Currently, I am keeping a list of songs that I want to get for my music collection. Unfortunately for the music business, I am not planning on paying for the music, but instead downloading it illegally. The reason I am able to do this is because of the Internet. The music industry is suffering because the downloading of music is so accessible and easy to everyone. With the click of a button, any song can be found and obtained, without any profit going to the music business that produced it. This system is making the music less authentic, because it is free of charge. Not only is downloading of music happening, but people are making their own music. Some are original, but many are just re-makes and remixes of songs that already exist. I think this way of obtaining music goes hand-in-hand with the idea that superstardom is no longer possible I today’s society. The lack of originality and the amount of availability contribute to deteriorate the music industry in various ways.
As technology advances, I become more and more dependant on it. I no longer open textbooks and search through novels to get my answers- instead, I flip open my latptop and type in “google”. My attention span is dwindling, and has reached that of a fruit fly- and I am not alone. Since our attention spans are shortening, so are things in the media. According to the article, “Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets.” At first I found this extremely ridiculous, but upon thinking about it, it makes sense. I can recall pulling out my parents prized encyclopedia books as references for each school assignment. I remember carefully flipping through the pages and pouring over the small words on the thin paper. Since I discovered the site “Google”, all of that went out the window. “Google” gives you everything you need with a click of a mouse, which makes it a likely cause of stupidity. I no longer retain facts I used to read, because now I don’t have to search for them. After a fluid copy and paste, nothing is remembered and im not getting any smarter. The article “Is Google making us Stupid?” is well written and highly relatable for any individual who owns a computer.
The article that I read about blogging was called “Ad shift throws blogs a Business Lifetime” and can be found at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/technology/internet/14blog.html
As if reading the over-exaggerated headlines while standing in line at the grocery store wasn’t enough, a woman named Lisa Sugar began blogging about celebrity gossip in her free time. Does Brittany Have custody? Is Miley preggers? Is Lohan a Lesbian?! As intriguing as this may be, I still don’t (and never will) understand why Lisa Sugar would willingly and religiously keep a blog about the lives and lies of the famous. Despite all that it wrong with gossip, she reported it and over time gathered a large amount of followers. The question of whether bloggers can be considered as journalists can be answered in a few different ways. This is because there are many different kinds of blogs- which is new to me. In my first blog, I ranted that blogs are used as a stupid outlet for people to give out bits and pieces of their insignificant lives for all to read. I was partly correct, but there is more to it than that. There are many blogs out there that are significant to everyday life, giving out the news and interesting artiles. In that regard, I would say yes you could refer to the author of a blog as a journalist.
When turning on the TV, I am often overwhelmed with the hefty variety of channels I am provided with. There are so many options of what to watch and when to watch it. This cycle is repeated with not only radio stations, but newspapers and the Internet as well. The vast amounts of mediums provided in today’s society creates a division between the audiences. In the past, people only had one or more sources of media that everyone watched in order to be connected. The lack of variety provided a sort of community within that group of people because of the fact that they were exposed to the exact same information. When my mom was growing up only one house out of the entire neighborhood owned a television set, instead of today in which every house owns a TV. When a show was going to play, the entire neighborhood would go over to the house and everyone would watch the show together. When someone became famous, their name was known. Their fame continued for long periods of time, because viewers had fewer outlets to split their time and attention. This is the reason that it is now more difficult for stars to stay in the spotlight- because there are so many more options. Often when I hear a song on the radio I know all the words because I hear it so often, yet if I asked I couldn’t tell you the name of the artist. Fast-forward one week, and the number one hit song is replaced with a new one that sounds alike.
The alternative media source that I took a look at today was http://www.alternet.org/ where I found an interesting article about foods you think are healthy, but aren’t actually. (Now that the thought of freshman fifteen is lurking in the back of my mind, I can’t help but scope out articles that deal with the obese. You never know, it could happen!) The article deals with increasing obesity and health issues in America and how we could possibly make changes in our lifestyles in order to make a difference. More specifically, a recent court case occurred where two children were taken away from their parents under the condition of being too overweight. Sounds ridiculous, right? But allegedly, social services had warned the parents that they needed to lower the children’s’ weight in a certain amount of time or severe consequences would follow. After months of no change on the scale, the police had to take charge of the situation. Apparently, the mother was arrested after missing a court date to examine whether she should retain custody. This is not the only time a story like this has occurred. There are similar cases that happened in California, New York, Mexico and Canada. Personally if I was the mom, I’m pretty sure I would schedule my kid for an intense liposuction surgery, buy a personal trainer, and stock the refrigerator full of celery. I might even be so inclined to sign him/her up for “The Biggest Loser” reality television show, but hey-whatever floats your boat. I read the other article at Time magazine online, which was a little different. The alternative media source focused more on the personal side of the story, while the latter focused on just the straight-up facts. With help from the two articles I now know to stay away from Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese, and never dilly-dally on weight-loss when the social services are involved.
If I am correct, being media literate means being able to look past the initial intrigue of advertising and various media entertainment and see the messages behind it. It means analyzing the hidden implications and not being subconsciously manipulated by the stimulating propaganda. And if I’m not correct, you can disregard this entire blog.
Im not going to lie, I am extremely illiterate. (And by illiterate, I mean media illiterate. Not being able to read while attending college would be extremely ludicrous- and I don’t mean the rapper.) I learned my first swear word from the movie “Blast from the Past” and got a time-out ten minutes later, after calling my dog a piece of ****. At my first school dance, I burned up the dance floor with moves that belonged in the background of a 50-cent video, because MTV taught me it was cool. At a high school party I had a cigarette, because they never showed anyone dying from it in commercials. As an illiterate individual, I get so wooed by fantasy-like commercials, that I forget to decipher what is true and what is a lie. Every single advertisement has a specific demographic to persuade with insistent propaganda. At a young age we are bombarded with slogans and promises forced on us by various companies. It is up to the audience to decipher whether or not to see the underlying issue and ask questions like “who is this message intended for?” and “why is this message being sent out?” If the question is am I media literate, then I would have to say no I am not, because of the society in which I was raised. As technology media evolves, media literacy dies.
Although my opinions mean little and my experience is slim, I think blogs are a waste of time. I realize this may seem contradictory because of the fact that I am currently writing this on a blog of my own, but don’t be fooled. I am typing my thoughts onto the Internet for all to see against my will, for the good of a satisfactory grade. Having an intellectual conversation with an open-minded person can be one of the most gratifying occurrences. (Perhaps not for me because I’m immature and often don’t care what people think, but other people seem to dig it.) On the other hand, one of the most frustrating incidences for me is arguing with a stubborn person on differing views. That is basically what a blog is, except that you cant argue your opinions back to the person. Just because someone writes their thoughts and opinions down on the Internet, doesn’t mean anyone wants to read them. It seems to me that blogs are more often than not, a smattering of opinions, complaints, and useless information. Personally, I’m would prefer to not waste my time on the computer reading a one-sided squabble, when I could go talk to an actual person.
