Overall

The past five days have truly been quite the experience. I really was not looking forward to blogging every day because I thought it would be boring, but I was so wrong. I looked forward to going home every night and writing about my experiences of the day, and the media interactions I had. Additionally, throughout my day I found myself being very alert to all types of media, and really seeing the effects they have on me. Also, until this assignment I didn’t realize how much media was truly out there, and how each individually affected me. I always think of television and social media sites when I think of media contacts, however this showed me almost everything can be a media contact or advertisement. I am much more aware of how media affects my life, and how dependent I am on the media for several things throughout my every day life.

 

Day Five

Today, I was especially affected by advertisements. I went sky diving today and within the shop, there were all kinds of different advertisements for the various types of jumps. All of them were very colorful and vivacious and honestly said nothing about the safety of it all. I had already had my appointment, so I didn’t need to see any brochures or advertisements, however once I was done they handed my several fliers to give to my friends. I noticed that on their advertisements, they portray sky diving much different that what it really is, and they portrayed the process way different. In reality, although the experience was amazing, the entirety of the process was very lackluster despite their colorful and exciting advertisements. This seems to reign true with a lot of things though. Especially with something like skydiving, a colorful advertisement entices you to do it, and once you’re there you can’t really back out which is why their advertisements work. Additionally after I jumped, all I wanted to do was post about it on instagram, Facebook, and twitter. I feel like this shows how dependent society is on social media, and how we get validation from the internet.

Day Four

Today, I was actually extremely busy and that kept my media contacts to a minimal. I noticed that I wasn’t on social media most of the day, I didn’t have time to watch television, and my radio contact was very small. I felt so unconnected from the world by just being without media for twelve hours. That is kind of a bizarre thought to think about, because media shouldn’t dictate our life, even though it clearly does.  I actually can sense how much I depend on my media sources to keep me in the know. This is a testament to what we learned earlier in the semester to the concept that media is all around us and we are a part of every bit of it. Now as I am lying in bed, I feel the urge to get some part of every source of media I can to feel a part of this society again.

Day Three

Today, I noticed how multiple forms of media all  come together for a common cause, in certain situations. Merle Haggard unfortunately passed away today on his 79th birthday, and  all forms of media took to morn. I heard several tributes on several radio stations (all types of genre), saw a ton of posts on the internet and social media, and also was talked about on television. Big events seem to really bring people together, no matter the occasion. In addition to this, I had the privilege of hearing my professor Hoyt Purvis speak to a room full of people that were their to honor him. He also briefly touched about the multitude of platforms there are for media and just how each role is so important. Withe the trending role of this country music legends passing, it was very easy to notice how media is truly pervasive, and then it was even more ironic to hear my professor touch on the same concepts.

Day Two

Today, I was very conscious of how much I was on social media, on the internet, listening to the radio, or just watching television that had numerous advertisements. Media truly is pervasive, and although I knew to put that down on our first quiz, today I was truly aware of what that meant. I noticed especially how social media has a way to place advertisements on your timeline that deal with your recent searches. For instance, today I was looking for a formal dress and then all of a sudden I started seeing numerous ads on the side of my Facebook page, and never really noticed until today how smart that is. Additionally, I had to drive to Bentonville and back today for a volunteer service, and switched a lot of my radio stations. I noticed that depending on what genre of music the station was, the advertisements kind of went hand in hand with that. For instance, the country music stations would advertise events such as cook-outs for certain events, or things relating to a country lifestyle.

Day One

Yesterday, I had several media contacts including television, internet, advertising, and the radio. For the internet, I encountered several stories on facebook and noticed trends on instagram. Yesterday, several people were posting about how the app “instagram” was changing, and how you must turn on notifications to see their posts. I never have noticed how many people I follow or am friends until I had to consciously look at them to make observations. Additionally, on TV I watched the American Country Music Awards which was extremely good, but not heavily advertised I felt like. They had a huge blend of music genres, ranging from pop to country to rap, which was extremely interesting. I did not see a ton of advertising for it on other channels though. Lastly, on the radio, I heard a ton of advertisements for the Justin Bieber concert. I thought they almost focused on it too much and neglected other things they could have talked about other things.