Media has played a massive role in shaping who we are today either individually or collectively as a society. Through its diverse forms, whether television, social media, or news media outlets, media can move us evoking emotions such as empathy, joy, or sorrow. Media has connected people for better or worse, showing us places beyond our surroundings by creating a digital global community through exposing ourselves to different cultures and perspectives. By doing this, the media has a hand in shaping who we are and our understanding of the world and ourselves. My relationship with media started in my childhood and throughout my life, it evolved into my everyday life by using it daily for personal or professional reasons shaping me into an educated person.
Media is a significant character in my life. Growing up in the 2000s, my earliest memory was watching beloved childhood TV and movies on VHS tapes and DVDs while surfing the internet at my Dad’s printshop and playing computer games. When I first started grade school I took a computer skills class, learning how to properly operate the machine and save data on floppy disks and thumb drives. In middle school, during my adolescence, smartphones and social media began to rise, placing themselves in our daily lives slowly transitioning from the real world to the digital world. I use Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram to socialize with friends by posting pictures or stories on my accounts. When I reached high school we started using Edmodo, a social networking educational platform to keep track of my assignments and turn them in on time through the platform.
The same type of technology was used when I first started attending College except it was named Blackboard then I used Canvas. I used these platforms to keep up with my assignments, discuss assignments with classmates, and email questions to my professors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, media became quite handy because I had no other choice but to do two years of online school because the world was shut down because of the virus. Now, in my adult life, I use various forms of media for personal and professional reasons. Professionally, I used media to keep track of my assignments on Canvas, and for my job at the Barry Art Museum by using the app Homebase to keep track of my shifts that I work, my income and keep in contact with my co-workers. I used media to inform myself and interact with my friends and family through Facebook and Instagram while entertaining myself with film, streaming services, and YouTube videos.
Throughout my life, I have seen significant technological evolution from VHS tapes to the iPhone seeing the world becoming more interconnected and information becoming vastly more accessible. However, there are problems with the media today. What irks me the most about mass media today is that I am constantly bombarded with advertisements and getting fragments of stories from various news media outlets trying to twist the narrative to fit their agenda. Mega corporations see me as a dollar sign, not a person, and sell my data to the highest bidder to use algorithms to target my wants and needs. This is dangerous because it gives me what I want, not what is true. Both disinformation and misinformation could warp my mind to lead me to irrational conclusions which can lead to disastrous unforeseen consequences. Despite all of this Media is here to stay, it does not end, it only continues evolving in my lifetime and beyond. We may not be able to get rid of it but the best we can do is limit our screen time and question if the content online is true or false.
Mass media plays a significant role in our lives gaining not just knowledge but insight of ourselves and the world around us. Media is constantly changing and bombarding us with overwhelming information and advertisements through social media and other various outlets. The media can emotionally move us like movies for example by combining compelling storytelling, visual imagery, and music to enchant our cinematic experience. It can help us connect to something bigger by enabling us to interact with other like-minded people on social media and forming a supportive community. Additionally, it can broadens our perspectives through diverse news outlets and social media interactions, where we encounter differing opinions and gain new perspectives. In the news media, we must interact with various news outlets so we can become more well-informed and rounded on national and international issues. My personal growth with the media from growing up with technological advances like the transition from VHS tapes to the iPhone to learning how to properly search for information, cite sources, and think critically to express my thoughts while questioning what we see online shaped me into an educated young man.
This is the app I used for work named Homebase to help me keep track of my shifts and income I make.
Here is Canvas. I used to keep up with my assignments and grades throughout the semester.
Here is an example of how social media like Facebook can be used as a news source.
Here is an example of how YouTube feed knows my preferences, improving my user experiences.
This advertisement was in my Pinterest feed. I identified with this ad because I am an artist and the joke was about how the jam, knife and bread are paint ,paintbrush and canvas.