movies we watched and the novel that we read. After taking three and a half years of standard formatted classes, I found it refreshing to take a course that was not conventional yet still taught me life skills that I can use while in college and in my post schooling days.
Journal #8
Slaves to Technology and Social Media
I find it ironic that a device that was created in order to better the ways of communication amongst humans has actually done quite the opposite. When we want to ask someone something or tell them something, we no longer vocally do so but rather us text messages. Texting lacks the element of emotion that is present when holding a normal conversation with someone, and no matter how hard we try to add emotion into electronic messaging, with the use of emoji for example, we will never be able to replicate the same effect a normal conversation has. Social media has proven to be a very effective way of spreading news and keeping up with those around us and for this reason it has gained much popularity. The drawback of it though is our growing obsession of having to know what everyone else is doing as almost every instant and by doing so inadvertently hinders us from doing anything ourselves. This is why we must make a conscience effort, as a society to discontinue our bad habits of overusing technology and social media and reverse this negative trend. When you have ten minutes of down time, instead of immediately pulling out your phone and playing a game, start a conversation with someone around you and who knows, maybe that single connection will help you out somewhere down the road. Bad habits can be very difficult to break but once you become aware of the issue and make a whole hearted effort to begin to break the negative actions that bind you, you will begin to feel much relief in knowing you did the right thing and will ultimately be thankful looking back that you made that initial effort to change for the better. By weakening the stronghold that technology has on you, you can do just that.