Assignment 2: Question #

I believe that the internet has already began to provide ways for people to have a voice. There are so many websites available to the public today, that our options seem limitless. For example, many people use Facebook or Myspace to express themselves. If you take into account the number of people that log into Myspace or Facebook each day, the numbers are outstanding.

I am not too familiar with Facebook, however I am familiar with Myspace. When I first heard about Myspace, I have to admit that I was not really interested until I found out that all my friends had a profile. As you all know, with a Myspace page you design your own page and include any information about yourself that you would like. Everyone that has a Myspace uses it for different reasons, I mainly use my page to keep in touch with friends. There are really no limitations. Some people use their blogs, which are available on their page to express their thoughts and feelings. They may feel that this helps them to release stress or let something out that has been bothering them. Other’s use there page for networking. For example, my friend would like to be a model, so she includes pictures from her portfolio on her page and adds modeling under networking. Also there are several pages for artist’s who want to build their fan base, even Dj’s, and the list continues.

There is also blogging, which I have heard of, but have never used until this semester. Again with little limitations someone can post a blog without having to have it approved or published. For example, if you are an aspiring poet you may want to post your work. Hiring a publisher can be costly, so why not take advantage of the internet. Other’s use blogs to voice their opinions, thoughts, or feelings. And again the internet is available to them at their fingertips. Many people today have computers at their homes so the internet is easily assessable.

It today’s society I feel that it can be necessary to use the internet to voice yourself. For example, I work in a large builder and there are times where I need to speak with someone in a different department. I cannot get up and speak to them in person, so I contact them via email. It is a quick and efficient way to get information.

I do not believe that corporate domination will take over or limit public dialog anytime soon, however I believe that it could be a possibility in the future. It is true that when someone feels threatened they will take action, so I do not believe that corporations will do anything until they feel a threat.

Like someone had previously mentioned, I feel that the only corporation that has felt threatened is the music industry because of the music that can be downloaded for free over the internet.

Assignment 1

I believe that there are some types of media that provide more confusion rather than literacy. Professor Lackaff mentioned to keep in mind that that sometimes the media succeeds best if the consumer remains illiterate and I feel that this is true.

Last semester I took principles of persuasion and throughout the semester I learned how the media takes advantage of our ignorance and uses that to their advantage. There are several techniques that are used by the media to persuade us to buy into a product. If our society was more media literate then we would recognize these attempts and companies sales would decrease.

One thing that really stuck with me after the class was that the media’s key audience is children. Children are unable to recognize the advertiser’s attempts of persuasion, so they have no defenses against it. A great example of this is during Christmas time when toy companies advertise several toy commercials each day attempting to get the attention of young children. Every year they are successful without fail because they are attracting an audience that wants what every other child has. If they see that another child there age is playing with a certain toy, they too want to have the same toy the child has in the commercial. Most children will do what their peers are doing around them. In the principle of persuasions class, there was one example that proved this to be true. The book explained an example of how a boy was deathly afraid of dogs. He would avoid dogs at all cost. One day to help with his fears, the boy was shown a tape of children petting dogs. After watching the tape a few times the boy’s fear began to diminish. The boy began to feel comfortable with dogs because he recognized that they did not share the fear that he had.

I believe that we should all be educated about the media. Because the truth is that the types of techniques that are used by the media are used by people in our everyday lives. For example, car salesmen, retail employees, etc. And although I still believe that the media will succeed in the long run, as least we will know the defenses that we can use if we choose to use them

As described in class today the media is what keeps our society a mainstream culture, but it is ok to go outside that culture and practice other beliefs of your own.