Media. Its at our fingertips, plugged into our ears, in the books we read, and even in our pockets. Its all around us. We just can't get away from this thing called media! The book definition of the word is "the main means of mass communication." In other words, media can be anything used to get a message across, whether it is through song, news programs, books, or even advertisements. If you know me, you probably know that I'm influenced heavily by the media. I'll catch onto internet trends in the blink of an eye, I'll be humming and sharing a song that I just heard of the night before, and I'll be whipping out terrible puns and jokes that I heard on the internet. Its tough for me to fit all the different forms of media in my life in this blog, but I'm going to try to sum up the different forms of media that are present in my life into three categories: YouTube, TV, and music.
I could say that internet is a big part of my life, but as I take a step back and look at the decisions that I make, (#ethics) I realized that about ninety-percent of my internet time is spent on YouTube. Have you ever started off watching a "how-to video" that's only supposed to be 3 minutes, but three hours later, you're watching a video where some dude is ranting on why he believes Riley from Disney's "Inside Out" has male and female emotions? (if you're interested:
here.) If so, you're just like me. On average, I spend about a solid half-hour on watching film theories or punny videos that really don't benefit me. Believe it or not, this has actually changed my daily habits. I once binge-watched this one YouTuber who relied heavily on puns, and next thing you know, I'm in a constant mindset of puns. My friends couldn't stand me! I once watched this Justin Bieber music video, and in the middle of the song, he stopped to whip out his terrible acting skills, and he said the pun "I'd like to taki to you on the phone later. You should give me your number." to this day, I occasionally use this pun when I eat takis, and everyone hates it. There's no need for more explanation of how YouTube is an ever-present thing in my life.
Another form of media in my life in television. Although I have almost time on my hands because of homework, sports, youth group leadership, and a bunch of other stuff, I somehow make time each Tuesday at 8:00 pm to watch "The Flash." I don't know exactly what attracts me to this show, but something draws me to it every single week. Even though I consciously know that it is just characters on the screen, I can't tell you how many hours I spent empathizing, theorizing, waiting, hyping, discussing, and even turning to other forms of media (YouTube) over this show.
The last major form of media in my life, is music. Universally, music is used to express identities and ideas that otherwise wouldn't be shared. I plug in while doing homework, I plug in while running or working out, and I listen to music every night when I go to bed. Its scary to think about, but the type of music influences how I behave. What we listen to influences how we behave, whether we know it or not. For example, (unrelated to music) we usually tend to have the same beliefs as our parents because we grew up around them, and we constantly hear their opinions.
Whether we know it or not, media is all around us, and in order to be able to be more aware of the world that surrounds us, we should taki about it.
