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.