Turkey Day

With Thanksgiving being only a couple of days away, I couldn't help but think to blog about the holiday. What is the point of Thanksgiving anyways? Some would argue that as time goes on the day becomes more and more about stuffing our faces with delicious food...quick to forget the real meaning behind the holiday. Of course when Thanksgiving starts to approach I always get really excited because my dad makes the best mashed potatoes and stuffing, but on second thought, it really is a nice day to spend with your family and loved ones. A day to be thankful for how fortunate we are. I understand that this sounds very generic, but it is very true. What better medium than a holiday that brings people together? Some people travel or fly great distances to spend this day with the ones they love and care about. In a sense holidays could be one of the more effective medias out there for connecting and bringing people together. 

Thinking about it from the standpoint of a college student, it really is nice that Babson gives us a week off to go home and spend time with our families. Thanksgiving, at least for my family, is a day my whole family spends hanging around the kitchen helping my dad cook food and then sit down later and enjoy the meal together. This never happens in my family with my mom and dad both working and my sister at school and working as well. We are all always so busy that I really cannot remember the last time we have had time to all sit down together and enjoy a meal other than for birthdays and holidays. In high school when my sister and I were living at home it was a little easier, but now that we are out of the house, and as we get older, we will depend more and more on holidays as set days we can count on to see our families. I think that although the actual meaning/history behind holidays, such as Thanksgiving, can sometimes be overlooked...the aspect of bringing people together is still really important.

 

Living The Ultimate Dream ?

Hugh Hefner...I think it is pretty safe to say that everyone reading this blog not only knows who he is and what he created, but also is secretly a little bit envious of his lifestyle. It is truly one of a kind...breaking all stereotypical norms. However just to be safe let me say, Hugh Hefner is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy. His world's best selling men’s lifestyle magazine has inspired a media empire and one of the most recognizable brands in history for over 50 years. The empire Hefner has created, along with the monumental Playboy Mansion has become an obsession of the media over the years. A write up on the founder states, "Throughout the years, Hef has become a fixture on the Hollywood celebrity club scene and the Mansion has once again become a mecca for entertainment industry superstars including a new wave of young motion picture and television celebrities, rock groups and more. Hollywood and cinema continue to be major factors in Hef's personal and professional life."

Although some people may not agree with the concept behind the magazine..literally selling sex...and argue that the magazine is extremely degrading to women, the application process to become a "playmate" and be photographed in the magazine is extremely competitive. Some women would kill to be in the iconic magazine..so I guess it depends on how you look at the situation. Either way Hefner has created quite the empire, which has in turn inspired numerous connections whether it be through the magazine itself, parties photographed by the media at the Playboy Mansion, reality television shows such as "Girls Next Door", merchandise, etc...the list goes on.

Books...An Endangered Species ???

Ok..of course books are never going to go completely "extinct," but as the internet begins to play more of a central role in our everyday lives we begin to turn our back on books more and more. We spent a good portion of the class Wednesday discussing the impact the internet has made on our lives...on our brain...on our attention span. As people spend more hours scanning the web, jumping from webpage to blog to e-mail message to IM we are unintentionally shortening our attention spans, just as Nicholas Carr explains in his book "The Shallows." So it got me thinking...how often does our generation actually read books? I mean aside from homework assignments, and even then most students have access to some webpage, such as sparknotes, where they can just skim a few paragraphs to get an over view of the material covered in the entire book. But the question is when does our generation read for personal enjoyment? Thinking about this made me realize that our generation only really reads books when the internet is not an option. By this I mean when we are in an airplane or on the beach where internet access is unavailable. Of course there is always going to be a small outlying percentage that do read books on a regular basis for their personal enjoyment, but most of us spend our time surfing the web or creeping on facebook.

However I think it is really important that we take a step back and try to remember the importance of books. In no way am I trying to undermine all the pros the internet encompasses, but I think there is an importance to reading a "good old fashioned" book, at least every once and awhile.

Is Too Much Freedom A Good Thing ?

With all the advancements in technology nowadays it is almost remarkable how much we can do. When it comes to the internet there is almost nothing that is impossible or out of reach. For instance, if I had a research paper on the most obscure subject, with the use of the internet I could pull up pages and pages of information on the subject within a matter of seconds. However, the question still remains...is too much freedom a good thing? As we discussed in class, the space available on the internet is endless, unlike the radio where there is a limited amount of space. In this sense the internet is hard to regulate, there really is no way to determine what gets posted and who reads what. Just to prove my point, I typed in Google "how to commit suicide" and within seconds Wikipedia provided over ten commonly used methods. So I guess there really is no way to monitor the internet, but parents should probably monitor what their children are exposed to.
There is a huge problem today with people abusing the internet. Perverted men and women log into chat rooms pretending to be a young girl or boy in hopes of making sexual advancements with a minor. Not only is this disturbing, but also almost impossible to regulate. I mean they do a little undercover work trying to set up sexual offenders, but the percentage they actually catch is probably miniscule compared to the actual amount out there. Of course this is only one example of many of how people abuse the internet. The government is struggling with this same issue of regulating the internet as more people transition from using the telephone to communicate to the internet. A New York Times article states, "Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone." All in all it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, are made in regards to the internet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html

Changing Times

It is quite remarkable to think about how much things have changed over the past few generations with continuous advancements in technology. I was talking with my dad about something interesting I could write about for this blog and he brought up how our generation is the first generation where people are going to be in constant communication throughout their entire lives. After college my friends from high school may move across the world from me, but through social medias such as facebook, e-mail, video chatting, etc we will be able to easily communicate globally. It will be as though we are constantly present in each other’s lives, no matter how many miles may be between us, due to easily accessible picture and video sharing. He brought up the example of an airport waiting area. When you look around at the people waiting to board the same airplane as you, almost everyone is consumed in their own personal medium, whether it is their blackberry, laptop or iPod. No one simply strikes up a conversation with the man or woman sitting next to them like they might have in the old days. Even though advancements in technology have provided constant communication, the downside is the lack of verbal communication. You may be in constant communication with your group of friends, but no one ventures out of their group to strike up a conversation with a stranger possibly sitting next to them in the airport or standing behind them in line.

Although it is unfortunate that people communicate verbally less and less, it is truly remarkable to think about how much things have changed. My grandfather was on a destroyer in World War II and he always said that they would eagerly wait months and months to receive mail and it was always the most exciting day on the ship. I can't imagine sending a handwritten letter to a friend or loved one and then having to wait months to receive a response when I am used to sending a text or bbm and getting a reply in a matter of seconds. Just as we learned the first day of class, we have become so dependent on our social medias that they have literally become an extension of man.

Do Video Games Make Teens Violent ?

Last Thursday we spent the majority of the class debating over whether or not violence in the media has an effect on the audience. In other words, is there a correlation between violence in the media and violence committed in reality? I personally think there is definitely some sort of correlation. Of course I do not think that anyone who watches a violent movie is going to go commit a murder the next day, but continuous exposure to violence, especially at such a young age, could be problematic for certain already unstable individuals. The main issue I have with violence in the media, is exposure of violence to young children. My train of thought is that at such a young age the brain is not fully developed and cannot distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, what is fantasy and what is reality. In class we looked at the tragic murder of young James Bulger, who was killed by two ten year old boys. How is it possible that two ten year old boys could be capable of doing such a horrible thing? I personally do not think it was a coincidence that the murder occurred the same year as the release of a very violent movie (cannot remember the name). Of course these two boys were already very disturbed, but I'm convinced that exposure to such violence at such a young age definitely played a part.

I read an article about a study that was conducted in 2006 by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine, who looked at the effects violent video games had on the brain through brain scanning technology. The results concluded that children who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention. All in all does this mean that after playing call of duty you are going to go on a shooting spree ? No, but I do think parents of young children should consider monitoring what their children are exposed to until they are mature enough to handle the content for what it is and nothing more.

Summer of the Shark ?

2001 was named the "Summer of the Shark." The media's fixation with sharks started in early July following the Fourth of July weekend shark attack on eight year old Jessie Arbogast and continued until the September 11th terrorist attacks shifted the media's attention away from the beaches to a more important issue. The interesting thing about this whole media hype was that the summer of 2001 statistically showed no increase in the number of attacks per year. In actuality the number of attacks in 2001 decreased from 85 attacks in 2000 to 76 attacks in 2001. In addition the number of fatal attacks decreased as well from 12 deaths in 2000 to only 5 deaths in 2001. The question then is why did the media choose the summer of 2001 to create a shark attack hysteria when the facts behind the stories didn't add up?
Ever since the release of JAWS, sharks have been given a bad reputation and unfortunately have suffered greatly. After the release of JAWS and the media's "Summer of the Shark" - the number of sharks hunted and killed increase greatly due to the media's false portrayal of them. Sharks are not man hunters and shark attacks are generally caused when a shark mistakes a human for a seal or some other sort of pray. The media however has the ability to create mass hysteria, such as reading from class "The Invasion from Mars." The article states, "The event encapsulates the popularly held view of the widespread intrusive and persuasive power of the modern media to cause and trigger mass outbreaks of usually negative social consequence and psychological effect." In the case of the "Summer of the Shark" the media created stories about shark attacks to be the third most important story in terms of news minutes when in fact the summer of 2001 was nothing out of the ordinary.

Streotypes in Television

Last week we talked a lot about the role of stereotypes in the media through the articles we read in class. Based on our discussion I decided that I wanted to blog about the role of stereotypes in television specifically and in order to do so I decided to focus on one of my favorite television shows, the Office. The Office is a documentary-style look into the humorous modern American office life. The main character and boss at the featured office, Michael Scott, views himself as the office funnyman and a fountain of wisdom for his employees, but in reality the majority of his actions are highly inappropriate and his employees only put up with him because he pays their checks.

The articles we read in class touched upon a handful of different stereotypes seen in media today and in the Office Michael Scott is continuously finding himself making stereotypical comments and judgments about his employees. I decided to focus on his relationship with three characters in particular; Pam, Oscar and Stanley. Pam is the receptionist at the office and Michael often refers to her as the “office hottie,” which in itself is very stereotypical to have an attractive female receptionist. Oscar on the other hand is gay and once he comes out about his sexuality Michael continuously makes stereotypical judgments about him. For example, there is a party planning committee in the office that is made up of three female employees and once Michael learns that Oscar is gay he automatically thinks he needs to join the party planning committee, when in reality Oscar has no interest or talent in planning parties. Lastly, there is Stanley who is the only black employee in the office. Michael is continuously making typical stereotypes about Stanley, such as the example I posted below, when Michael is drafting his basketball team he picks Stanley first just because he assumes because he is black he must be a good athlete, even though we later see Stanley is a horrible basketball player.

These are just a few of the many examples of the role that stereotypes play in the Office and even though by laughing at these jokes in a sense we are giving into stereotypes, I think that because the character Michael Scott is so oblivious to how inappropriate everything he does and says is makes it humorous.

Media Artifact - Texting and Driving

As of September 30th, texting while driving is against the law. Although I have already seen a lot of face book status’s mourning over the impact this law will have on their social life, I personally think the law is necessary. Texting has become an obsession for many people and even though it is a great way to communicate with people in a fast, easy manner, it can also be very dangerous when done while driving. In my last post I blogged about the efficiency of smart phones, such as the blackberry, and how as the world gets more technologically advanced, features such as texting are necessary. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not by any means against texting, I am a text addict myself, but I absolutely never text while driving.

US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, calls distracted driving a, “public health epidemic” and newly released data shows that 959,000 crashes reported last year were caused by distracted driving. 4,898 of those crashes included at least one death (Boston.com). Although the Massachusetts Police Association knows that this is something they will have a hard time enforcing, they hope to significantly reduce the number of crashes related to distracted driving. All in all it is just interesting to see a medium that we have become so utterly obsessed and consumed with that we cannot pry ourselves away from it even while driving, despite the dangers it holds.  

Below is a news clip reporting on distracted driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMIXCvm66cE

Media Artifact - Blackberry

As the world is getting more and more technologically advanced devices that used to be separate devices are now constantly being combined to smaller, lighter multi-functional devices. Take for instance a blackberry. Just by holding one simple object in your hand you possess functions of several media artifacts, such as the internet, the phone, e-mail, calendar, face book and so one. It is actually crazy to think that when I was in middle school and got my first cell phone its sole purpose was just to make phone calls. However, you can look back even further when people just had home phones and so on from there.

            As the world advances at a rapid pace it is absolutely necessary that technology advances at the same speed if not faster. People do not have the time or space to carry around several different media artifacts to obtain all the functions they need, which is why smart phones, such as the blackberry are crucial. The only question I would raise is; are we becoming too dependent on our smart phones? Our first assignment in class was to try to live without our most important media artifact and I proved that I could not even last a full day without my blackberry. How disastrous would it be if I lost my blackberry and had to be without texting, making phone calls, e-mail, face book, internet for an extended period of time? Sure I could use a computer for internet and a home phone for making phone calls, but I would become a lot less efficient and fall behind in a world where everything is now so fast pace.

Define Media

After spending a good amount of time trying to come up with my own personal definition of media I finally decided on a media as a public forum that promotes communication, brings peoples together and influences people around the world. As I thought about all the different types of media I decided to focus in on all the key similarities they possess that make them as attractive to the public eye as they are. They three main similarities I want to talk about can be summed up in three words; public, communication and worldwide.

            As I began this assignment I was a little overwhelmed at first considering there are many different types of media, such as mass media, digital media and social media. However as I began to explore each type of media I realized that each type of media are publically accessible, promoted communication and influenced people on a world-wide basis. I started by looking at some of the more obvious forms of media that we are all familiar with, such as television, the news, newspapers, magazines and movies. Although these are just a few examples of the many forms of media, each has an underlying message that it sends to the audience. In addition this message can be sent on a world-wide basis, which is quite crucial in the world we live in now where everything is so fast pace.

            The example that first came to mind when drawing upon my own personal experiences occurred almost exactly nine years ago on September 11^th, 2001. I think almost everyone in the United States could tell you exactly where they were when they heard that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember I was in middle school and at the time I did not even know exactly what the World Trade Center was, so I was rather confused by the reaction of the adults surrounding me when they brought all the students to the auditorium for a school accessibly. It was not until I got home and saw the images on the television, on the covers of magazines and in the newspapers that I fully grasped the severity of the situation. I think that this is a very powerful portrayal of the importance of media because it enhances our understanding of current events by allowing us to see and hear news surrounding us faster and more accurately than ever before. Although the attacks on the World Trade Center were horrific, at the same time the images portrayed by the media really brought our country together in support and morning of all the men and women who lost their lives that day and all the brave men and women who responded on site.

            Of course when defining media it is important to look to the famous media theorists that made strides in the study of media. Marshal McLuhan, the author of his widely known book, Understand Media: The Extensions of Man, coined the saying, “the medium is the message” (7). In other words, the message of the medium is actually the medium itself and that the medium itself should be the focus of study rather than the content of the medium. However I thought the title of McLuhan’s book, “The Extensions of Man” to be rather important because as he goes to explain the media expands and connects people. He uses the example of the train by saying that the train does not create motion, it just expands it. Media can be seen in the same light for although it does not create relationships, it expands them by promoting communication and bringing people together on a world-wide basis. McLuhan also believed that it was important to focus not only one the media itself but, “the ways in which each new medium disrupts tradition and reshapes social life” (307). This is quite evident with the continuous advancements in technology and as time goes on it will be interesting to see new forms of media that develop and are incorporated into our everyday lives.