Mass Media

We've all seen news channels, newspapers, magazines, etc. We all know what their purpose is, to "inform" the people of "important" events. But what events are important? The media wants us to believe that the "pressing issues" are; Murder, Sexual Offences, Hollywood Gossip, and Political/Famous Scandals. But are these really important? Or is the media just trying to divert our attention from real issues, like global warming?

Cell Phones and How They Affect People

Cellphones- They fit nicely into your pocket, and make talking to friends a lot easier. But there are hidden costs, like Texter's neck, lack of "people" skills (You can no longer confront someone in the first person, you require a phone to "tell them off") and, my personal pet peeve, the "text-friendly" version of the English language which includes; abbreviations, and misspelled words like there instead of their, or to instead of too. Why do people use this language? A, they don't care. B, they "save" time. Yes, a whole 1.2 seconds, your life is now considerably better because you used ur instead of your, or you're. I predict that by the mid/late-21st century, we'll lose the proper English language, and society will turn into "texting zombies".

Burger King Commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=xYA7AnVwejo
The above link is for a "commercial" put forth by Burger King.
It is a 30 second ad that features lots of broken glass and a body check into a fax machine.
What does this have to do with a burger? Not much.

Key Concept #2 Media Construct Reality

The CSI Effect

We need to ask, "What shows that media is a construction?" Well, to answer, one might say; The use of actors, music, unrealistic time transition, credits, etc.

Next we ask, "How does this constructed reality affect us people?" To answer this question, I will use The CSI Effect. I think everybody who is old enough to watch television has seen at least 1 episode of the show, and you notice some pretty high-tech gadgets (some of these 'tools' used haven't even been invented yet). And this makes people who watch CSI believe that forensic scientists can find DNA everywhere, but that is never the case. Now, in court systems, judges, jurors, even lawyers are saying that you need forensic evidence to prove anything. Murderers have been found innocent because a lack of forensic proof. REAL CSI agents have an impossible time finding even slightly useful DNA, or other evidence. Is CSI really a good influence on society? I don't know, but I do know that if every murderer gets off due to "lack of evidence" we aren't going to be needing prisons anymore.

Key Concept #6 Media Have Social and Political Implications

Today, we still study off a chalkboard, the chalkboard was invented in the mid-1800's. But the revolution has begun, computers were invented in the 1960's and used a stack of cards and some hole punchers. They took up entire rooms. In the 1970's Windows DOS was NEW. In 1989, it was outdated. Today, we have cell phones that are a less than a fraction of their original sizes and weight, computers that once took a room, can now sit on one's lap. This happened in under 40 years, but what about 40 years from now? Computers already have a processing power in the billions of bytes, what next? Predictions of super-computers that could compete with a human brain are set on 2013. That is only 3 years away. Kids, and probably everybody else, within the next 40 years, will no longer be reading out of books, but computers. New jobs that we never even thought would be important, suddenly become top-priority. Kids in the future will do everything electronically. To us, the future will be much like Star Trek.

Key Concept #4 Media Have Commercial Implications

We all know about the super bowl, (not all of us watch it, however). Since the superbowl began, the price for a 30 second commcercial during this game rose, and rose. During the 2010 game, commercials were $3 Million apiece! This is a far-cry from the $600,000 for a spot in 1987, or Super Bowl XXI. So, in under 20 years, why has the price risen so high? In my opinion it's because the number of viewers, and shares with the broadcasting stations have increased. Are the companies getting their $3M from advertising? I don't think so, nobody pays attention to commercials during the games, commercials are for bathroom breaks, and filling up the beer and peanuts.

Key Concept #3 Audiences Negotiate Meaning in the Media

Media Construct Reality
We see media everday, but do we realize that it is not really real? When you watch a good movie, don't you get attatched to the characters? These characters are just that, characters, they aren't real, even though they might as well be. The reason for the realness of these people is the blurring of reality and make-believe. People believe that what they see on televison is real, and anybody could do it, that they too could fly, just like superman, or perform a move from Mortal Kombat. Because people believe this; there have been accidents, where people were injured and even killed trying to do what their heroes do in the movies/ video games.
http://www.ctd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/032702.jba.wilson.pdf
- The above link is the account of a boy who thought he was a character from Mortal Kombat, he ended up killing his friend.