1F25 Response 1: Media Impact on Others

After reading through several other blogs, my sentiment on if and/or how the media has had an impact on my worldview hasn’t changed but expanded. Every student whose post I read agreed with what I had to say: the media has a huge effect (if not the largest) on our worldview as a society, and the majority agreed that it was a negative effect.

I was convinced that media sources split into two categories: completely corrupt (the negative) and completely wholesome (the positive). However, after reading what Kelly Gorman had to say, I learned that we are not solely affected negatively by corrupt or biased information, but also by our constant obsession with the lives of others. Kelly discussed how Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball” videos had millions of views within a matter of hours at the same time that the U.S.A was planning a strike on Syria – a matter that she isn’t very well informed about. However, Kelly mentions that it’s easier to hear about Miley Cyrus than it is to hear about the uprising in Syria because “the media would rather shove information about celebrities wrong-doings down our throats then [sic] a civil war.” (http://cpcfkells.blogspot.ca/). More people were concerned with the details of a single celebrity’s heartbreak than with the vicious politics of the world surrounding them and directly affecting them. This is a negative effect on our society by the media, but it is not a result of corruption – it is the result of consumerism and obsession.

In my post, I mentioned that a lot of audiences and consumers have become so brainwashed by the media that they accept any information fed to them. Danielle Schwartz pointed out that referencing a Facebook status or Twitter post now has a socially accepted validity to it and can be used as a “legitimate source” (http://danielle111blog.wordpress.com/).  Although I was referring to sources of information (ie news stations, magazines, etc), after reading Danielle’s post, I realized that it’s possible to be equally as consumed by social networks and observe the same effect. This is especially true with Facebook and Twitter’s initiative to “verify” accounts of celebrities, news stations, and so on.

I frequently came across blogs that discussed the effect that the media has on women. Again, the media has mostly had a negative effect on females. While I discussed the inequality women experience as a result of the objectification of the female body, Haley Bourqu talked about the pressure young girls experience by media to look a certain way. Haley pointed out that most of the women seen in the media are set out to portray a perfect image, which makes the girls that idolize them feel as if they have to resemble that image (http://hb123na.wordpress.com/). Obviously, we know that the use of Photoshop in the media is not uncommon, so the image these girls want to resemble is nearly impossible. Impossible expectations lead to disappointing results. This only reinforces the point I was trying to make about the treatment of women in our society – which, to say the least, is poor.