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Reflection

Blog after blog, week after week, I am forced to finally sit down and reflect on all of my decisions in the media and what media means to me. As we are all very aware of, media is around us everywhere, are more than I'd like to admit it has in some ways taken over my life completely. We are all under the influence over what society brings us, and media is the most common form of getting these messages across to us. Personally, I consume media several hours a day. Sometimes during school, sometimes in the middle of schoolwork, and definitely as soon as I get home or right before I'm about to go to sleep. I think nothing of it, but I do think it is messing with my brain in both positive and negative ways. When consuming media, I feel updated and knowledgable about the world around me, and connected to society and people I know in real life. But, sometimes when I'm on media, I feel pressured to fulfill a certain standard, to be someone I'm not in order to be accepted by others and society. I think as a result, I create a false image of myself and who I want to be, which I wish media didn't have to be a part of. Being aware of this false image, makes me want to consume media less despite the benefits of it, similar to now when I see advertisements in the media, I begin to want no part of them.
Similar to regular forms of media, advertisements go to every extent to sell their products to consumers by making assumptions about their audience, culture, etc. Throughout this semester, I have become very aware of ads around me and different forms of advertisement because now I have learned so much about the extent that advertisers will go to in order to convince us to buy their products. Being educated as a consumer is important in order to understand the actual reasoning behind wanting to buy a product, and not giving into any sort of false perception given by companies. By being exposed to the reality of advertisements and media itself, I have became more aware of myself when being on media and have started to care less about it. Knowing what it can actually do to people's heads, and how it is a large part of toxic societal standards and expectations, I'm beginning to find myself less invested in it.
Media literacy is important because being knowledgable about the world around you requires you to use media properly, and to not misuse the concept for wrong purposes. A lot of people in our generation are uneducated when it comes to media, which leads to a mass amount of self-shaming, hate, and other negative feelings that naturally come attached with media. Understanding its true colors and the impact media has on our lives, will give us more control over how we take what we see.
During my journey of uploading these weekly blogs, I find myself feeling like I was using media as it was intended to be-enlightening others through purposeful posts, and educating myself by presenting my newfound knowledge about marketing and media. I hope that from here on out, I strive to continue using media only for purposeful and meaningful reasons, and have better habits when it comes to investing in products and media.

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