MY SOCIAL MEDIA USE

I made an interesting connection during our social media lecture and my personality. Learning about the uses and gratifications of social media made me think about why I don't really post or use Facebook other than the occasional update once a month.  I have significantly less friends than most people and I thought wow I must be behind the game, when in fact it's more about my personality as to why I have little activity on Facebook compared to my other social friends.

I am slightly more introverted and I prefer to be in a small group setting as opposed to a large party setting.  I consider myself social, however the extroverted social butterflies have me beat by a long shot.  I no longer feel bad about avoiding useless time on Facebook, although now I would like to start a blog to feel connected somehow and the fill the void to contribute to the world.

I just finished reading the chapter for today's lecture on Internet exposure and how to combat explicit material for underage children and adolescence.  The Internet is a unique tool, (in which I am writing this post)  that has proven to have many benefits to society. I know in my life I use the Internet as my primary form of media.  The medium is also attractive because we have the ability to connect and send messages all around the world.  Children and adolescence are especially attracted to the Internet to help form relationships and connect.  With this in mind, there are important components to keep in mind in order to ensure safety from unwanted explicit material that may have damaging effects.

The largest component is to teach our children media literacy and how to appropriately handle situations of the Web.  In the text discussion of blocking software was discussed, but this technology is not full proof. With this in mind we must educate our children to be blockers of their own virtue.  Help them realize how they can help in the fight against unwanted explicit material and become an example of integrity.  Teaching them to think critically and responsibly is the only full-proof way to ensure their safety from harmful media interactions.

After our music lecture I became aware of the fact that I use music for positive mood enhancement. Today was one of those days and I had my iPod in all day! I listed to an assortment of music from good 'ol top 40's to oldies, and then some classics.  It really works! Music can calm the mind and lift the spirits which is why it is so important for me to listen to classical or inspirational music before I attend church. This style helps put me in a frame of mind to understand the teachings of the gospel more.

Tonight I watched the debate like I said I was going to a few posts back.  It is always fun to see opposing views in action.  I have been fortunately deprived of Media for the last few weeks not watching a ton of T.V. so I really got to soak in the different views of the candidates and make up my mind without the media telling me what to think about.  I kind of like this power!

In class we are learning about the power of advertising and I find that the more exposed I am to media the more media helps formulate my opinion, just like how ads persuade the consumer to make a purchase. Allowing myself to do my own research and really understand the things being debated helps me to feel that I am forming my own opinion and I like being less exposed to the bias out there.

This week in class we watched a very influential documentary about women in the media.  Seeing the graphic nature about how media are portrayed in general is shocking and it seems that media producers only highlight the young and beautiful  I found it interesting that this fact does not even come close to representing the actual woman population.

Women have come so far from the suppression of the 1940-1950's from wearing pants to holding jobs, but unfortunately the media is taking a backlash toward women in this battle for equality.  In a PR class I took on campus we learned about the glass celling and promotion of genders and the fact that women's god given ability to have children sets them back in the workforce and they will never be able to catch up.  This is unfortunate because of the wonderful sacrifice that accompanies having children.

On a separate note I also am worried about how young girls are influenced by this media and how it effects body image.  This seems to be a big issue in adolescents and early adulthood that could be avoided had we been portraying women positively through the media.

Book Assignment

             I was exposed to the book Nineteen-eighty four in a high school English class.  The book is about a man named Winston Smith who struggles with oppression from the government, who watches their every move, referred to as Big Brother.  At first the book made me uneasy and I did not like the story line, but as we got into it and discussed it in class I found myself reading more quickly.  I discovered many reasons why I liked the book and saw how applicable the book is to real life.  As an adult I have chosen to read books of the self-help nature.  I’m drawn to anything that I can apply to my life.  I also really like the book entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People.  I discovered how much of this book I could use everyday and appreciate the tools I have learned from it.  Both of these books offer insight that is useful and if I am going to pursue reading something I choose to invest my time into something that will help or inspire me. 

            I remember distinctly at 22 years old when I moved to Arizona, where camera speed lights where on every corner, thinking that the government must have put them in to monitor us.  I commonly have these types of epiphanies as I experience politics and work to formulate my political identity such as when president Obama was elected Nineteen-eighty Four periodically stuck out to me, especially when talking about the socialization of healthcare.  This reminded me of how the people in the book were monitored and constantly in lines, as I imagine this allocation of health services to be like. 

            The next book that has been really powerful and inspiring that I was exposed to as an adult is the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  As a non-fiction self-help book, that I think everyone should read, the author really came up with a concise plan to helping people relate to others.  The strategy includes six ways to making people like you, fundamental techniques in handling people and how to be a leader.  This book really helped fine tune how I interact with others in society and has been a source of strength in creating relationships.  

My media experiences this week included watching the movie The Help. The movie was recommended to me from a classmate and I absolutely loved it! I am in the introduction class to social work and this movie had so many applications to the discipline.   It was also similar to The Color Purple in that this book helped inspire social reform.

History amazes me and I'm glad we are more accepting of races, although we are still learning and growing each day.  After watching The Help I thought about it a lot and realized that it may have helped cultivate my view of this topic according to the cultivation theory.  I learned a lot about what it was like to be a maid for the upper class and now I hold this into my ideas about how society was and how we came to be.

This week I have been boring with my media use and have had my nose in the books preparing for midterms. Learning about the different media theories in class has brought me to an awareness about why we use media that I did not have before.  This lack of prosocial media such as social media, video games, even music has made a huge impact on me.  I feel less social, more introverted and definitely less cultivated.  According to uses and gratification theory using media for personal identity and for personal relationships is something I am missing out on this week.  For example, I feel I have somewhat lost my political identity and cannot seem to connect with others after missing the debate.

I feel confident to take my media test and am planning on taking it right after this post, although I can see why media plays such a huge part of our daily lives and why we are a "media saturated" world.  This weekend I plan on watching that debate and having an opinion and using media to help be feel more prosocial and connected.....Stay tuned!