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.