January Media Log

Books:

A Shade of a Vampire by Bella Forrest

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Shows:

Keeping Up with the Kardashians Season 11 episode 7

Keeping Up with the Kardashians Season 11 episode 8

Keeping Up with the Kardashians Season 11 episode 9

Jane the Virgin Season 2 episode 9

American Crime Season 2 episode 3 

The Originals on NetFlix

Why Do We Sleep? Video Huff Post

Movies:

Hot Girls Wanted Documentary

Emperors New Groove

Mulan

Home

Beyond the Lights

Social Media:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Vine

Articles:

Relevant Magazine

MISC.

Intro to Neuroscience online Lectures

Why Do We Sleep? Video Huff Post

Real or not Real?

The Truman show delusion is a type of grandiose delusion in which patients believe their lives are staged plays or reality television shows.

Do we create and choose our own reality or is it shaped for us? In Mark Deuze's paper Media Life: Media, Culture, & Society he explains and discusses the truman show delusion. With the rise of social media and cell phones a new reality has been created that has embedded itself within our perceptions of the way our life is or is going. Likes, favorites, reposts, reblogs, retweets have become a way for us to validate our self-worth and reputation. A way keep track of how well we are doing in the "game of life". The best part is that we are not only able to share how well we are doing with all our friends and family we can see how well (or bad) everyone else is doing around us. We can compare and contrast and adjust our behavior for the best results. There is pressure to share a reality that always appears positive and on the up-and-up.  But is the life we share on the internet actual reality or just a mere outer layer that we construct? Are we merely influenced by the constant positive reality of others around us, so we create an alter reality? In a study, researches found a correlation between Facebook and depression symptoms, caused by "social comparison". The article highlighting this correlation also states that comparing ourselves to say someone more attractive lowers our self-esteem while someone less attractive than us raises our self-esteem. Being surrounded by social media has created a "Truman reality show" in each our lives that makes us feel like we are being watched by the people around us, and we are also influenced by the "quality" lives of those people to post more and do more with our lives.

Generation Ignorance

Our generation has been shaped by social media. Likes, follows, favorites, and shares allow us to keep up with our favorite brands and people, and also let other people know what we like. I often assume that this world of social media is all happens-stance, and the world we know just changed and adapted. Although, after watching Generation Like businesses and companies have found a way to track, analyze, and use our likes and favorites to boost their marketing and increase their sales. And we are completely ignorant to it. I know I find myself liking and favoriting so many brands on a weekly basis that I personally want to follow or know more about, but in the background companies are using those social media actions to promote and advertise in a more personalized if not more effective way. Businesses have found a way digitize our simple interests into data they can use to study our habits and advertise their products back to us.  And its not just to us, its also used on everyone who follows us or friends us. We are working for businesses with no compensation, and most of us are not even aware that it is happening. Being aware of this I can now be more conscious of what I do online and how these interactions affect me outside of social media, such as spending habit off and online, sharing, liking, and tagging people on something on Instagram just to win a giveaway, and many other ways. With businesses adapting their marketing on social media, social consciousness has not only become important in daily life but online as well.

Cultural Shapers of the Next Generation

In my Media and Society sociology class we watched a short video that took us all on the journey of the people of Bhutan receiving television channels for the very first time. Bhutan was considered a culturally "untouched" country where people lived simple lives away from capitalism and consumerism that for many of us Americans has become a normal part of our every day lives. Religion, family, friends, and "old" media, such as books and newspapers have been the main influences within this society. Many cultures around the world have acquired or been slowly influenced by other countries cultures and ways of life. Whether that be from years of colonization or simply opening it's borders and doors to new media like television and internet. Each change in cultural values and rituals has had positive and negative affects on each generation. In the video they show the people of Bhutan becoming more consumerist when before they were self-sufficient. The children begin to play fight more because the World Wrestling Entertainment company began showing wrestling matches on television. Subtle changes in our behavior as humans can happen over night, but larger changes can take decades to develop and be noticed within a society. Now that Bhutan has opened its doors television as well as internet it will begin to be influenced by not only American culture, but cultures around the world that the old generation never had access to. Will this negatively or positively influence the new generation and future social structure of Bhutan?