Media Reflection

Over the course of this semester I have learned a fair amount about the effects of media consumption.  However,  I do not think that it has been anything life-altering.  Everything that we have learned about, such as how media degrades and underrepresents women, I have already known.  However, I do believe that I have become more conscious and aware of these things happening.  We were presented with a statistic about how only a minute number of ads are consciously processed by us in the course of our daily lives.  For me, personally, I think that this number has grown.  I obviously am not consciously aware of every single advertisement I see and its subsequent impacts, however, I am more observant of the subliminal and implicit messages of advertising now.  For example, the other day I saw a billboard advertising a dentist's office that offers solutions for crooked teeth.  Although it was not blatantly stated, I realized that that advertisement was telling viewers not only that they're teeth could be straightened, whitened, etc., but also that their current teeth are not good enough.  Although this is a minor example, and that could be detected by mostly everyone, I wouldn't normally pay attention to a billboard such as that.  I think what I can take away from that experience is that I actually was mindful and aware of that advertisement, and what the creators were actually trying to tell the audience, me included.  I think that this level of awareness is important to consistly have for a multitude of reasons.  The most signfiicant, in  my opinion, is so that you do not get entirely manipulated.  If you take advertisements at face value, without paying any extra attention to them, it is easier to simply go along with the messages being portrayed without criticizing and evaluating them.  Another reason is so that you do not impulsively waste your money.  I can definitely relate to this.  A lot of times I see an advertisement for something, or I'm at a store and remember seeing an appealing advertisement for a product, and use the superificial appeal of the advertisement to justify me buying that product.

Overall, the biggest thing I got out of keeping this blog was awareness.  Prior to keeping this blog, I didn't really care enough to take the time to process a commerical or advertisement after seeing it.  A lot of the time I wasn't even aware I was seeing an advertisement.  However, now, I'm much more aware of my surroundings, in regards to being bombarded with advertisements.  Instead of brushing aside advertisements, I might actually consciously think of the implicit messages that are being portrayed.