Reflection of the Media

       I learned a lot this semester about how the media captivates the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and changes the way they live their life. I was able to come to the realization that I fall into traps set up by advertising companies and social media and they change the way I view things. The media has so many positive impacts on the world like helping communication and sharing photography or messages to promote yourself and help yourself be known; but it also has a lot of downsides that some people believe to overpower the good things. Social media requires critical thinking in order to be navigated without being tricked by a clever company that's trying to make money. This class and our studies helped me realize this and strengthened my abilities as a critical thinker.
       Every day I engage in social media over iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, VSCO, Trivia Crack, Messenger, Google, YouTube, Netflix, etc. and it consumes hours of my day. This disrupts my ability to focus--as we learned at the beginning of the semester with the article about how Google is taking over our lives. After staring at a screen for hours, your mind starts to learn from advertisements and bright colors and it starts to expect efficiency, so when that can't be provided (like when you don't have access to internet), people don't want to work as hard because they aren't used thinking for themselves. With this, social media messes with my attention span and it makes it harder for me to work because my brain is so used to seeing things over a screen. My school and sport life can also be disturbed by social media because I sometimes put more focus and energy into maintaining a social status over apps rather than working on important work. Social media also interrupts my sleep schedule because I get so drawn in by the captivating images and fast-responses of the internet that I stay up too late and don't get enough sleep for a healthy lifestyle. Lastly, social media puts a gap between my family and me because I distance myself by not spending quality time with those I love because I spend so much time behind a screen.
       This semester opened my awareness of the impacts of social media and now that I know so much, I feel like I have more control over my life and the way I use social media. Instead of letting apps, advertisements, and expectations from online crowd my brain, I can push those problems away because I know the strategies that these companies and people are using and I realized that they aren't as important as they might seem. When people post pictures online, I used to compare myself to everything that others would do, and I still do this, but now I've learned how unhealthy this is and I'm working to stop. When advertising companies try to force a brand on me and tell me that I can't live without it, I now know that this is just a way to attract consumers and it's not really true. This new knowledge is helping me avoid pressure that I used to feel when I was told I needed to buy certain products if I want to live a good life.
       Over the semester, the amount of time I've spent on the internet hasn't changed because I use it as my escape when I'm tired of school or soccer. However, even though I still go online as frequently as before, I've definitely become more aware of my habits and I am hopeful that I will lessen the amount of time I spend with social media in the future. My new found awareness and information I've taken in has helped me realize the dangers of social media and it's taught me what to look out for when buying from companies because sometimes they stretch the truth when they want to sell a product. I'm learning to not let social media take over my life and I'm only letting its positive influences rub off on me.
       It's important to understand the media and to be an educated consumer because this allows you to know what you're getting out of a product despite what the advertisers may have said about it. Being an educated consumer allows you to have a greater understanding of the social media world and it strengthens you with protection from the harmful effects of the media. If you know that companies are using certain language to make you feel a certain way, you can avoid this or not let it get to you. When you know that people are posting things on social media only to make you jealous, you can be aware of this and not feed into it by creating comparisons. This log taught me all these things and helped me to gain media literacy and a better understanding of what goes on behind screens and companies. I have benefitted from keeping this media blog because it taught me a lot about the world and also about my own habits so I could see what I need to do to abolish them and become a better person.

MissRepresentation and Women Leadership

       As the movie MissRepresentation recently introduced, there is a major lack of women in leadership positions around the world, but especially in the United States. The United States has never had a female president, and has way less women involved in the government than there are men. According to NPR Capital Public Radio, "Women make up around 19 percent of all members of Congress and less than 25 percent of all state legislators. They also make up six of the nation's 50 governors, or 12 percent." These numbers are far too low and the absence of women leaders is leaving an impact on the growing world. Children, young girls in particular, should have strong women role-models to look up to. Without women with positions in the government, this doesn't become a possibility and it teaches young kids that men are inferior to women since there are so many more of them leading this country. Women also deserve equal numbers in government so they can reinforce the idea that there is no gender bias and that both sexes are strong, responsible, and reliable.
       MissRepresentation brought up the idea of women who report for news agencies and how when they're on camera, they're objectified and insulted by men in their agency or other broadcasting channels. This lowers the confidence of women and allows people to view them as objects that can be critiqued for their appearance and capabilities. According to research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, "Women are more likely to be picked apart by the brain and seen as parts rather than a whole... Men, on the other hand, are processed as a whole rather than the sum of their parts." The way people view a woman's on-screen image effects newscasters, directors, producers, writers, and editors--all of which are inferior to men in the current industry. According to the Center for American Progress, women made up only 17 percent of the jobs just listed and just 26 percent of all off-screen talent on broadcast networks, cable, and streaming programs during the 2015-16 season. This needs to change and it starts with the way we teach kids to treat everyone equally and that no gender is superior to another. If we can end the idea that it's okay to view people as objects, then we will see a rise in women on the news because they won't be objectified as frequently. 
       One of the biggest reasons why America is lacking in women leadership and are seen as inferior to men in positions throughout almost every industry all comes back to one idea. When women start gaining power and revolting against the ways they're treated unfairly, the more backlash they receive. MissRepresentation mentioned this and it provides the explanation for why women still don't hold the same amount of positions as men in this day and age. This relates to the idea of gender roles and how masculinity means power to fit with the stereotypes and so when a women tries to be involved in this, it infuriates people because it's inconsistent with what they're used to. And people hate change. Studies from Gender Action Portal show that when people saw women in power, they felt like the women were then also unsupportive and caring, but a man with power was assertive, stronger, and tougher. The power-seeking image that women are trying to obtain is creating bias with the people who will be voting on these politicians or watching the women on the television. People don't like the idea of women holding power or being as involved as men because it violates the expectations for women. It's time for this to change and for people to realize that change is inevitable and if they give women a chance, we will bring positive impacts to the world.

This image shows the unfair bias against women in work fields worldwide and how men hold the majority of leadership positions.

Miss Representation and Self-Objectification

       Objectification is an issue that's been normalized over the years through the media. It's the idea of a person being degraded to the status of a mere object and it's most commonly portrayed through men objectifying women. In advertisements, television, magazines and all over social media, women are being shown in various stages of undress just to please men and draw attraction. Objectification draws the focus away from a woman's personality or education, and instead it puts the attention on their physical appearance. Women are reduced from being humans with opinions and perspectives, to their body parts which are usually photoshopped heavily before being put on the internet.
       Objectification is a big issue because it devalues women and makes the fight for equality more difficult to achieve. On top of this, objectification from others isn't the only degrading problem that women are facing. Self-objectification is also a major problem and this is introduced through the movie Miss Representation. Self-objectification is women degrading themselves or even other women and it's extremely common in the world today. This is the idea of girls viewing themselves as just a collection of body parts without a voice. Basically, it's women looking at themselves as an object first, and a human second. Constantly checking your appearance in the mirror, critiquing your image in photographs, and comparing yourself with others in the media are common behaviors included in self-objectification. These things may be completely normal to most people, and they don't even think twice before they do it; but they are very unhealthy habits that lower self-esteem and can even effect your political voice.
       Starting from a young age, kids are exposed to half-naked women which projects the idea that women are too be viewed as objects. This is the first step to rape and violence because as kids get older, they don't understand that these women are people too. Sexual objectification is the idea of viewing a person for having no purpose other than an object of sexual desire. When women's bodies are sexualized, they become objects that contribute to stereotypes and violence against girls. From a study in 2008, researchers at Wesleyan University found that on average, across 58 different magazines, 51.8 percent of advertisements that featured women portrayed them as sex objects.  However, when women appeared in advertisements in men’s magazines, they were objectified 76 percent of the time. This leads to women having anxiety over their appearance, eating disorders, and depression. The amount of girls with depression has doubled from 2000 to 2009. 
       Miss Representation taught me how objectification from men and self-objectification are both results of women being portrayed as objects in the media. Commonly on television, women are seen as helpless and wearing almost no clothing while they wait for a man to come into their life and make things better. This reinforces the incorrect idea that a woman cannot be happy or successful unless they have a male figure in their life. By having women wearing little to no clothing, girls create false expectations about body types and men create expectations of how women should dress. In magazines and throughout advertisements, women are shown to be enjoying a product or walking down the red carpet and they look beautiful and perfect. What viewers don't realize is the amount of photoshop and editing these pictures have gone through. By seeing these skinny, glowing women, girls begin to strive for unrealistic body standards and a lifestyle that no one really lives. And young boys who see these ads then expect highly from women because they want to see girls looking like the models they see in magazines. 

According to nobullying.com, as a result of media objectifying women, statistics show:

• 53% of 13-year-old American females are self-conscious about their bodies; the number grows to 78% by the age of 17. 

According to the movie, Miss Representation: 

• The amount of girls with depression as a result of objectification has doubled from 2000 to 2009.
• 65% of eating disorders are a result of objectification.
• 15% of rape victims are under the age of 12.

This image shows body standards for women based upon her curves and the fact that you can see them from her lack of clothing. In comparison to the man standing next to her who is wearing clothes and not being objectified.


http://darlingmagazine.org/what-it-means-to-self-objectify-and-how-we-can-stop-doing-it/
This link is for a website that talks about what self-objectification is and how we can work to stop it before it becomes an even bigger problem.

Gucci Gang

       The popular hip-hop and trap music artist, Lil Pump, released a new album this year and his most known song features advertising in the name and throughout the lyrics. "Gucci Gang" was released earlier this year and quickly became Lil Pump's most played song. Gucci Gang follows the style of trap music with negative and aggressive messages and many references to drugs and bad language. Today's generation loves their rap and trap music and recently, white rappers have been making their debuts and hitting top charts. Lil Pump is a seventeen year old who started off as a Soundcloud rapper and his identity grew to where he is today.
       The song Gucci Gang mentions how Lil Pump is spending so much money on the brand because he can. He's rapping about all the stuff he can now afford and all the expensive and exclusive things he has access to. At the beginning of the song, the lyrics: "Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang" are repeated eight times and continue coming up throughout the song. Lil Pump also mentions his interest in a few other brands: "I can't buy a ***** no wedding ring, rather go and buy Balmains". Balmain is a very expensive French brand featuring four-thousand dollar blazers and thousand dollar jeans. When Lil Pump sings about brands like this, he advertises for them because people who listen to the song will go on repeating the brand names. This process is called branding and usually the artist is part of a deal with the brand or hoping for a future deal if they're using the name frequently.
       Lil Pump sings about such expensive brands that common folk don't have access too. His audience hears the music and wants to feel affiliated with him, so they turn to the brands and buy products from them. Also, Lil Pump refers to the people wearing Gucci as a "gang" which creates an exclusive environment that people want to be a part of. Everyone who likes Lil Pump will want to fit in with the crowd and this is how Avante Garde works. The listeners want to buy Gucci so they can be ahead of the trends and they can feel like they're part of Lil Pump's exclusive club when in reality they're not because everyone who can afford it has access to Gucci products.

       Lil Pump's song is catchy and is played on the radio which gives it a wide audience. The lyrics are even used in conversations as a phrase. When people are referring to an exclusive group, they might say something like: "Yeah we're in the Gucci Gang" so they can stand out as different and meet the need for autonomy. The song also relates to the Snob Appeal technique because listeners will feel like part of an elite group for having this musical connection with such a wealthy young person. It portrays a lifestyle of recklessness and having fun and although it has bad messages, the song makes the lifestyle seem appealing to people.

Skinny Water and Bad Advertising

       Skinny water is a drink enhanced with ingredients that can help maximize weight loss when combined with a steady diet and daily exercise. It's said to help control sugar cravings as well. Skinny water comes in bright colors, looks tasty and seems to be a healthier vitamin water, but it's advertisement is sending out the wrong message. Skinny Water's advertisement portrays four tall, slender women with skinny legs, tiny waists, fashionable outfits, and a confident posture. In front of the women is eight different brightly colored bottles of Skinny Water with the message, "Strut your Skinny" and "Skinny Water: 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 sodium, and 0 guilt". This advertisement is sending out the idea that eating unhealthy or drinking things with sugar should make you feel guilty, so the only way to feel good about yourself is to drink this brand and be thin. It also portrays that being skinny is the best way to live and that this water alone can get you that body (because the advertisement doesn't mention anything about the process it requires and the diet/exercise factors).
       The advertisement is extremely biased because the models are all young caucasian women. This is who the product is aimed at because young women will see this and wish to look like the girls in the advertisement and they might be encouraged to buy the Skinny Water. This message is negative and goes against the goals of today's society. Eating disorders are a major problem in todays world and at least 30 million people of all ages and genders are suffering from an eating disorder in the United States. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and every 62 minutes, at least one person dies from the direct result of an eating disorder. The Skinny Water Campaign indirectly encourages people to eat less and drink more of their product if they want to achieve that skinny body to strut around. This advertisement also adds to the unfortunate expectations in society. Many young people of all genders face the issue of body image and self-confidence. This is one of the biggest struggles for teenagers and young adults and to help dismiss it, we should be encouraging all people to accept themselves and appreciate their unique bodies. Instead, Skinny Water makes people feel like they need to be slim to fit in and they need to consume very few calories, sugar, and sodium to be guilt-free.
       The Skinny Water advertisement meets the viewers physiological needs. This enhanced drink is described to be a necessity to life and like you can't live a happy life or lose any weight without it. This attracts the consumer because they want to meet these goals so they buy the product. The campaign uses the technique of Glittering Generalities with the words "skinny" and "0 guilt" to help sell the product. The viewer sees these and immediately wants to feel that way, so they're drawn in to the product and they become absorbed in this unhealthy lifestyle. Skinny Water also uses the Simple Solutions technique because the advertisement doesn't mention that the drink won't make you skinny unless you also exercise and eat healthy. It makes it seem as though something as simple as purchasing the product will give you that skinny body you desire. Lastly, the technique of Transfer Association was used, but it had more of a negative impact. Skinny Water intended to have the word "skinny" be associated with their product so whenever people thought of that body image they wanted to achieve, they'd think of Skinny Water. However, this has a negative connotation because it reinforces the unhealthy expectations and lifestyles that society is trying to move away from. Skinny Water's campaign draws attention, but it has a negative message that shouldn't be reminded throughout the world in advertising.

The Attraction of Social Media

       Social media started out as a way to keep people updated on your daily life, your hobbies and most  photographs, but over time it’s morphed into streams of people bragging, comparing themselves, and putting themselves in unhealthy situations. Ever since apps were invented with wireless phones and data, people have invested themselves into trying to stay with the fads of having all the best games and apps. It’s become a global epidemic of people losing track of what really matters or who they truly are just so that they can have the best social media status. It seems like social media has more negative impacts than positive, so you might be thinking, why do people like it and continue using it?
       Social media meets many human needs that we all share. Everyone wants to fit in with their peers and not stand out as weird, so they join the bandwagon and download the hottest apps and follow the most popular users so they can acquire that need for affiliation. Social media also has the ability to meet your need for guidance because you can follow the people you admire and you can see how they live their lives. Also, commonly used social media apps like twitter, instagram, snapchat, youtube, facebook, etc. all share the same feature of having followers. This means that if you create a user, the  people you know can follow you which gives you the sense that people are there to hear and see what you have to say and it provides comfort. Our need for autonomy is met with social media because carefully choosing and planning your posts can bring you attention and help you stand out as unique and quirky. One of the biggest reasons people use social media it to meet the need for attention. Social media gives you the oppurtunity to say or show yourself in any way you want without direct judgement. This allows people to rant about their lives, overshare, post revealing images, and so on without feeling guilty because they aren’t seeing themselves like how others are seeing the posts. If people desire attention, they aim to get as many followers as possible and they get so caught up in this false world of thinking that followers are the most important thing when in reality they might start losing friends because of the things they had to risk to get their followers. The need to escape is met with social media because people can live their whole lives on it and they have the power to show themselves to the world the way they choose and they can project their lives to be different than how it might really be. They use it as a way to escape from reality to a place where life is easier. Lastly, the need for aesthetic sensations is one of the reasons people revert to social media. People want to see pleasing images and creative ideas, and on apps such as instagram, entire accounts are dedicated to satisfying videos or beautiful artwork. These needs are mostly natural and people all over the world want to meet them and social media is the only way they know how. Social media keeps thriving and is on the rise because everyone uses it to bring themselves pleasure although the good things all have downsides that come with them.
      Along with meeting desires and needs, social media is attractive to today’s society because the popularity and judgement it gives. This might seem like a reason to stay away from social media, but to some people, it just makes their desire stronger because they feel like they have to meet societies expectations to be deemed “cool”. “If you don’t get at least 100 likes on your instagram post, you’re not popular. If you don’t have at least 10 snapchat streaks, you don’t have friends; if you’re youtube video doesn’t get at least 1,000 views, you’re not worth it. If you don’t get retweets and likes on all your tweets and if you’re not following all the major celebrities and politicians, you’re not woke.” These are words that surround the social media world and they create standards that people want to meet so they stick with the app until they feel they met their expectation. Social media is  like a trap where you’re put into a fake world and you’re trying to impress other people with virtual abilities when obtaining these usually means you also have to take risks that can interfere with your real life.       Social media has techniques that make people never want to leave it. With snapchat streaks and daily videos and posts, people go back to the app hourly, if not more, to make sure they aren’t missing out on anything. It’s become an addiction in society to the point where people have trouble even being in different rooms from their electronics for long periods of time. Bright screens have also become an addiction and a health problem because people stare at them for so many hours every day that when they read a book or go outside, their eyes hurt and they want to go back to the “comforting”, fluorescent glow of their phone or laptop.      Social media can continue being broken down into the various techniques it uses, but there are so many. What’s mentioned above covers just a small portion of the reasons people use social media  and most of them were indirect. There’s also a lot of direct techniques of social media that involve colors, the rapid amount of information that can be accessed so easily, and the openness to see things about the other side of the world. Social media is cleverly planned and it definitely has unhealthy effects, but people are happy using it so it will continue to grow in society. 

#What'sUpWithAllTheHashtags

       What is a hashtag? The youth of today's community are experts on them because they can be found on every social media source and they connect phrases or slogans with posts. Hashtags are most commonly used on Twitter and Instagram as tags to accompany posts that sum up the main point of what you did or said with one or two words. They're catchy and spread quickly by other people using the same hashtag, or repeating it in verbal conversations to be relatable with others. Anyone sharing information on a relevant topic might use a hashtag to be a label with their message. Hashtags bring about a sense of community just like how buying a bottle of Coke might give you a sense of belonging. When you buy Coke, you feel like you fit in because everyone drinks it and their campaign is to share with friends. When you use a hashtag, you're automatically put into a community full of other people who used that same hashtag at some point. When you post something that says "#summer", you can click on the hashtag and it takes you to all the other posts on that app that use that same hashtag and it shows the community of people who captioned their picture or tweet with #summer. In this sense, hashtags are popular because people want to be relatable and have a catchy phrase that people will remember to go along with their post.
       Hashtags meet the worldly need for affiliation because people will use them so they can fit in with the crowd. The hashtag was a clever idea because it can be used with a brand to help promote campaigns while being short and memorable. They can also be used on private posts just as a way to connect with other people and prove that you are part of the same trend and group. Hashtags categorize content and can help focus in on certain interests. Part of Instagram's most recent update was to allow users to follow Instagram Stories by hashtags so that everything they watch will be about the specific hashtag. This is a technique to make people engage with other online users over common themes or interests.
       Hashtags are used to make someone appear trendy and creative, but their frequent usage also connects to something George Orwell mentioned in his response to the changing English language. Hashtags are a lazy way to create sentences that are short and choppy and don't require much thinking. They can help you avoid expressing your thoughts because they're ready-made and tend to be one or two words in order to have a clear message. George Orwell mentioned how people are referring back to old words or ready-made phrases because we're too lazy to think for ourselves. A hashtag is an easy path people choose to take so they can steer clear of thinking for themselves and putting together detailed sentences. A sequence of hashtags strung together can get a point across in bits and pieces without having transition words or details and it usually results in the reader being frustrated because they don't full understand. Hashtags are common because they're easy and simple for the person using it; and they help you feel a sense of belonging which is something that everyone desires.