Reflection

Over the past few months, I have grown much more aware of the impact of media. Whenever I see a commercial on tv or hear one on the radio, I immediately notice the strategies or fallacies used in the advertisement. A few months ago, I don't think I would have noticed all the tricks and traps in commercials and all the different ways that companies are trying to subconsciously control me. I never acknowledged the clutter or registered the numerous ads but now I notice them everywhere I go.

My media consumption has also decreased. After acknowledging how addicted I am to social media, I made an effort to put my phone away and not let it distract me. As a result, have been much more productive and less stressed. I never truly realized how much my phone controlled me until after I stopped using it as much. I feel more free when I am not constantly running to my phone every time it buzzes. I still use my phone more than I should, however; I use it much les than I did a few months ago.

I noticed that I am also much more aware of all the assumptions made by media and the negative impact that media has on me and the people around me. Media reinforces stereotypes such as the ideal images for women and men. These ideas are planted into the subconscious of nearly everyone. Eventually, they adopt these points of view without realizing the ideas were fed to them by the media. Whenever I see pictures of flawless models in magazines, I understand how fake the image truly is. No one actually looks like the people on posters. They are just pictures of models that were distorted in to something that is unreal. I know that I am not the only one who notices the artificial nature of media but I wish there were more people who could recognize this. If everyone noticed false images in media, then no one would hold themselves to these unrealistic standards. People could look in the mirror and accept their flaws rather than hate them.

I am glad that I kept this blog because it prompted me to dig deeper and break through the wall of media and expose the toxic messages behind every pretty image. I came to realizations about media that I don't think I would have noticed without this blog. I was also able to read other blogs from my classmates that were very interesting and introduced new perspectives on matters that I never would have noticed. Overall, this assignment was beneficial for me because it encouraged me to grow into someone who is aware of the double sided nature of media.