As with my last blog post, today we are going to take a look at the future of today's children and how they're being affected by the social networking media and technology.
I have noticed that children have more access to technology at a much younger age than in recent years. It almost seems as if as the years go by, children who are getting cell phones are younger and younger.
Aside from most of these children with all this technology at a young age being spoiled brats, it is having a terrible consequence on them. I am sure well-intentioned parents want their children to be happy and safe with a cell phone, but in essence, it is hurting them.
It is hurting them because while spending most of their time in the digital world, their brains are working less and less to create images, process information, and attempt to understand what is going on around them. Being so in tune with the digital world to me seems almost synonomous to mindlessness. There is less human interaction, less thinking, and more time spending inside. These children are much more prone to being depressed, anti-social, and have trouble learning and retaining information.
This article does an amazing job detailing exactly how this happens and what other problems may occur.
With the introduction of social networking websites such as Facebook, children and teens are "spending time" with their friends online and less outside. There is close to no human interaction and is only done over the phone or computer. But not only that, some or even most of their "friends" they have never met before, which can be an extremely dangerous thing, especially when Billy Bob 13/M/WY can just as easily be a 47 year old sex offender.
Even I notice myself on electronics very frequently. I also notice that my thinking process slows down immensely and my ability to process things is nearly absent after being around electronics for 8-10 + hours at a time.
Although I believe that technology and social networking can be an amazingly benificial thing, I believe we need to be careful of how young children can have access these things when their brains are still developing.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Growing Up With Media
The media's influence knows no bounds as it continues to extort us for their own benefit. Even worse, it is actually negatively affecting everyone from children to adults. Society as a whole is getting dumber and rather than thinking for themselves, they are becoming used to having someone else think for them.
Television, video games, and electronics, are destroying society as we know it.
Since television has free reign over what and how they make advertisements for children's show, they inadvertently are persuaded by the subtle nuances of TV commercials.
The problem with television, or rather, the excessive amounts of viewing television, is not that it tells them to buy things and beg your parents to buy them for you, but the physiological issues that may arise. On average, todays children spend about seven hours a day in front of a TV. This kind of behavior can lead to attention problems, difficulties in school, sleeping and eating disorders, obesity, and diabetes. This article explains what parents can do to prevent issues in a child's behavior and attitude.
The combined use of television, video games, and electronics only enhances the issues I just detailed. More and more children are being diagnosed with ADHD and obesity in particular. The producers of advertisements and electronics know exactly what they're doing and what kind of effects they are having on today's children, but they do not relent. They continue to do so, so that they can make more money.
Television, video games, and electronics, are destroying society as we know it.
Since television has free reign over what and how they make advertisements for children's show, they inadvertently are persuaded by the subtle nuances of TV commercials.
The problem with television, or rather, the excessive amounts of viewing television, is not that it tells them to buy things and beg your parents to buy them for you, but the physiological issues that may arise. On average, todays children spend about seven hours a day in front of a TV. This kind of behavior can lead to attention problems, difficulties in school, sleeping and eating disorders, obesity, and diabetes. This article explains what parents can do to prevent issues in a child's behavior and attitude.
The combined use of television, video games, and electronics only enhances the issues I just detailed. More and more children are being diagnosed with ADHD and obesity in particular. The producers of advertisements and electronics know exactly what they're doing and what kind of effects they are having on today's children, but they do not relent. They continue to do so, so that they can make more money.
What Is Pornography Doing to Us?
Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry that plagues the world and more specifically our society. According to this article, it is approximately a $12 billion industry in the US alone.
Women are commonly portrayed as subservient, the target of abuse,and humiliated. A very large portion of the industry is geared towards mens' fantasies and only mens' fantasies; there is only a small amount of pornography intended for women. Because of this fact, that most porn is for men, it does not help at all towards women's issues and the fight for equality.
In today's world, pornography is all too readily available, even for children. All one has to do is go online and search something crude in Google and they are presented with a plethora of websites. The requirement to get inside? To hit the "Yes I'm 18 button" which one can easily lie about. Once inside, one is presented with an endless amount of images that sexualize and objectify women. The way woman are often portrayed, the over time have become the objects of man's pleasure.
Kerby Anderson's article, "Pornography Plague", notes that exposure to violent pornography can lead to anti-social attitudes and behavior.
Most people who view pornography tend to be more aggressive towards women and be less responsive to the pain of rape victims.
The article above cites resources that has shown that:
Even in pornography, the demographics only portray the ~2% of body types in the U.S.: young, white, and skinny. When a viewer is consistently exposed to this kind of "beauty", that is all they can look for. Their partners will not be attractive enough for them and sexual performance for both individuals will be lower.
Over time we start to become desensitized to pornography. The porn industry has to constantly find ways to stimulate us and starts to become more sexualized, more violent, more erotic, and more dangerous. This is an ongoing issue that we will have to keep our eyes on and hope it changes for the better in the coming years.
Women are commonly portrayed as subservient, the target of abuse,and humiliated. A very large portion of the industry is geared towards mens' fantasies and only mens' fantasies; there is only a small amount of pornography intended for women. Because of this fact, that most porn is for men, it does not help at all towards women's issues and the fight for equality.
In today's world, pornography is all too readily available, even for children. All one has to do is go online and search something crude in Google and they are presented with a plethora of websites. The requirement to get inside? To hit the "Yes I'm 18 button" which one can easily lie about. Once inside, one is presented with an endless amount of images that sexualize and objectify women. The way woman are often portrayed, the over time have become the objects of man's pleasure.
Kerby Anderson's article, "Pornography Plague", notes that exposure to violent pornography can lead to anti-social attitudes and behavior.
Most people who view pornography tend to be more aggressive towards women and be less responsive to the pain of rape victims.
The article above cites resources that has shown that:
- Pornography negatively influences a person's understanding of normal sexual practices
- Pornography causes people to become jaded towards sex.
Even in pornography, the demographics only portray the ~2% of body types in the U.S.: young, white, and skinny. When a viewer is consistently exposed to this kind of "beauty", that is all they can look for. Their partners will not be attractive enough for them and sexual performance for both individuals will be lower.
Over time we start to become desensitized to pornography. The porn industry has to constantly find ways to stimulate us and starts to become more sexualized, more violent, more erotic, and more dangerous. This is an ongoing issue that we will have to keep our eyes on and hope it changes for the better in the coming years.
Gay Lesbian Visibility
As I'm sure everyone has noticed, there has been an increase in the amount of gays and lesbians being featured in the media today. Around the 1970s the first television shows began to feature gays and lesbians and it actually became trendy to feature them in the shows. The gays and lesbians were always portrayed as the "flaming homo" or the "butch lesbian" to really show and enforce the idea of homosexuality. It would almost be like, "I may be a little feminine, but at least I'm not gay".
Once Ellen DeGeneres came out during an episode of Ellen, there has been a surge of gay and lesbian characters featured in the media. At first, they were incorporated into the shows to show how heterosexual the other characters were, to show how acting hetero is the "normal" way to be. But over recent years, we start to see more gays and lesbians coming into mainstream media such as "Queer as Folk", and "Queer Eye". In "Queer Eye", we actually see a shift from gays just being there to be trendy, to heterosexual men asking for help and advice in terms of fashion to help them be more successful in the world.
As you can see, a show like this was unheard of before until recent years. It seems as if it is slowly becoming more acceptable to be gay and is shown by the increase in visibility.
Once Ellen DeGeneres came out during an episode of Ellen, there has been a surge of gay and lesbian characters featured in the media. At first, they were incorporated into the shows to show how heterosexual the other characters were, to show how acting hetero is the "normal" way to be. But over recent years, we start to see more gays and lesbians coming into mainstream media such as "Queer as Folk", and "Queer Eye". In "Queer Eye", we actually see a shift from gays just being there to be trendy, to heterosexual men asking for help and advice in terms of fashion to help them be more successful in the world.
As you can see, a show like this was unheard of before until recent years. It seems as if it is slowly becoming more acceptable to be gay and is shown by the increase in visibility.
What's Happened to Weddings??
It used to be that two people who were in love, generally one man and one woman, would make an arrangement to get married. A wedding would take place and they would make their vows and kiss and be on their merry way. Anyone who was invited to the spectacle would be there to witness the binding of two people, and be there to support them. Today though, it seems as if that has changed.
The social media has changed this ritual over the past few years. The media has convinced us that for a wedding to be successful, we must spend a lot of money on frivolous things. Today it is expected to be a grandiose event, in terms of material things, with party favors for each individual guest (which they'll most likely throw away as they leave), the most expensive dress money can buy, a bouquet and an additional fake bouquet, and the list goes on and on. As we have discussed in class, who needs these things? Party favors? No one wants them, and yet if they are not given it, we judge the bride and groom for pinching pennies. Fake bouquet? Keep the bouquet, it'll die soon anyways, and is essentially the same thing as the party favors.
Along with the frivolous things to include in the wedding is an odd ritual that developed over recent years, saving the top layer of the cake in the freezer for the anniversary. Once a year has gone by, the couple take it out and "enjoy" it on their special day. I'm sure everyone will agree that if we actually think about it, its a very odd thing to do. The cake will be stale and disgusting and yet, we are convinced that this is the normal thing to do.
Marriages nowadays seem to not mean as much as it once used to. This article is worth a read if you have the time, but maybe marriages aren't as meaningful today because of how easy it is to get a divorce?? Whatever it may be, it seems as if the media is extorting marriages/weddings for their own benefit in order to sate their greed.
The social media has changed this ritual over the past few years. The media has convinced us that for a wedding to be successful, we must spend a lot of money on frivolous things. Today it is expected to be a grandiose event, in terms of material things, with party favors for each individual guest (which they'll most likely throw away as they leave), the most expensive dress money can buy, a bouquet and an additional fake bouquet, and the list goes on and on. As we have discussed in class, who needs these things? Party favors? No one wants them, and yet if they are not given it, we judge the bride and groom for pinching pennies. Fake bouquet? Keep the bouquet, it'll die soon anyways, and is essentially the same thing as the party favors.
Along with the frivolous things to include in the wedding is an odd ritual that developed over recent years, saving the top layer of the cake in the freezer for the anniversary. Once a year has gone by, the couple take it out and "enjoy" it on their special day. I'm sure everyone will agree that if we actually think about it, its a very odd thing to do. The cake will be stale and disgusting and yet, we are convinced that this is the normal thing to do.
Marriages nowadays seem to not mean as much as it once used to. This article is worth a read if you have the time, but maybe marriages aren't as meaningful today because of how easy it is to get a divorce?? Whatever it may be, it seems as if the media is extorting marriages/weddings for their own benefit in order to sate their greed.
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