Introduction to Blogging

1.

I believe that media is very important in my life. In our modern culture it surrounds us so it'd be difficult to live a life with out it. Media has become embedded into my life and use of it is now as natural as breathing.

2.

The three most important forms of media to me are music, social media and video games.

Music - While never an activity I focus fully on, I normally have a headphone in my ear and listen to music while completing tasks. It can help time pass by faster and helps me concentrate one what I meed to do. My favorite artists and songs may I change constantly but music is a must have in my everyday life. 

Social Media - While personally I don't care much for the use of it, social media is a necessity to communicate. I usually use it at least two hours a day in order to speak with others.

Video Games - Video games can be a great way to pass time. As a creative/artistic person I find myself especially drawn to games with a unique or interesting art style. I also love anything I can play on my phone to pass time anywhere.

3.

I believe modern pop culture is some what flawed. This is extremely evident when you realize no one particularly likes it. Famous people are being hated more and more, and negative press is more popular than positive. This can be seen as a drawback on enhanced connectivity and that you can be caught doing anything at any given moment, and that the bad sticks out more than the good. Despite this most Pop-culture doesn't bug me because I don't feel over involved in it.

I think communication technology is impressive but maybe too advanced for what modern people are capable of handling. Again, think of all the stupid things people post daily or take pictures of as evidence of this. Social media to me is only useful as a form of IM.

I use media for a variety of activities, ranging from: entertainment, education and shopping. Although the most common is use for entertainment and least common is for shopping.



4.

I believe teenagers ( and along with that, everyone) is portrayed incorrectly in the media. The teens in the media can be generally categorized into three groups: the overly heroic ( such as Katniss Everdeen from the hunger game series), the overly stupid (Any group of teens from any generic horror movie) and the overly mature (While no specific example comes to mind the thought that every teen is usually played by 20 + year old can contribute to this).

Let the above picture speak for itself. It is unrealistic. No teen can be a hero the may media portrays. No teen can be the one hope for an entire nation or the savior of everyone. It is extremely unrealistic and for some may create an unobtainable desire to be that individual.

Next up are the overly stupid. While these characters are in plenty of movies or TV shows they are especially prominent in the Horror genre. The types of movies where someone in the audience yells "Don't go into the basement!" when everyone else knows the character is going to the basement regardless. The tens in these movies make unrealistic and possibly the worst decisions given their situation and are only meant as killer fodder to the antagonist. Not too pleasant of a way for teens to be presented.

Finally and probably the worse offender is how teens are showed to be overly mature. While the previous two points can be logically explained by "Oh, the screen writer's were trying to make her interesting" or " The movie wouldn't be scary if the characters weren't in a bad situation" the maturity of the actors can create real problems. With 20+ year olds playing teens it creates an unrealistic body image teens try to obtain. Girls feel insecure they can't have the body of every movie teenager and boys can't put on the muscle that any movie character has. It makes real teens feel poorly about themselves because they can't look like what media says teens should.

In conclusion the way in which teens are portrayed in the media is ludicrous. It gives teens a bad reputation and unrealistic standards and worse of all might be unchangeable. Stereotypes exist everywhere and are usually negative the only way to overcome them is to be smart enough to realize they aren't true.