Mia

I enjoyed very much reading the chapter "Defining the Media". It really made me excited for the two years to come in the Language and Literature Course and for all the things I will learn.

=__**Things that I found Interesting**__=


 * "Major social changes and new forms of industrial production led to a massive growth in urban populations and new patterns of work and leisure. Demand for rapid communication of information and entertainment increased, alongside rising literacy."

More social change - more money - more mass information - higher literacy rates - more demand for information


 * People spend an estimated 7 years of an average 70 year life-span watching TV
 * Things are invented when they are greatly needed. "demands of warfare technology". First video-camera was created for the American military surveillance.
 * There is good and bad media. There is a difference between the //potential use// of the media and the //actual use.//
 * "Television had shrunk the world and had, in the process, become a great weapon for eradicating ignorance and promoting democracy." - Nelson Mandela
 * "peoples values can be corrupted by the media" My sister has a friend (who is 14) and says that since she is now in NINTH grade, she will most likely have sex this year. This girls favorite TV show is Desperate Housewives. When I was 14 I thought sex was something that would happen in another lifetime, it was not even on my mind at all.
 * "media communications and unify the world" : Yesterday I was singing songs by S Club 7, who were a band 5 years ago with girls from Ireland, South Africa and Canada, it was a great 5 minutes and I feel so much closer to them after that.

=__**Questions**__=


 * Is it a good thing that my 3 year old sister loves to watch movies? Is it a good thing that an average human watches 7 years worth of TV in their lifetime? Is it a waste of time?
 * Is it a good thing that "television is unifying the world"? Do we all want to be the same? And have the same beliefs?

Hannah: Your interest in how the media affects the younger generation is something I found interesting too. I think that children these days are definitely "growing up too fast" (to be horribly cliched), and certainly because of the media's influence on their lives. When I was younger I'd watch cartoons but there was never anything like the Disney Channel programmes I see now, aimed at 8, 9, 10 year olds but often featuring the lives of teenagers. I think these kinds of shows encourage children to grow up too fast, and I certainly see it in my younger sister, who, although she's only two years younger than me is incredibly "tuned-in" to the media, and has already disregarded facebook as "boring" in search of new social networking sites, especially Twitter and Tumblr. This doesn't worry me, but I only discovered facebook when I was 14 and so it really shows how the younger generation, even only two years younger, are really media influenced.

In relation to your question about whether uniting the world is a good or bad thing, I believe it would be detrimental to society to lose the more localised news and channels. It is always interesting to find out about what's going on in other parts of the world, but as we've seen through our study of media, often these foreign correspondants present the news without all the necessary cultural contexts.

Sophia:

Hey Mia :) I liked your 1st question. Do you really have a 3 year old sister?

I have a seven year old sister and it is quite scary how at that age, media already plays such a big role in her life. When I was her age, and I think it's the same for all of you as well, I didn't have a computer, and had no idea what 'The Internet' meant! I only remember playing my barbie dolls, reading books by Enid Blyton (being particularly obsessed with her books) and reading child encyclopedias on the shelves of my home. I think I was only introduced to the computer when I was 10 when I had to do some science scrapbook on animals. And I think I got myself on Facebook when I was 14? My sister, her name is Kayra by the way, would observe my other sister(who is 15) and I when we used our computers and such and suddenly one day, I walked into her video recording herself using my iMovie on my mac. She was recording a 'movie' she was making out of her little pet toys and then what she did next was even more unbelievable! SHE UPLOADED IT ONTO YOUTUBE! Even I don't have a youtube account, but she does. It makes me kind of sad/worried that she doesn't really enjoy books and that she would choose the computer and youtube over all of my old story books, but she is definitely more informed than I was when I was 7. I think that it actually isn't necessary for her to be this informed at this age and sometimes, as education progresses and students become significantly more educated, we lose our 'child' innocence and give up a lot of our 'childhood'? I'm not sure! What do you all think? Are kids these days growing up too fast?

Alaa: Hi! I almost forgot what I wanted to say when I read Sophia's comment hopefully I will not get distracted I don't think it is a good thing to have a three year old watching movies especially that they always have hidden messages and we are speaking even cartoons ex. Disney always has the princess waiting for the guy to rescue her (sexism). And personally I don't think that it is a good thing that 7 years of our lives are wasted on tv and just for clarification so is most of our internet activities a waste of time bec. they don't benefit this world in any way. And though people would argue that we might be watching news or sports or nice documentaries, we all know what the percentage would look like if we had a survey movies series movies series......... TV is not always unifying the world Mia because sometimes Countries have their own film industry (speaking like a patriotic Egyptian :D ). It also depends on what it is unifying the world on, is it a rescue of a UWC or is it princess Diana's latest scandal. I know what you were thinking when you are purposing this question, and speaking from where I stand now we don't want to be the same and we will never be the same because in our minds we are different whether on a conscious or a subconscious level. Even though we are watching the same thing we have different responses based on our own beliefs and so Mia its not a good thing, but maybe for a second there if we have the same belief maybe we will be able to agree and live in peace and maybe not which brings us to Alan's question do we lose our freedom of thought in the process??

Sana: Mia and Sophia - I can definitely relate to both of you and your concerns because I have an 11 year old brother who spends an enormous amount of time on the computer and playing video games. When I was his age, I would read for pleasure in my free time whereas my mom usually has to force him to read. (On a side note, Sophia, I loved Enid Blyton books as well(: they were my favorite!)

In response to Mia's first question: I was shocked when I read that an average person watches 7 years worth of TV in their lifetime. I think that these days TV has become a habit for many people that have the privilege of owning one. This is not necessarily a good thing but I think it is inevitable that people will spend time watching TV. However, I think watching so much TV in a lifetime is way too much and that yes, it is usually a waste of time. Unless you are watching the news or something like discovery channel I do not think that TV is useful in any way. Although there is nothing wrong with watching some amount of TV for entertainment I think that we would be better off spending our time doing other things.

In response to Sophia's question: My brother is also much more informed than I was at his age. However, I think that this can be a good thing as well. Technology plays an big role in most societies today and it is important for youth to be informed. But I also think that there is value from what we did in our childhood. You learn a lot from reading and from finding activities to do that don't involve a screen. Ideally, I think a mix of both is what kids today need.

Martin

Firstly, unifying the world does not mean making us all same! Our differences unite and unify us! Media promote diversity, tolerance, creativity, critical and analytical thinking, analyzing and so on, meaning it actually helps us to shape our believes. Our different believes!

Secondly, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all of those others forms that have been tried from time to time. Indeed, the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. So, I believe that media can be used as a great weapon for eradicating ignorance, therefore playing a crucial role not only in promoting but also in improving democracy.

Having said this, my answer to your first question will be “not enough information”. In addition, if your sister wants to watch documentaries, for example, it is more than just a good thing. If your sister wants to watch soap operas, it is not a good thing. I used to watch tennis on TV for 7 hours a day, and that, I must say, has impacted my life in a tremendous way! Further more, it really depends on what you watch, but in most of the cases (not in every case) watching TV for 7 years in a lifetime is a waste of time.

**__ Reflection on Advertisement I Liked The Most __**
Humor is not always a good idea in advertisement. That is something I learned in class being surrounded by people from all over the world - not everyone responds the same way, and sometimes people might get offended by what other people find amusing. But when it is used well, it can be very powerful. While we were presenting our favorite advertisements in class I showed everyone a Youtube video of an Old Spice body wash commercial. For my reflection though, I wanted to write about an ad I came across on the internet that instantly took my attention. It had all the principles of an advertisement that we talked about in class and also sent out a positive message to the people.

In the documentary No Logo, we were explained how the advertisement industry evolved from just selling the product of a company to selling the lifestyle you would inherit by buying the product. The picture above is not trying to sell a material object, it is encouraging a way of life. (though I realize they are promoting BOLD - Belgian Association for Obese Patients) The obvious target are the parents of children who are obese or overweight. Compared to the past, children nowadays spend more of their time indoors using one form of technology or another. A lot of parent's are against that and complain often of the "good old day's" where they spent their time on streets playing catch or climbing up a tree - inevitably though, given the modern circumstances they cant't do much about it because all their child's friends are glued to the television. This photograph would particularly appealing for those types of parent's because :

A) The first thing they would notice on the picture is a child climbing up a tree that fills the entire photograph B) If they looked closer, they would find an XBox hanging on a branch and the child to be a little overweight

The direct language, the use of the word "your" in the bottom of the image is striking. I can imagine any parent with a child overweight would feel a sting when reading that sentence. It enforces that their children being healthy is in fact their responsibility and a very important one. If they do not do anything about it, or set an example, then their children would have no one to guide them and eventually fall in to obesity.

I think the advertisers were very successful in that they brought back a very common memory and longing in the parents of today. The remembrance of imagination and play in the natural world where anything seemed to be possible - to the reality of their children staring at a screen all day. Some people that I asked thought this image was not at all positive and actually encouraged parents to use mental violence (trying to reach the XBox) to get their kids to move. But in my opinion, the slight humor used demonstrates what a lot of families feel in today's society - that technology is over the youth. Sometimes you have to go to the extreme to get your child moving, and if hanging an XBox on a tree will do it, then so be it. My initial response was motivation. Our generation needs to start getting out the front door and interacting with our planet and this picture says just that.

__ Reflections on class discussion __
Disgust and shame. Those were the emotions I felt when watching the Orange County hate video in class yesterday. Ignorance.Was the word that kept on popping in my mind while listening to the arrogant and stupid cries the American's were shouting at the Muslim people walking to the conference (children too). What is happening? Was the question that couldn't escape me after class yesterday.

What. Is. Happening?

Not just to America. The entire world. The discussion held yesterday in class made me think of all the hypocrisy out there, every nation, all trying to point the finger at someone else, while 4 (ok well 3) other fingers are actually pointing at themselves. ( this picture is used to illustrate my point)



I don't know what to say except that being in this English class makes me feel motivated. The world is a crazy place out there, but I feel that learning - EDUCATION - is whats going to fix it. Starting from us, we are whats going to change this place.

(Sorry I didn't write a lot, but I promise this did take me 35 minutes)

Dear Mia, Please don't feel ashamed and disgust about what's happening in the States, it is happening almost every where else and in some ways it is justified (oddly enough) but there are other people to blame for this people's ignorance, including ourselves. I love your use of punctuation and illustration. Yes, let's get educated, LET'S GO OUT AND CHANGE THE WORLD (ironically today is global revolution day :) Alaa

Dear Mia, True, please don't be ashamed or disgust about it. I am not trying to mean that the phenomenon happens to all human beings so we should let it be. Yet, as it relates to the human nature and stereotype which has been deep-rooted in our minds for so many years, I do reckon that we should be patient to eradicate such mindset step by step and inch by inch. The feelings of ashamed and disgust may often be so negative that it make us turn a blind eye to the problem directly or just criticize it irrationally but doing nothing. Instead, I think we should accept it and face it bravely. Carter

Well said, Mia. I think Education is totally something that can solve many of the world's problems. It is also, however, one of the most difficult to get resources. Public education in corrupted governments is not good, because governments know that educated people can take them out of their places. They know educated people can be dangerous to their corrupted infrastructure. It is true that humanity is complicated. When we look at this kind of crimes we can ask ourselves, HOW? It is really confusing yet we as fortunate, educated people are responsible for changing this condition in the future. -Alan