In today’s society there are 4 different functions of mass
communication; surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission, and
entertainment. With mass communication no longer being straightforward or
easily definable these 4 categories are used to break down mass communication.
Correlation, surveillance, and cultural transmission are the 3 main functions and
entertainment ties all 3 main functions together. Correlation is used by the
media to help society better understand its role on a larger scale. Uggs
recently released a commercial with pro quarterback Tom Brady in hopes it will
change society’s view that Uggs are only for women. Uggs have always attracted
more women buyers even though they’ve had a men’s line for just as long. They
hope those who know who Tom Brady is will probably think that if Brady can wear
them and look cool so can the average male. What was interesting however is
that the commercial has Brady in different pairs of shoes that are “Uggs” but
the commercial never in fact shows the brand name on his shoes. How does
society know it’s not being tricked into just thinking he’s wearing Uggs when
in fact he is not and only endorsing them. This is importantly tied into
correlation because the media is hoping to change the beliefs of some society members
that possibly thing male Uggs are not cool. Surveillance is mostly journalism
stories that inform society about the events and issues occurring in the world.
ABCNews did a report on the update of the navy yard shooting and the shooter on
Thursday morning (9/19) which is also important because media is deciding which
stories are important for society and the public to know about. ABC announced to
the public that the navy yard was once again open and that the shooter (Alexis)
was undergoing psychiatric testing due to “voices” he was hearing and the
messages he left on his gun. The most intriguing part of the report was when
the reporter informs the public that although Alexis claimed to be hearing voices
and having microwaves keeping him up at night these reports were never taken up
the chain of command to be further investigated. Lastly cultural transmission
is showing the next generation or an immigrant the dominant culture and how to
fit into society. The movie Coming to
America has a great scene that demonstrates cultural transmission. The main
character, Prince Akeem has come over to America from Africa and in hopes to
try and fit in better with American society he tries talking to his boss about
football. After describing football as a “contest” with an “oblong ball made of
pig skin” and a “big H” his boss stares at him and tells him that if he wishes
to keep his job to “stay off the drugs”.
Although Akeem is trying to allow American society to change him so that
he can fit in it’s not working at all because people within American society as
still looking at him oddly. It’s interesting how through socialization he is
still not picking up on what is socially acceptable. The functions of mass
communication play a huge role in everyone’s lives whether they notice or not
and each function has its own special role to play.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Peoples addiction to social media is caused by the brian receiving a pleasurable feeling.
Addiction corresponds with the sensation of pleasure in the
brain or that of feeling rewarded when talking about themselves. Addiction is
also related to feeling the need to do a certain thing or activity. Hence why
so many people enjoy putting their thoughts and feelings out on social media
like twitter. When we talk about ourselves we feel pleasure and enjoyment. This
is why media addiction is a real issue. Although most people don’t realize or
want to admit it they’re probably already addicted or well on their way.
Checking your phone every hour to see new Instagram posts your friends have put
up or tweeting 10 plus times in one hour are both on the path to addiction if
not already. People nowadays are so involved in their phones they miss a lot of
what is going on around them; they walk into people or trip up a step. The fact
that most people can’t take their eyes off their phones even while walking to
or from class is definitely something that is caused by addiction. Even feeling
like we always have to rely on our phones for updates on what’s going on in our
friend’s lives and in the news. Within a day I engage myself in media all the
time. Even though within the last few months I have limited my amount of social
networks to only two (Instagram and Snapchat) I still feel myself checking my
phone just as much as when I had 5 social media apps. I would have to say that when checking social media apps I too get that pleasurable feeling and perhaps I too am on my way to becoming addicted. My phone is definitely a
huge distraction to me in class. Every time I space out or find what the
professor says to be boring I take out my phone and check my social media apps.
Although I would like to see some kind of rules set up about usage of
technology in classrooms I believe that they do not have a right to tell you
that you cannot use your phone. If you want to pay extreme amounts of money to
go to college and fail because you were on your phone all class that is your
own fault and you then have to deal with it. Maybe this will actually help some
people learn to stay off their phones in class. Growing up at home I was only allotted
a certain amount of TV or computer time a day and did not receive a cell phone
until I was 14. I think most parents should this to help prevent their child
from becoming addicted to their phones, social, media, etc.
http://marketing.wtwhmedia.com/new-harvard-study-shows-why-social-media-is-so-addictive-for-many
Thursday, September 12, 2013
So called Passive Medium and its affects on young children.
Most people spend hours of
the day watching TV or playing video games, sometimes both. Our society has
become numb to the things we observe while either playing video games or watching
TV. From a young age we are exposed to graphic violence, nudity, and crude
humor. Although both TV and video games are taking a heavy toll on society by
in a sense making us believe what we see is okay, the worse of the two evils is
television. Sure video games are violent and young children are allowed to play
them even though they have age restrictions, but most of the violence that we
are exposed to is through TV. Studies have shown that by the age of eighteen
most children have seen 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 acts of murder. Having
been exposed to all that violence may lead some children to think its okay to
act that way when upset. Aggression is more prominent in those who are exposed
to so much graphic violence. TV also tends to not depict pain and therefore
gives children the idea that they are not hurting the other person. Parents
need to start doing their part better by setting TV restrictions based on show
ratings (TV14, MA, etc.) and they should try to both limit the amount of time
their child spends watching TV in a day and supervise as much as possible what
they are allowing their children to watch. It may mean the difference in your
child performing criminal behavior as they get older.
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