Over the weekend I made a list of all the media I encountered. I noticed that most of the media you encounter many times a day. On Saturday, I woke up and watched some TV, where commercials are on every 10 minutes of my program. I then got ready, and while doing so the radio was playing. Then my dad drove me to the mall, we passed a countless number of billboards and the radio was playing once again. In the mall there are so many ads you can’t even count. I also saw many people listening to their MP3's while walking around. On Sunday while I was on the computer, ads are posted all over every website and pop-ups are ridiculous. I also saw more billboards when I went for my driving lesson, as well as ads on the side of buses and on buildings. This is only the media that I noticed, there was probably much more that I didn’t even realize was all around me.
While I was making my list of what I did over the weekend and all my media encounters, I learned one major fact. There is so much media around us, that it is influencing us without us even knowing. I think that is the biggest thing that surprised me about my interactions, I never truly realized how
much media is all around us until I had to write it all down. I was driving with my dad and we passed a few billboards for McDonald’s, then we ended up eating lunch there, coincidence? I didn’t really know if I believed that tv or video games was really causing more violence in the world, but then I thought, if passing billboards for a fast food restaurant makes you want to eat there without you even realizing, then maybe these violent acts on tv are making children and teens more violent without them even realizing.
On Saturday, I was driving in my car and was trying to write down all the different ads or billboards I saw, but there were just too many that I didn’t have time to write them all down. I am really starting to learn how huge of a role media plays in our life. For example, while I was watching tv I thought what would it be like if there were no commercials? And I realized that I actually don’t mind seeing all the different commercials, even though I may complain about them. It’s interesting to see what different techniques companies will come up with to try and sell you their product or make fun of commercials that are so ridiculous, you can’t believe what you just saw. And the same goes for advertisements. When I’m driving all around I don’t mind seeing ads everywhere, seeing the new products that just came out or will be soon.
As much as I do love seeing ads and watching new, interesting commercials, I do think that there is too much media around us. We are exposed to so much that it makes us just want everything. Seeing our favourite tv character wearing nice expensive clothes makes us want to go out and buy clothes just like them; the commercial for the new chocolate cell phone makes us want to throw out our old one and buy that one; the ad for the new Starbucks frap. that looks so delicious or the burger from Harvey’s that just looks so perfect that it’s surreal makes us want it as well, and I could go on forever. But people need to ask themselves when is it enough? On the other side, it is good to see all the different varieties so people can buy the best product to fit their life style. If there were only ads for a few different cell phones, the others would barely sell and many people would end up with a phone that they don’t even like but was the only one they had heard of. So the bottom line for me is, yes I do think we are being exposed to too much media, but if we were to take it away now our lives would be different, and that is a change that I would not want to make.
While I was making my list of what I did over the weekend and all my media encounters, I learned one major fact. There is so much media around us, that it is influencing us without us even knowing. I think that is the biggest thing that surprised me about my interactions, I never truly realized how
much media is all around us until I had to write it all down. I was driving with my dad and we passed a few billboards for McDonald’s, then we ended up eating lunch there, coincidence? I didn’t really know if I believed that tv or video games was really causing more violence in the world, but then I thought, if passing billboards for a fast food restaurant makes you want to eat there without you even realizing, then maybe these violent acts on tv are making children and teens more violent without them even realizing.On Saturday, I was driving in my car and was trying to write down all the different ads or billboards I saw, but there were just too many that I didn’t have time to write them all down. I am really starting to learn how huge of a role media plays in our life. For example, while I was watching tv I thought what would it be like if there were no commercials? And I realized that I actually don’t mind seeing all the different commercials, even though I may complain about them. It’s interesting to see what different techniques companies will come up with to try and sell you their product or make fun of commercials that are so ridiculous, you can’t believe what you just saw. And the same goes for advertisements. When I’m driving all around I don’t mind seeing ads everywhere, seeing the new products that just came out or will be soon.
As much as I do love seeing ads and watching new, interesting commercials, I do think that there is too much media around us. We are exposed to so much that it makes us just want everything. Seeing our favourite tv character wearing nice expensive clothes makes us want to go out and buy clothes just like them; the commercial for the new chocolate cell phone makes us want to throw out our old one and buy that one; the ad for the new Starbucks frap. that looks so delicious or the burger from Harvey’s that just looks so perfect that it’s surreal makes us want it as well, and I could go on forever. But people need to ask themselves when is it enough? On the other side, it is good to see all the different varieties so people can buy the best product to fit their life style. If there were only ads for a few different cell phones, the others would barely sell and many people would end up with a phone that they don’t even like but was the only one they had heard of. So the bottom line for me is, yes I do think we are being exposed to too much media, but if we were to take it away now our lives would be different, and that is a change that I would not want to make.
Works Cited:
http://foiblesfollies.blogspot.com/2007/03/open-your-snack-hole.html
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