To receive full credit, these blog assignments must be posted by SUNDAY night, February 28th at midnight. If you post late, please email me your post directly at sdebross@uvm.edu as soon as you are able, and I'll give you partial credit.
1. Please read Tom Hodgkinson's article on Facebook entitled, "With Friends Like These" and answer the following questions:
a. IYOW, identify the thesis of Hodgkinson's article, in one sentence.
b. Describe TWO observations the author makes about Facebook with which you agree, and TWO observations he makes about Facebook with which you disagree. Be clear and specific.
2. In preparation for our Toys R Us field trip, please read Rob Williams' article entitled, "The Making of a Media Literate Mind" and blog your reflections. What stood out for you? Is there anything you learned from the article that you didn't know before?
3. Please screen the Media Education Film, Still Killing Us Softly 3, and blog your reactions, listing 5 specific ideas/concepts/observations. How did the film make you feel? What persuasive techniques does Kilbourne use in presenting her research?
4. OPTIONAL (but highly recommended if you've never participated in the "Twitterverse" before):
1. Set up a Twitter account. Think carefully about how you wish to "name" yourself on Twitter, and be sure to take the time to include an account image and some brief bio info.
3. "Tweet" a "Hello" message to the "Twitterverse," and include the #UVM hash tag in your message, so everyone on Twitter at UVM can welcome you, and come follow you on Twitter. (Suggestion: Hello #UVM! I am new to Twitter. Who should I follow?)
4. Download a FREE application called Tweet Deck for your home computer or laptop. I will "demo" Tweet Deck in class for you.
5. Start playing with Twitter as you have time to. HAVE SOME FUN!
1. a) Facebook and the creators around it are doing nothing for us, and just making us more dependent on tools such as facebook and detaching us from the real world and people that we know.
ReplyDeleteb)I agree with the idea that facebook is disconnecting us from people and having real relationships. That is one thing I really hate about facbeook, that I am “friends” with so many people, yet I haven’t spoken to more than 96% of them in a few years or ever. I also agree with the idea that people move in flocks, and how that helped the enormous growth of facebook. Like any new thing or social networking website, people will go right to it just because it is “the cool thing” to do. I disagree with the idea that facebook is destroying the real world and that a virtual world is taking over. I don’t think we are quite there yet, and I don’t think a website like facebook has that much power to make us totally detached from everything…but give it a few years and we will have a different situation to deal with. I also disagree with the whole negative attitude of the whole article. It wasn’t a very happy article and made it seem like everything is just going to die because of facebook and technology.
2. I enjoyed reading this article because it basically summed up how the media really has taken charge of things. I liked the ending idea of how “With growing interest in media-literacy education throughout the US, that day may come sooner than we think.”. This positive outlook on things is what we need, and we really need media-literacy education in order to get kids to understand what they need to pay attention to and believe. Without a media-literacy education, views of things will just get worse and worse and we will start to all become even more dependent on the media and start believing what it says.
3. –I found the whole idea of turning women into objects to advertise things very interesting. By using a women’s body as an object, it just allows others (men) to look at women as these objects.
ReplyDelete-With so much of the media world focusing on women and the way that people think women should look, it sets into younger girls and their views of how they should look are twisted at even younger ages than before. I remember once watching a show on young girls (younger than 12) with eating disorders, and all I could do was be upset and angry because they don’t deserve to have to deal with that at such young ages, but it seems like it is almost impossible to escape that in this day and age.
- I found the idea of how advertisements use the race card to be interesting yet confusing. They said how African Americans are usually portrayed as wild animals, and that just confused me. They also showed an ad with two children, and how the younger black male was used compared to the younger white girl. I don’t think that race should be considered when doing these kinds of advertisements, and it just confuses me to why they split races in order to portray things.
-The idea that advertisements are “mainstreaming pornography” is disturbing and can only make you think of what can come with advertisements in the futures. Racy ads are looked down upon, and should really be banned…link posted below on a good example of advertisements and the differences of how what we allowed in the US vs. other places….
-Violence towards women in ads is disgusting and I can’t believe those were allowed at a point. Seeing that ANY violence towards women is not allowed/looked down upon, it shocks me that ads portraying violence against women are seen in this world.
After watching this video, it made me think a lot about advertising and how advertisements can be so open and not discrete with sending out these messages. Is there anything we can do to help these bad messages from being sent out????
Persuasive techniques used- flattery, bandwagon, simple solutions, rhetorical questions, fear, humor (the audience found a lot of her jokes funny, I didn’t laugh though), plain folks, repetition, nostalgia, diversion, beautiful people, either/or, maybe, strength, race card, and probably many more…..
A few days ago I saw this article…. And it made me wonder, how an ad like this can’t be seen here in the United States, but yet there are so many more offensive ads found in regards to women and image.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/sexual-slavery-tobacco-compared-anti-smoking-ad/story?id=9930540
1)
ReplyDeletea)Facebook is destroying the human experience.
b)There are many things that I can agree with Tom Hodgkinson on and one of them is when he compares Facebook to 1984's "Big Brother." I mean nothing can be truly deleted. Or, the fact that now Facebook has made it so all of your friends information is no longer private. Yikes. Then he goes on to explain Facebook's uber advertising abilities. We all know that what you put on your Facebook page will end up being sold back to you. It really is brilliant.
What I don't agree with however is Hodgkinson's armageddon like beliefs in the power of Facebook. I think it too is a fad that will extinguish with time. Maybe new and faster sites will emerge to replace it, but Facebook will not be the downfall of mankind. Then he goes on to ostracize the founders of Facebook which I don't really agree with. These guys maybe a little greedy and taking part in something I care very little about, but they are entitled to their successes. It's the American Dream.
2)
a) "Little to tell and everything to sell."Is one of the most poignant remarks of Rob Willaims's article. He dove into much of the stuff that we have already discussed in class about creating a consumer with brand loyalty. However it is interesting to be able to look at advertisements now, which can fall under all sorts of categories, and trace them back to their point of origin. I really due believe that people must be made media literate in order for them to have the ability to dissect ads in this healthy way.
It's funny that after about a quarter of the way through this semester my viewpoint of media has so changed. I used to think that religion was the worlds largest brain washing evil doer, but it turns out that consumer advertisers are far worse.
3)
ReplyDeletea) Five observations:
1- Marketers only focus on specific parts of the female body. Example being women's butts and our obsession with breasts.
2- Women are presented as docile and submissive creatures. Men on the other hand are rowdy and virile.
3- Women must always fight to become the most beautiful they can. Really if you market anything to women that promises them they'll lose weight or look younger they probably will buy it.
4- Men are not manipulated like women are in the world of advertising. Kilbourne uses the example of male underwear models and women underwear models. What is missing for the men are the suggestive words.
5- Advertisements really only cater to the heterosexual couple. This has probably changed dramatically since 1999 since homosexuality has begun to be more excepted in day to day life.
This film was quite eye opening. My boyfriend actually watched it with me and found it very jarring as well. There is a part of me that felt like some of her accusations (or persuasive techniques) were a little hyper sensitive, however I totally got her point. She did overemphasize certain text to help her argument.
I could easily see myself as a young girl looking at these advertisements and critically comparing myself to them.
1. a) Facebook creates a virtual world for people that replaces a part of their true world, and this virtual world is used to make large sums of money, while at the same time users have no privacy.
ReplyDeleteb) I agree that Facebook takes time away from real relationships. I believe Facebook can be used properly such as an email account, because it is so easy to connect, yet at the same time is too addicting and therefore sucks up much time. This time spent on Facebook looking up other people would be better spend just talking to those people in real life, I therefore agree with the author in believing that people do stay in and live in a virtual world instead of experiencing reality.
I do agree with the fact that Facebook is a huge advertiser. I used Facebook before it was big, I like to remember this part of my relationship with it. Before Facebook was so widely spread it had your photos, your basic profile, and the ability to send messages to other users. Now it has applications, advertisements, weird updates, and I feel as though I am constantly being watched by it now. It always is trying to suck me into some “get ripped now ad,” or go study in Europe, instead of letting me simply contact my friends and view photos.
I do not believe Facebook is as big of a terror as the other makes it out to be. I think what we truly need is social networking education. People need to set boundaries, time limits, and be careful what they say and post. I believe it needs education, because despite it taking away our privacy, using us as tests for advertisements, and other purposes, it is a great connecter of people and if used right could allow people to still balance a normal life.
I do not believe that Facebook looks at us as much as the author makes it out to be. I believe our Facebook’s will be scanned time to time by colleges, advertisements, and jobs, but they are not constantly being read over as described. Or…I hope not.
2. I really loved the end to this article. It talked about the day when seniors would graduate from high school and be skilled in media skills such as video editing, and also normal academics. I believe that in this developing world this would be very useful. Like always, I am still shocked by how many ads we see per day. This article made me realize how much the media makes one feel without even realizing it. I do not realize instantaneously that the people in ads are good looking, or that food is photo shopped, but I try to strive like that. I will not always feel as good looking as I am, and I will often notice when a piece of food doesn’t look perfect, even though it looks great. It also sends messages that skimpy outfits and beer drinking behaviors are appropriate, while in reality they shouldn’t be. It however turns into a normality, and therefore culture now accepts it without much shock.
3. –If women are not perfect looking, it means they are not trying hard enough. –Only 5% of women fit the media’s body type (if even), and this is the only body type seen and it is genetic. –Women are taught to be passive and smile, while men are taught to look tough and adventure. –Sex is used to sell everything and doesn’t give images of relationships or intimacy. –Men live in a world where they are told to be aggressive, and media doesn’t affect them the same way because they do not need to worry about being abused, raped, or murdered; they just have to have money to get women.
ReplyDeleteThe film made me feel as though our culture is really messed up. I also feel really bad for women in this society. There really seems like there is no other option for them if they don’t meet the media stereotype, according to the media. I feel bad that this message is being sent to them, because as a guy I don’t feel these things. I do at times feel like I must be tougher and more bulked up (which has led me to eat unhealthy and over eat) than I need to be, but overall I am not scared of people hurting me and also no need to be perfect. Our media is messed up.
She is an amazing presenter. She makes everything flow so perfect. She uses many techniques however I am going to focus on what I consider her most important: humor, plain folk, diversion, either/or, maybe, bandwagon, fear, and symbols. Humor was crucial in her presentation, she made us laugh and turn shocking ads into something we could laugh at. She also really appeals to the plain folk, not super stars, because it is the plain folk who see all these ads every day and feel bad about themselves. She also uses humor to represent maybe/either/or, by saying well it is this or that, but reality is…and she also uses scientific evidence such as only 5% of women have a certain genetic body type that is the only one seen. She is an amazing speaker, and I hope more people can understand the effect of what we see everyday and maybe do something to stall it.
1)
ReplyDeleteThesis: Facebook is a business and it doesn’t benefit the people that are using it, only the people who are selling it.
I agree with the fact that Facebook chains people to their desks and homes. It does not allow us to communicate in a very festive way.
I also agree with the lack of creativity that Facebook has. It is not selling/making anything; it is only an outlet for relationships that happened before facebook was invented. It is replacing the world with a fake virtual world. I agree that the whole thing is just a business that isn’t selling anything.
I agree that it gives people a weird since of self confidence but I don’t agree that this is necessarily a bad thing. Promoting self confidence is a good thing and if a shy person can get on facebook and “talk” to a few people this is an improvement. It may encourage an otherwise shy person to get out into the real world and make connections because they “tested out” their connections on facebook and realized that they didn’t need to be shy anymore.
I disagree that Facebook is a “regime.” I understand that Facebook doesn’t give you much privacy, but I don’t think that Facebook is totalitarian. Facebook does not regulate what we post or say. It does not prevent you for leaving if you want to.
2)
I know that media is a big part of society today but it was really interesting to see just how big of a part that it plays written out on paper. I never really thought about how most of the stories that we hear everyday are controlled in some way through the media and the small amount of businesses that own that entire media. The article did make a really good case for media literacy. It just makes since that with media being all around us that we should try to understand it and analyze it as much as possible.
3)
1. The media presents women without pores and expects and all other women to look like them.
2. The self esteem of girls plummets when they hit adolescence, which is a phenomenon that does not happen for boys.
3. When women who are given power, it is always presented in a trivial way that. The power is always presented in some form of beauty (your power always comes from beauty).
4. Women are supposed to be “virginal and sexy” at the same time. The messages are conflicting and disturbing.
5. Sex is used to sell everything, sending the message that women need men. The industry also uses sex in a way that does not show the importance of sex. It never shows relationships and meaning.
Facebook:
ReplyDeleteThesis: Facebook is a business, under the clever disguise of a social networking site, that is slowly taking a toll on the human relationship.
Agree:
I agree, that Facebook is “…profoundly uncreative.” The article states that it just “…mediates in relationships that were happening anyway.” All the while providing advertising agencies yet another way to reach the consumer. It’s true, if you think about it. Although I use Facebook and admit that it can come in quite handy when trying to make contact with someone you would otherwise not be able to, Facebook makes absolutely nothing. It’s just a space out in the wide-open internet for you to manage your relationships visually. Nothing more.
I also agree that Facebook is/has become quite the business (even though I don’t believe that Facebook is “…some kind of extension of the American imperialist programme…”) I had no idea the shear volume of money that Facebook was producing in investments and the like. A few people making butt loads of money off of the usage of what is essentially a product, however uncreative, by the masses…yup, sounds like a business to me.
I also agree that “…’share’ is Facebook speak for ‘advertise’.” That is quite the genius statement.
Disagree:
I disagree that Facebook is an ideologically motivated totalitarian regime. That seems a little harsh and slightly over the top. I also wouldn’t give it that much credit. I could be wrong, but I believe the people managing the site don’t do much but make occasional changes to the program hear and there. I believe it’s sort of a Twitter-esque situation where it is made into what it is today by its users. It’s only as much of a totalitarian regime as you let it be. If you let it completely consume your life, than yes maybe. But I think depending on how one uses it determines its level of totalitarianism regime-ness. Although I do not agree with a lot of what happens with Facebook, and the whole privacy issue.
I also disagree with Thiel’s philosophy of life. He ascribes to Thomas Hobbes view of life as being “nasty, brutish, and short.” He further feels that we should work towards a new virtual world where we have conquered nature…I’m going to have to dis agree 100% with this guy. Life is not nasty, brutish, and short. Its actually beautiful and the shortness of it makes one appreciate it ever so more (and last I checked, 80 or so years is quite a decent amount of time). And we should never want to conquer nature. It is not ours for the conquering. Furthermore, investing in immortality, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering are probably the worst, most dangerous, quality-of life-threatening things one could possible invest in, besides perhaps terrorism and death.
The Making of a Media Literate World:
I found this article to be quite interesting. Especially the idea of who or what owns the media that we are consuming. I liked George Gerbner’s point about how “…whoever is telling the stories within a culture has enormous power to shape how people act, think and buy”. And now since the “people” telling the stories are not actually people, but rather large corporations, our society is being run not by the people, but by the corporations. We are being sold our ideals and values through the media. I also like how Gerbner said that the people who do have stories to tell aren’t telling them because they are being drowned out by the distant conglomerates “…that have little to tell and everything to sell.”
I also thought it was great how towards the end of the article it talked about a hope for the future where the people will make the media instead of just blindly absorbing the media that is fed to us. It’s sort of a take-charge kind of message. I like it. We should be promoting our own values and ideals and beliefs, not accepting those values a company wants us to accept so they can later increase their profit….my values are not for sale, thank you very much.
Killing Us Softly:
ReplyDelete-Advertising sells more than products. It sells values, images, concepts of love and sexuality, and of normalcy. It tells us who we are and who we should be. In this way, if they sell us what is normal, than they can always advertise products to sell along with this idea of normalcy. For them it’s a win-win situation. Sell us the concept, and then sell the product to “help” the consumer get closer to achieving this concept.
-Its bad enough that models are retouched so much so that as the film said, they have no pores, but now they have computer generated models. As if the ideal of beauty being sold was unreachable before, now even the basis of the picture isn’t even a real woman.
-I find the concept of turning people into things to be quite interesting. The film talked about how, in this case, females are turned onto/portrayed as things. The film then goes onto say that turning a human being into a thing is usually the first step towards justifying violence against that person. It was also crazy with what happens with women of color who are portrayed as animals and so called less-than-human. It’s just not right.
-I also found it kind of interesting how one aspect of the female anatomy can be used to sell such a wide variety of products. Who would have thought breasts would be a good advertising strategy for fishing line?
-I also found it interesting the concept of silencing women, where women were often portrayed with their mouths covered, or messages that implies that women should be quiet and passive and let their body do the talking and keep their mouths shut. And when women are portrayed with power, it is often with masculine power or the power is silly and trivial, such as using the men’s bathroom, ooohhh, how powerful.
-Sex is being used to sell everything from rice to jeans. And when one looks at the world of advertising, it appears to be the most important aspect of life, when really, its not the only thing out there. What continues to confuse me are the clothing advertisements where the people are, oh I don’t know, not clothed?!? And bondage being used to sell neck-ties…really? Come on people.
1.
ReplyDeleteA. Tom Hodgkinson despises Facebook.
B. Agree- My roommate spends Saturday nights at home alone on Facebook, drinking in her bed.
- Facebook and other internet social sites promote "a kind of vanity and self-importance" in people.
Disagree- Advertising in Newspapers is not pointless, they are directed at readers to specific papers.
- Not a disagreement, but the author thinks way too much about drinking.
2. After reading this article, the idea that the media is hypocritical stood out to me. I didn't know that the average household owns three televisions- but I guess I could have guessed that...
3.
- Sex sells
- Vulnerability sells- it makes the consumer feel powerful
- Some women have wider shoulders than hips and are tall and thin... they just don't have any boobs...
- The "ideal" of womanhood has not changed that much in the last forty years
- I am a subject of the media
I felt kind of numb after viewing this clip.
Kilborune uses humor in presenting her research to better sell it to her audience.
1.
ReplyDelete-Facebook, although the most popular social networking site in the world, is very hesitant to let users know it's real purpose; to make money by advertising more specifically than ever before.
-I agree with the fact that facebook indeed separates us from our actual lives instead of "enhancing" our relationships. Quantity is definitely more important to social networking users than quality.
I also agree that facebook is deliberately trying to replace nature and the real world with a virtual world, which facebook's original board member Peter Thiel admits himself. He quotes Thomas Hobbes who said that life was nasty, brutish, and short, saying that the new virtual world of facebook will bring about the conquering of nature. He has also given money to researchers that experiment on artificial ways to make people live longer.
I don't agree with facebook's ridiculous claims of a fake version of privacy. The small print in it's privacy statement is enough to make the strongest stomach quiver with nausea. It essentially tells you that anything you enter into your computer at any point in your life will be saved and even if you decide to change it, an original version will always be kept.
I also don't agree with the way advertisers are exploiting facebook users on a whole new level by targeting them with super-specific ads that they almost can't resist. Facebook quietly sits back and lets users enter all of their interests into the networking site, and then this information is sold to corporations to put ads on specific people's pages.
2.
Williams' article went over almost everything we have focused on in class when it comes to big media controlling the way we see things. From TV to newspapers to video games, ads are subconsciously remodeling society and what we desire from it. Parents can only be "good" parents for so long by not letting their children watch TV for hours on end or submit to their incessant begging for toys/merchandise. At a certain point, schools will be influencing children with ads just as much as if the kids had sat home all day and watched TV. Besides being a total recluse, there is no way around it. The only way to prepare for what's to come is to properly educate those who won't recall a time we didn't have cell phones or internet access 24/7. It takes much practice to realize that when you see an ad something on TV, it is most likely much different in real life, and mush less satisfying as well.
3.
-Younger women are used in ads to target a younger crowd.
-Men are depicted as strong and resilient, while women are seen as vulnerable and quiet.
-Only 5% of the female population of the world could ever look like the ones in advertisements, and it would be genetically rather than because of dieting.
-Girls self esteem is fine before they hit adolescence, but it then drops because they don't look like women on TV.
-Violence towards women has recently been seen as erotic, if not wanted. "No means yes?"
1.
ReplyDeleteA) Hodgson believes that facebook disconnects us from realty because of the little bit of information we post on there.
B) I agree that face book has become undoubtedly more of a business market place than a place to talk with friends over the internet. It is trying to grab our attention with the little pop up adds that sometimes appear on the side of the screen.
What I don't agree with is that its an uber capitalist experiment. The person using facebook control sometimes what ads they want to see. There is no membership fee. The user interface is so simplistic that you don't even have to fill out a whole profile to join facebook or even a picture. Yes there is a lot of ads being thrown at you but the majority of them can simply be ignored.
2. This article basically explains why we need media education in the first place. It explains how we can make a proper judgment of whats right and wrong how information about products and services is relayed to the people.
3. In the film Killing me softly 3, it talks about how the media portrays the women in modern society as sex symbols and objects. Often giving a bad impression for younger girls. This often gives the impression to younger girls that they have to either have to be super skinny or super provocative in order to be attractive in today's society.
“With Friends Like These”
ReplyDeletea. Facebook is not only an expanding social networking tool, it is an advertiser’s dream with the neoconservative freedoms of capitalism backing it.
b. I would agree with Hodgkinson that Facebook has become an important part in the market of investors buying shares. It is crazy to fathom the growing numbers of Facebook users, and the amount this business is actually worth. For example buying 0.4 of the share is worth $60 million, that shows how influential it has become to wealthy investors and corporations. I also agree with Hodgkinson’s description of the privacy options on Facebook. There is no doubt that everyone’s information is out there, no matter what the privacy settings are. This article made me go back on my own Facebook page and look through the privacy policy. I am aware of where my information goes but I doubt many kids in high school know that Facebook is more than a tool to chat with friends and look at pictures. I disagree with the point that corporations are benefitting from Facebook selling users’ preferences on their profile. Although I am sure it happens, I do not think most users are going to list their favorite drink, potato chip, or restaurant. Companies would have to go through tons of information to gain insight on consumer habits. I also disagree with Zuckerberg’s tactics of listening to users and helping them find their way into cyber-friendships. I think his goals, and the other original founders are completely oriented to Facebook as a business and only want to help sponsors, corporations, and shareholders.
“Making of a Literate Mind”
This article really examined many of the topics we have been discussing in class. For example, production techniques, and advertising strategies. There is a purpose for advertisers attempting to get us to react to or to have an emotional response to an image. Our brain, and our limbic system will see advertisements and remember them, but the ads are too quick for us to deconstruct or think about them thoughtfully. One point that stood out for me was that media, and corporations have a single goal in mind, and undermining the health and education or children is an acceptable externality. There are countless examples, in the article they mention McDonalds takeover of Sesame Street.
“Still Killing us Softly 3"
1. People are de-humanized in advertising to create a stereotype and grab people’s attention
2. Woman are portrayed in a variety of formats either as sex symbols, as passive, or promoting a body type.
3. Only parts of woman are used in ads for example breasts, promoting the idea that they are present because of their body
4. Ads create and continue gender roles, particularly for children in the Calvin Klein magazine ads
5. Advertising has people chasing a fictitious body type, achievable with certain genetics, maybe?, computer imaging, and starvation. This creates self-esteem and health issues
Kilbourne uses a lot of images and advertisements to present her research. Her sarcastic and humorous tone did not appeal to me but it did not take away from me believing the message. Without a doubt women are stereotyped in advertising and like it said in the ad publication culture and ads are inextricably linked. Although she does mention how men can be victims of this too her presentation focuses on women. She could have made her argument more clear why the image of a women is more profound and debilitating for society.
FACEBOOK
ReplyDeletea. IYOW, identify the thesis of Hodgkinson's article, in one sentence.
Facebook is disguised as a social networking site, but its true purpose is rooted in capitalism and advertisement.
b. Describe TWO observations the author makes about Facebook with which you agree, and TWO observations he makes about Facebook with which you disagree. Be clear and specific.
Disagree:
“Like PayPal before it, it is a social experiment, an expression of a particular kind of neoconservative libertarianism. On Facebook, you can be free to be who you want to be, as long as you don't mind being bombarded by adverts for the world's biggest brands.” I mildly disagree with this statement, because I don’t feel that advertisements are that overwhelming on Facebook. There are some ads on the side bar, but mine are never for major brand name stuff.
“Clearly, Facebook is another uber-capitalist experiment: can you make money out of friendship? Can you create communities free of national boundaries - and then sell Coca-Cola to them? Facebook is profoundly uncreative. It makes nothing at all. It simply mediates in relationships that were happening anyway.” I also disagree with this statement. I feel that there is some truth in his argument because people can spend money on Facebook, but by no means does a friendship create revenue. In addition, it can create relationships that weren’t already there. I wouldn’t suggest Facebook friend-ing someone that you don’t know, but it happens. I feel that Facebook can be useful for things outside of the realm of capitalism. For example, I use my page to convey important announcements to do with activism projects that I am working on. For example, I used Facebook to communicate with a lot of people about the issue of closing down VT Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. I was able to share links to websites, dates of upcoming events, pictures, and updates on the vote. I have never spent any money on the site.
Agree:
“The US defense department and the CIA love technology because it makes spying easier.” I absolutely agree. I can see how Facebook would be a great way to spy on people, because most people list a lot of personal information, such as hometown, birth date, school, political views, religion, and relationship status. I have even heard that colleges and jobs will use Facebook as a tool to research applicants.
“Now, by comparison with Facebook, newspapers, for example, begin to look hopelessly outdated as a business model. A newspaper sells advertising space to businesses looking to sell stuff to their readers. But the system is far less sophisticated than Facebook…” Facebook is a much more efficient way to get information around, including ads, because viewing is infinite and nonstop. There are millions of people looking at their Facebook news feeds 24/7. Unlike a newspaper which is printed once a day, users can change their statuses and write messages to other people many times a day. The News Feed is much like a newspaper, but with information that is more personalized to each viewer. I only see the updates of people that I am friends with, or pages of which I am a fan.
"The Making of a Media Literate Mind" and blog your reflections.
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out for you?
It stood out that in our culture we spend at least ten hours each day consuming media. I was not surprised to read that fact, but it is overwhelming. Essentially, the only times we aren’t consuming media are if we’re asleep, or in the middle of the woods. Since about 90% of the media is owned by a handful of giant corporations, there is little room for diverse, independent, or revolutionary themes.
Is there anything you learned from the article that you didn't know before?
I learned that CBS and MTV are both owned by Viacom. In addition, it was brought to my attention in the article that many of the alcohol ads on television, especially during sports programs, are targeted to adolescent boys whom obviously can’t purchase those beverages. It has become obvious to me that those adolescent boys are being “branded”. They are subconsciously being brainwashed to believe that to be popular, one must be a jock, and jocks drink Budweiser. It is horrifying how interconnected all of the larger corporations have become.
The Merchants of Cool
1) Portrays teens as easily brainwashed.
2) Observes the role of sex in the media and the lives of teens. The film exaggerates reality. Not all teens behave in the ways that are portrayed by MTV and “Spring Break” videos. I don’t necessarily think the media has the most influence over teen sexuality. It has a lot to do with the friends that teens hang around with, and the ways they were raised.
3) The kids who were paid to talk about “what’s cool” were very hesitant to say very much. It made me a little mad, because if I had an easy way to make fifty bucks like that, I would tell them what I thought was “cool”. Not that I would sign up for anything like that, because I don’t support the cause. I just think the focus group was relatively selfish to take the opportunity and not give a good effort to do the job.
4) The TV show 7th Heaven is pretty ridiculous. I used to watch it on afternoons after school when I wasn’t doing anything else. I remember consciously knowing how unrealistic it was, in that the family was so perfect. At the same time, I was addicted to it, and it made me hostile that my own family was relatively dysfunctional. I find it hard to believe that there are families in real life with parents that get along so well, live in a beautiful home, have all well-behaved, attractive kids, and a dog named Happy that always saves the day.
5) I found the section of the video about Midriff archetypes to be pretty true. The media portrays that females must be a certain way: perfect body, highly sexual, confident and weak at the same time, and consumed by appearances and popularity. From personal experience, I can say that very few girls want to act this way, but most of them do because they are starved for male acceptance.
How did the film make you feel?
The film made me feel like I am not an individual. It made huge generalizations about teenagers, and separated us by gender. Ironic, huh, that a video trying to end stereotypes has completely played into them?
What persuasive techniques does Kilbourne use in presenting her research?
It’s persuasive that actual footage of teens is shown. There are interviews and videos of the teens buying into archetypes.
Twitter: I am choosing not to participate in the world of Twitter, because I feel like I am already too connected to the cyber world with a Facebook account, and now a blog! I know the essence of what it is, and feel that I would be very distracted by it.
1
ReplyDeleteA.
I think the author sums himself up quite well, to quote Hodgkinson, "Facebook is some kind of extension of the American imperialist programme crossed with a massive information-gathering tool."
B.
What I agree with is Hodgkinson's conviction that Facebook is nothing more than an elaborate market research organism disguised as a method of social interaction.
Additionally, after reading this article I found myself so swayed that I deleted my facebook account, finally.
What I disagree with is his implication that Paypal is a step in the wrong direction. I think the dissemination of wealth virtually can improve many many people's lives, as long as money-hungry digital robber barons are regulated, which is of course the problem today.
2.
The article seemed to really reinforce the message of Consuming Kids. It's hard to develop a central point of reference swimming in a sea of media, something that's really dangerous for young children, but even adults today too.
3.
Five things that stuck out for me in Killing Us Softly 3
1-The line in the ad that said "the more you subtract the more you add" really shocked me, but then that was a theme for me.
2-I'd never been aware of the usage of, cut the weight, as a metaphor for, undercut women's power.
3-The correlation media has drawn between sexy and innocent seems like it's putting people in danger.
4-Advertising is America's biggest and greatest pornographer, who knew?
5-A real shocker moment for me, the US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world?!
1.) A: The thesis of this article is that Facebook is yet another step in converting our world to a completely corporate controlled cyberspace universe.
ReplyDeleteB: I agree with that rather than connect us, Facebook isolates us at our workstation. Tom points out that instead of drinking, chatting, and dancing with our friends we are sending them cyberspace messages that don’t even make sense. The actual physical interaction is what is valued in a relationship, not little messages between screens. I also agree with the following quote: “Share" is Facebookspeak for "advertise". Sign up to Facebook and you become a free walking, talking advert for Blockbuster or Coke, extolling the virtues of these brands to your friends. We are seeing the commodification of human relationships, the extraction of capitalistic value from friendships.” This quote solidifies the advertising spam that controls and intertwines with Facebook. It is mind blowing how Facebook has enabled corporate america to strengthen its stranglehold over us.
I disagree with Thiel’s thinking in terms to referencing a worker’s revolution and taxes. He believes that the worker’s can’t unite an take over the bank if the bank is in a place like Vanuatu. It is this kind of thinking that gets most powerful politicians and economists into trouble. Thiel’s intelligence and lust for success are also his two inhibitors in being a fully rounded and successful business man. I also disagree with the fact that Tom thinks that Facebook is uncreative. In fact I think it’s genius. Why? Because it has worked so successfully. To me anything that takes off like Facebook did is obviously a well though out idea. Now I think that morally Facebook is terrible but from a outside perspective its genius. Indiscrete advertising, social networking soon after the outrages of Myspace, and easy use. I don’t like Facebook but I have to say that its a hell of an idea.
A: The thesis of this article is that Facebook is yet another step in converting our world to a completely corporate controlled cyberspace universe.
ReplyDeleteB: I agree with that rather than connect us, Facebook isolates us at our workstation. Tom points out that instead of drinking, chatting, and dancing with our friends we are sending them cyberspace messages that don’t even make sense. The actual physical interaction is what is valued in a relationship, not little messages between screens. I also agree with the following quote: “Share" is Facebookspeak for "advertise". Sign up to Facebook and you become a free walking, talking advert for Blockbuster or Coke, extolling the virtues of these brands to your friends. We are seeing the commodification of human relationships, the extraction of capitalistic value from friendships.” This quote solidifies the advertising spam that controls and intertwines with Facebook. It is mind blowing how Facebook has enabled corporate america to strengthen its stranglehold over us.
I disagree with Thiel’s thinking in terms to referencing a worker’s revolution and taxes. He believes that the worker’s can’t unite an take over the bank if the bank is in a place like Vanuatu. It is this kind of thinking that gets most powerful politicians and economists into trouble. Thiel’s intelligence and lust for success are also his two inhibitors in being a fully rounded and successful business man. I also disagree with the fact that Tom thinks that Facebook is uncreative. In fact I think it’s genius. Why? Because it has worked so successfully. To me anything that takes off like Facebook did is obviously a well though out idea. Now I think that morally Facebook is terrible but from a outside perspective its genius. Indiscrete advertising, social networking soon after the outrages of Myspace, and easy use. I don’t like Facebook but I have to say that its a hell of an idea.
2.) A: I thought that the concept of media literacy was very interesting because I think that many people in this day and age are completely media illiterate making it impossible for them to succeed in our media controlled lives. I also think its really scary how these massive corporations operate. For starters they are pitching the products that they are then going to turn around and sell to you. Secondly they go after you on an emotional level. Marketers have so narrowly pinpointed their respective markets that they can heavily sell certain products for different types of emotional and mental states. The last thing that I thought was really bizarre was the company that owns CBS and that is Viacom. Since 60 minutes is probably the most watched newscast in the country weekly, I was under the assumption that CBS was perhaps the most decent and straight to the point channel however after learning that the same company owns MTV I was shocked. All of a sudden that Janet Jackson boob doesn’t look like much of an accident after all.
ReplyDelete3.)a:
-Looks are the most important value to a young woman developing into our twisted society. Advertisers design their ads to make girls feel guilty that they don’t look like the models. I thought that this was really twisted and bizarre.
-The ad with the woman as a bottle also stuck out. It adds to the cultural climate where woman are objects rather than things. The interesting point Kilbourne made was that this demeaning of a person to less than human is a direct course to violence.
-The concept of black women in ads being dressed and treated like jungle animals. Not only demeaning to women but incredibly racist as well dawning them with skins and furs.
-The fact that most women lost feeling in their breasts after implants solidifies the notion that they are simply objects for the man to play with and no longer belong to the woman because she can’t even feel them.
-Only 5 % of American women look like the sexy and desirable women from advertisements. This number blew my mind.
-I also wanted to comment on the ad “the more you subtract the more you add” because this train of thought is so detrimental to young women all over.
1)Thesis: Facebook and the like are destroying peoples ability to make human connections.
ReplyDelete2)Observations:
I think it is important to understand the aspect of Facebook that is most dangerous is that it follows our most deep seeded social requirements, our thirst as human beings for social interaction, however with Facebook the connects made are simply superficial, the virtual world interaction. Thiel makes reference to the sad fact that instead of dancing, drinking, and having fun with friends people end up surrounding themselves within this media environment so as to stay connected when in reality there is no connection at all. I also found that Thiel's argument on the terms of Facebook's privacy profile, and its connection to big brother falls directly into my feelings on Facebook. I spent two years off Facebook when I found out in an email, that although I had deactivated my account, that in cyberspace it was still in existence, floating in the ether.
I disagree with the terms in which he discusses the future of Facebook and its destructive capacity on the social connectedness of the future. I also disagreed with the way in which he wrote the article, very accusatory and it seemed less intelligent and more crackpot the further you moved down the article.
"Making of a Media Literate Mind"
I really liked the premise of corporate story telling, and its ability to shape the consumer and cultural marketplace. I also agreed with the mindless absorbtion discussion, in terms of readily available media in all facets finding ways to seep into our consciousness.
Killing Us Softly 3
1) Ovulen 21 "Works the way a woman thinks... By weekdays, not "cycle days'"
2) 3000 ads per day, and 3 years of life spent watching tv commercials
3) Women as objects/things, less than human = inevitable violence
4) Sell more than things, but an image
5) Does your husband wish you had larger breasts?
6) The more you subtract, the more you add.