Reflection

        Before writing these weekly blogs based around my media consumption and the effects it has had on me, I went through my life seeing so many commercials, posts, and videos without processing what their meanings were behind their aesthetically pleasing images and emotionally provoking words. I see hundreds of advertisements everyday, and though I have begun to process the many techniques used in order to grab and keep my attention (and money), I have yet to completely understand the extent to which media has changed my life.

        I use Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube daily as social media, and there are types of advertisements unique to each. On Snapchat, advertisements play after people's Stories, are included in one's Instagram feed, and play before each YouTube video I watch. You'd think that I would be annoyed by this constant exposure to advertisement and limit my consumption of media, but in reality these commercials and pictures are just another thing to see out of the thousands of things I experience every day. I could not imagine a world without ads; a city without billboards and a live movie without commercials in between seems impossible. For all the hours I spend online, advertising has become as important and relevant to my life as I have become to it. It creates needs for me that I didn't know I had, and yet once they tell me I need their product, something in my brain keeps nagging at me that the company is right, that I really do need that Starbucks drink in order to make any friends.

        Though I have yet to limit my media intake, my awareness of it has definitely changed my interactions with it; by analyzing Lexus commercials, when I see the little girl and her puppy being excited about the new car, instead of thinking "that's so cute," I think "do they really think I'll fall for that?" I am able to identify the needs to which advertisers appeal in their commercials, whether I am a part of their target audience, and what rationalization I would be making by purchasing their unnecessary product. I am less tempted by ads that would have normally caused me to want to become a customer by being more aware of these techniques, as they are simply promising me that I will get certain emotions and experiences that I may not have in my normal life by buying their product.

        My media habits have not changed this semester; though I have not increased my media intake, I have not limited it either. I don't know what would would make me alter my habits, as I am dependent on the media for relaxation in my life that is otherwise filled to the brim with schoolwork as well as education of events in places of which I would not otherwise be familiar. I still scroll aimlessly through Instagram, Snapchat my friends pointless pictures of myself and the things around me, and watch videos from which I learn nothing, just to be entertained. 

        It is important to have media literacy because without it, companies will use advertisements to trick you into purchasing their product, even if you do not need it. People illiterate in the media are unable to identify why the ads are appealing and are thus more likely to rationalize their purchase. This ties into being an educated consumer; being able to identify what exactly you are buying and why you are buying it is important in order to reduce the amount of unnecessary purchases you make in your everyday life. It is also important to understand that purchasing such things are not a way to gain important emotions or experiences; money should not be used to fill gaps that you may have in your emotional life, as the companies only care about their income as opposed to each individual customer, though their advertisements normally say the opposite.

        From keeping this blog, I am able to process each advertisement I see should I decide to do so and see why it may have captured my attention. I used to be easily attracted to advertisements with pretty pictures or funny slogans, but now I have become aware that these are simply techniques. I also used to enjoy seeing ads that I related to or felt a personal connection to, but now I realize that these connections I thought I shared individually appeal to millions of people with the same feelings as I have. In conclusion, keeping the media blogs have increased my literacy in the media and helped me to be the most educated consumer I could be. I am able to think critically of the media that I once embraced mindlessly.

The Effects of Self-Objectification in Politics

        According to the movie "MissRepresentation," the United States of America is in thirty-third place out of forty-nine in terms of high income countries for women in legislature. They make up 19.8% of the 535 current seats in Congress, twenty-two out of one hundred seats in the U.S. Senate, 19.3% of the 435 seats in the U.S. House, and 23.7% of the 312 seats in the Statewide Elective Executive Office as of 2018, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. What do these numbers all have in common? They show the horrible underrepresentation of women in U.S. politics, while they make up 50.8% of the U.S. population, according to a 2011 study done by the Women's Health USA. Why do women make up the majority of the population and yet fail to make up more than a fourth of U.S. politicians? According to the National Public Radio, three reasons behind this vague, complicated question (out of seven): "1. Women are much less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office. 2. Women are less likely than men to receive the suggestion to run for office — from anyone. 3. Women are still responsible for the majority of child care and household tasks." According to the U.S. Department of Labor Blog, women make up less than 47% of the U.S. workforce, and yet they make up more than half the population; as seen in the high percentage of unemployed women, though there are obvious exceptions, many women choose to stay home and do domestic tasks as opposed to further their education and pursue a career, which are expectations that completely oppose those given to men. According to the Boston Globe, women make up 97.5% of preschool and kindergarten teachers and 94.4% of childcare workers, statistics which when compared to first statistics I listed in the beginning of this post show the enforcement of "traditional" values and gender roles even in the workplace.
        The McNair Scholars Research Journal defines self-objectification as "regular exposure to objectifying experiences that socialize girls and women to engage in self-objectification, whereby they come to internalize this view of themselves as an object or collection of body parts." It seems strange and rather contradictory to basic desires in humans, such as to succeed and to stand out, as by self-objectifying, women accept their mistreatment and being valued for their body rather than their minds, incorporating it into their actions and beings. How can a person with no mind be a politician? Of course women have minds, but the self-objectification extends to the point at which, as mentioned in MissRepresentation, women believe that their voice does not matter in politics. This leads to women not running for office as well as opposing women that do run only for their gender. Objectification and self-objectification are seen in the lack of encouragement for women to run for office, and the clear lack of support for them should they decide to choose a career in politics. MissRepresentation states that though American society is seen as one of the most progressive, it is in reality one of the least progressive societies toward the success of women as a whole.

Spot the Difference: Media Edition

 

        The above pictures convey the same thing, and yet they have been interpreted by the media in two completely different ways. When looking for examples to prove the point of a media bias against women mentioned in the film "MissRepresentation," I simply searched for angry photos of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The photos above are in the first few results of the search, and yet they perfectly convey the point being made. The article attached to the picture of Hillary Clinton, written by Adam Shaw of Breitbart, is titled "Hillary Clinton Lashes Out at Press and ‘Sexism’ for 2016 Loss, Claims She Beat Trump." The article written surrounding the photo of  Bernie Sanders is titled "Bernie Sanders’ Anger Is Smart Politics, Dangerous for the Country." Though neither article portrays a completely favorable image of either candidate, the way in which they are described in the titles of the articles alone are enough to prove the point made in MissRepresentation.

        Hillary Clinton is described as lashing out against the events that she believed to have caused her to lose the presidential race, which are reasonable but are conveyed by the author as unreasonable, as seen in the sarcastic tone created by the quotation marks around the word "sexism," as if it played no factor in her loss. The article's use of the word "claims" is also used to portray a sense of mistrust with Hillary. A substitute for the phrase "claims she beat Trump" could be "states she won popular vote," perhaps a less accusatory and mocking tone. This use of words with negative and mocking connotations is one of many examples of the bias media seems to have against female politicians, often focusing on irrelevant things such as their latest fashion choice or hair malfunction. Sexism in the media is real, no matter what Adam Shaw may think; according to MissRepresentation, only 16% of protagonists seem in movies are female, and most of those that do exist live for men. It affects commercials and thus what people are expected to buy; women are often seen advertising for domestic products, such as cleaning supplies, or being the love interest of a male lead. If a man is the main role in a commercial for a domestic product, he is often seen as a superhero, such as Mr. Muscle or Mr. Clean. Many people, both men and women, feel that women are not fit to lead the country or have any sort of political power, which leads to the creation of biased perspectives and articles such as the one above.

         The article attached to the angry photo of Bernie Sanders does not necessarily agree with his opinions or policies, but it does not describe him in such a negative and condescending way as did the article focused on Hillary Clinton. His anger is described as "smart politics" while Hillary's anger is described as "lashing out." Had Bernie been a woman, this article most likely would have been called "[Bernie's] Emotional Politics Are a Danger to America." The change may be subtle, but it still exists and proves the point that connotation can either benefit or harm one's image in the media; "anger" is replaced with "emotional," and the focus is solely on the potential risks of their politics rather than their "smart politics." Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are completely different people and have different opinions, but things as simple as their genders should not contribute to their political success.

Keep the Streak

        Last night, I forgot to send my nightly "keep the streak" out the people on Snapchat with whom I have streaks (the number of consecutive days you have Snapchatted someone). As a result, I have only two remaining "streaks" left, and for some reason when I noticed they were gone, I felt as sad as if I'd done poorly on a test or broken something valuable. Streaks mean nothing, and yet I have kept them very diligently for years, only forgetting a few times since Snapchat introduced the concept.

        I actually dread keeping my streaks as much as I dislike posting on Instagram, and yet I have done both continually since the seventh grade and know that I would be saddened to an extent if I stopped doing either. I try to be off my phone for a half an hour before I go to sleep, but when I lie in bed and am about to drift off, I often find myself bolting upright and feeling very stressed, as if I'd forgotten to do an important assignment or study for a test, but in reality, I simply forgot to send out the meaningless Snapchat to the ten or fifteen people to whom I've devoted approximately a minute of my day for years. I send out the picture (mainly a blank screen with a filter or a picture of something in my house I've deemed aesthetically pleasing enough) and am relieved, but am fully awake and functioning for at least another twenty minutes. The smart thing to do for both my mental and physical health would be to stop keeping my streaks and focus on more important things, like real assignments or sleep, but something always makes me send out that nightly photo. I suppose I feel like I owe it to the people that have deemed me worthy enough to be one of their "streaks" and I don't want them to feel the same disappointment when the number disappears, or I feel that the number of streaks I keep somehow correlates to the number of friends I have or how up-to-date I am on the newest social media trends.

        I don't even Snapchat half of the people with whom I maintain a streak every night on a regular basis, so the number of consecutive days really means nothing. I should only keep my streaks with those to whom I Snapchat regularly for conversational purposes, but in the end I keep them with whoever wants one. I don't even have streaks with my sisters, and yet I have them with people who I haven't seen in person for weeks. I rationalize this by thinking that they're people with whom I'd like to be friends, which is true, but the reality of the situation is that I feel that the more streaks I have, the more socially savvy I am, like how I know only half of my Instagram followers personally. Some of my friends have around thirty streaks, some of whom they've never actually spoken to, and yet they keep each one as if it's a matter of life and death. I think that having so many is strange and pointless, but feel that I am socially superior if I have more streaks than someone else.

        Streaks seem to be a necessary and important aspect of having social media, but they never would have become that way if people hadn't become so convinced that they were so; streaks are simply a way to ensure Snapchat's relevance as a social media, making us check into their app at least once a day. It's as if they've trapped millions with this one feature; I wouldn't use Snapchat much if it weren't for the streak feature. Snapchat has introduced a variety of ways to keep their users entertained, such as the "Snap Map," where you can track people you follow, or the Discovery page, on which you can read articles or get updates from various media. Conceptually, streaks are pointless and stressful, as it just records the number of days you communicate with someone, and yet I contribute to the madness by obsessively keeping mine every night.

The Media's Effect On Girls

        After watching the film "MissRepresentation," I was forced to contemplate my media habits and what I have deemed "acceptable" versus "unacceptable" through my perspective as an average consumer. The film discussed things in the media that are often ignored when they should be addressed as harmful to the progression of the world as a society. For example, women in power are often subtly degraded or dismissed simply because of their gender, valued for their looks and sexuality as opposed to their ideas, goals, or beliefs. "MissRepresentation" analyzes why this is allowed to happen at such as a large scale.
        The problems women face in the political world arise from the world's constant exposure to all forms of media, ranging from TV shows to Instagram. It begins very early in a person's life, and so does the perpetuation of the negative portrayal of women as biological caregivers and sexual objects, beginning at the sexualization of female cartoon characters on Disney Channel to the prioritization of coverage of a member of the Kardashian family's latest pregnancy rumor or wardrobe malfunction over a that of a deadly crime on the news. While such things seem irrelevant, the emphasis on the impossible beauty standard created by the media, as well as the idea constantly perpetuated that a woman's value is in her looks alone, has had a disastrous effect on the women and girls exposed to such biased priorities. For example, according to "MissRepresentation," 53% of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies, a percentage which grows to 78% by the age of 17. 65% of women and girls have an eating disorder, 17% of teens self-harm, and rates of depression among girls and women have reportedly doubled in the years between 2000 and 2010. These bleak statistics do not seem to be directly correlated to the media, but multiple sources including the American Psychological Association have found that violence displayed on TV has lead to an increased number of cases of domestic violence. Women and girls cannot escape the image to which they are constantly compared in the media; "MissRepresentation" states that US teens spend 31 hours each week watching TV, 17 hours a week listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, 4 hours listening to music, and 10 hours online. These statistics combine to create an average of 10 hours and 45 minutes each day of media consumption. In each type of media listed, the impossible standards of women are perpetuated, from misogynistic rappers to female roles in movies that exist purely for men.
        Lacking female role models praised for their successes rather than their looks, young girls tend to devalue themselves, attempting to be like the girls they see on TV who are the media's idea of a "real woman." This allows the stereotypes to go virtually unchecked and the companies that impede the social progression of society to continue to make a large profit at the cost of undermining true Democratic values. As a result, girls see each other as competition to defeat rather than role models or successful leaders. Female politicians, such as Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, are often ridiculed for their physical features or choice in outfit rather than their decisions as successful politicians. In the political cartoon above, Sarah Palin is criticized for her high spending rather than her political views or arguments.
        Though the situation seems grim and women still have many steps to take in order to achieve the true equality for which they have been working for many years, there are ways each person can contribute to increased representation of successful, multi-dimensional women in the media as well as the creation of a more inclusive and positive environment in which young girls will grow up in the future. For example, rather than simply accepting or ignoring the media that degrades and objectifies women, be vocal; criticize the media as well as those who support its harmful stereotypes. Support women who desire power rather than degrading them for irrelevant things. Measure yourself and others by accomplishments instead of looks. View the media through your own perspective and demand what you truly want rather than what the media has convinced you that you want. In order to progress as a society, people must not accept the constant degradation and dehumanization of women in the media.

How Social Media Contributes to a Closed Mindset

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42491638

In a BBC article titled, "Obama Warns Against Irresponsible Social Media Use," former US President Barack Obama expresses his concerns about the extreme usage of social media as seen in all current generations, ranging from toddlers to seniors. By prioritizing our own needs to be happy and comfortable at all times, people using social media tend to surround themselves with people of their same political views, blocking out all others that may have opposing ideas or political views. This has been made very easy to do; on Instagram, you can block or unfollow people, and on the Explore page there is an option to limit the type of posts you see by clicking "see less posts like this." Social media companies, as Obama explained, have made it very convenient to have a closed mindset, and soon it may become the only option; why surround yourself with things and people that make you angry when you can limit your experiences so that you only expose yourself to those with the same ideas and views as yourself? Of course, it is not directly social media's fault for our desire to only be surrounded by people with which we agree, nor would erasing social media force us to open our mindsets; social media simply contributes to our already closed minds, allowing us to oppose different views by ignoring them entirely. Through social media, people and their views tend to be oversimplified, and we judge them based off of this. To counter this oversimplifying way of viewing the world, Obama suggests more face-to-face contact as opposed to arguing behind a screen; it allows people to see their opponents as more than icons or comments, to realize that despite their conflicting views, their opponents are just as complex as the next person. While this will not "solve" ignorance or closed-mindedness, as shown in the past before social media existed, it will make the complete disregarding of others' viewpoints less convenient.

I am definitely guilty of limiting my social media intake as well as my perspective by surrounding myself with only those with whom I agree. Some days, if I am feeling "up to" it, I scroll through different articles or social activism accounts on Instagram, but on other days I allow myself to watch BuzzFeed videos or look at pictures of dogs. By doing this, I limit my awareness of occurrences in the world, and at times I am completely unaware of major events that occurred simply because I'd rather watch a Vine compilation. If I see that someone I know follows Donald Trump or someone of that sort, I immediately unfollow them because I disagree and do not want to be exposed to their political views, even if I know the person well. By seeing them as only their icon and who they follow, I oversimplify them as a person because it is much easier to see them as a terrible stranger than a complex person who may not be as opposite to me as I originally thought. By talking to them, I would discover this quickly, but I'd much rather click the "unfollow" button and feel the quick satisfaction of "punishing" them for their political views.

Why do I want to be ignorant? Why can I quote a hundred old Vines but not the President? The answer lies in the purpose of social media: to connect with your friends in a more convenient fashion. I classify my friends as those who agree with me, and it is much more convenient to see only their posts rather than those that would upset me. I need to force myself to broaden my perspective and read the reasoning behind the views with which I so strongly disagree, so I can have reasons behind my own views. I will not get rid of my social media accounts because they allow me to connect with others, but I will control my media intake less in an attempt to force myself to rethink my limited mindset.

Using the Media For Good

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-42429527
A major humanitarian crisis facing the world is the traumatization of young Syrian refugees as well as their lack of education. Children that have been displaced as a result of the Syrian Civil War are left without homes and resources, forcing them to prioritize their survival over their education, mental health, ad ability to form lasting relationships with others. In an attempt to tackle this problem, Jeffrey Dunn, the head of Sesame Workshop, has set up a program to educate these children as well as deal with the incredible amount of stress placed upon them, which is extremely hard for them to deal with at such young ages. The program has received $100,000,000 in funding and will help refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. The program received its funding by winning a grant provided by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in order to create a lasting change in the world. It is the biggest philanthropic donation to such a project and will help to provide education and ways with which to deal with major stress that has been placed upon the children. The link above summarizes the project's background as well as its goal, which is to provide a personalized version of the popular Sesame Street that is to be available on mobile phones and will teach literacy, numeracy, relationships, and respect for others. Child development centers will also be constructed, leading to a much more stable, educated generation.
This project is ground-breaking because it is the first of its kind; never before has an education project received such immense funding, nor has the specific humanitarian crisis of the traumatization of Syrian refugees been tackled so completely. This project will hopefully teach the children not only how to read and write, but how to communicate with one another and form relationships in a time of such loss and stress. While all children need to be taught how to deal with stress, the amount of stress placed upon each Syrian refugee child is more than more privileged people will deal with in a lifetime. Sesame Street has always been known for its openness; it has had genderless, Muslim, and mentally ill characters while many TV programs feature only white, able-bodied, cisgender people. This project only proves their kindness and open-mindedness further, thus making them even better candidates for taking on such an important cause with which to deal.
Often in the media, profit is prioritized over philanthropy, as it provides much more immediate gratification, while helping others for no financial gain in return causes stress and no obvious satisfaction. This has led to, as seen in the Frontliners film "Merchants of Cool," media catering to specific crowds not to please them, but only to attract potential customers by making such people think they want what the company is already selling. People who already have everything they already need are convinced that they need more, when in reality it is just another phone or pair of shoes. However, Sesame Street has proved themselves to be one of the few companies in the media that prioritizes the actual needs of people over profit rather than creating needs for them. The company utilizes the technology with which they have been provided as a result of their location in a first-world country and are thus able to take advantage of their resources to create a better life for others and fix problems that have previously seemed hopeless. This has happened as a result of the grand sum provided by the grant as well; with it, Sesame Street has broadened the ability of the media, which once only existed to give consumers yet another thing to purchase without need, to help people without privilege to get an education and to improve their mental health. Jeffrey Dunn has brought the media's ability to be a useful tool for learning and healing to new heights, and as a result, young generations will experience a much brighter future, filled with opportunities brought about due to their education.