Thursday, November 6, 2008
Blog Post on Carr
Carr believes that the internet has made our mind before "artificial" and has made it harder to read material. He thinks that before being able to use the internet to find information and research that we were forced to look up books and read more thus making us smarter. This makes sense to me when I read it. What struck me as humorous was when reading the article I did just as he says by losing concentration and I started to drift or scan the pages due to boredom or because I wanted to move on to the next activity in my busy life. It is hard for me to read a 15 page article on something that does not interst me and at that point I begin to scan and use my "fake reading". It is difficult to focus my attention on something that does not interst me.For example, I love to read Harry Potter. It never gets old to me to hear all of the new adventures and ideas of the book. Same as reading love stories such as the Notebook. I get caught up in books still in this age. Also, this reminds me of how I love music and can sit on Itunes for hours downloading music of my choice before even thinking about reading the essay for my Com. class.Carr believes that the pre-internet readers are like scuba divers because they take their time and have to learn how to do the task. In contrast he believes that the internet readers are more like jet skiers in that we scan things fast and go over work like they go over waves as fast as possible to get to the next destination.I can be a scuba diver in these situations when reading because I am interested in the material. Yet, I am a jet skier when it comes to reading for a class that does not interst me. My point is that the most important part of being either a jet skier or a scuba diver is whether or not you are interested in the material. These intersts keep my attention because I do not lose focus and I enjoy reading more than having to look up information. My attention is kept if I can relate to the material being read. Even if it is not real, such as Harry Potter, I still enjoy dreaming up the ideas. There is no focus if this materal in not relateable. This is because we have been taught as children by the teachers wanting us to be entertained when learning. We must have games to learn mathmatics and prizes if we read fast. These are examples that I have been through and that I believe has been a suggestion of why I cannot focus on information being read unless it is interesting and relateable.-HLT
Media-Free Day Reports
Electronics have been present in my life since I can remember. Media is accessible and easy to handle at anytime of the day and for any occasion. Society is surrounded by media and may not even be aware of it due to how rapid our lives move each day. Society has become immune to the usage of media, but if media is taken away from us I am not sure if we could survive. To prove this I tried not to use media for one entire day.
Monday the sixth of October was my media free day. I woke up at Twelve o’clock in the afternoon with an hour to spare before my first class begun. Luckily, I did not have anything that morning to wake up for because I could not use my alarm clock on my cellular phone. I unpack all of my dirty clothes from the previous road trip that I had been on for soccer and decided to do laundry and clean the kitchen before I went to class. After I finished my first class, I walked over to the training room for the athletes and was bombarded with media. The television was on, the radio was blaring, and my athletic trainer yelled at me for not answering her text that she sent me to come in early that morning for treatment. I was forced to hear the media, but tried not to watch or listen if it was possible to do so. After I hustled out of the training room, I went to the apartment and grabbed my school bag for class. Class was easier to stay away from the different media, but as I left the classroom I found myself again in the midst of media. I needed to check my email to see if a professor had sent me an assignment but decided not to. When I arrived back at the apartment I decided to start cleaning. While I began to clean, it was revealed that I was extremely bored. There was silence in the room and it made me feel uncomfortable. After cleaning the kitchen and my room I decided to go and visit with one of my neighbors. This was hard to do as well because they were watching television or on either on Facebook. Everywhere I went there was media. I decided to study as much as possible and resulted to going to bed very early to not further put myself in any other situations with media in it.
I choose this specific day to reflect on no media usage for many specific reasons. The first and main reason that I decided on a Monday was because I have no soccer games, practices, or meetings. Every Monday is the mandatory day off for the women’s soccer team at the University of Tulsa. The team practices on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and then plays matches on Friday and Sunday of every week. This makes the week full of soccer and definitely full of stress. When I travel to and from practices and games I listen to my ipod for motivation before and also for relieving emotions and stress after. I am dependent on my ipod every time that I have soccer because it is a ritual and helps me play better.
Another reason that I choose this day is because this is a stress free day with my schedule for classes. On Mondays my first class is at one in the afternoon making it easy to sleep in and be able to relax in the mornings. I use Mondays to catch up on sleep, clean around the apartment, doing errands, and to finish my homework for the rest of the week. I also knew that this day would be a perfect day to trial the media free day because I was exhausted from the previous weekend of traveling and playing double over time soccer matches while in Houston. I knew that even though this day was my day off from soccer that this was a day of catching up on errands and homework and not of watching television or listening to music. I had no time to text or use the cellular phone to look at the internet because I was almost all of that time period sleeping.
When I was not using media my mind was working in many different ways. I was at a constant boredom and felt useless because all I was doing was sleeping and thinking of different things I needed to be doing. I did feel confident being able to finish my errands and do all of my homework, but there were not enough tasks to do in an entire day making it harder to stay preoccupied. I finished those tasks and then sat in silence before I went to bother some of my friends. When I did feel bored many time I would go and have face to face communication other than media related such as using Facebook, texting, or internet messaging.
I felt like I wanted to draw more and write in my journal as the day went by because of the lack of media to pursue all of my free time in. When I do have this free time it is easy for me to get caught up in thinking of tragedies that have happened in the last year, but I have learned that in the silence there is hope. Instead of going and watching the television or listening to music on my computer I went and talked to my neighbors to stay away from thinking too much of the tragedies and slept more. I believe that this face to face communication is much for beneficial than media, but there were negative points to the day as well. The biggest concern that I had without having media close and accessible to me was that when I do become bored and have nothing to do I usually decide to start snacking on foods around the apartment. The positive aspect of this was that I did not have much food around the apartment, but I was ready to venture out to my friend’s places to find whatever snacks I could to preoccupy myself in my boredom. Eating and cleaning were the main substitutes for the day that I did besides watching television or looking on the internet. Even though I was subject to different tasks than using the media I do not think that my mind was used differently than any other media filled day.
As I explained earlier the harder that it was to occupy my time without media the easier it became to think of the tragedies in the past, start eating, studying, and cleaning. I was influenced to have more face to face communication and to go visit friends that I usually would not see on a week day because I would be watching television or looking on Facebook. I was frustrated at the end of the day because I wanted to be able to do whatever I pleased to do. It is hard to restrict yourself to not doing habitual acts that have been going on for years when you have nothing else to do. The hardest part was not to be influenced by all of the surroundings that were around me constantly. When I would try and get away from the television and my computer and drive around I would have my radio on usually and listen to music to relax while driving, but this was using media which was hard to avoid.
This experience was interesting and difficult to keep the media out my life. I am very comfortable with using media everyday and it is habitual. We are surrounded by different types of media whether we know it or not and we are made to be in the midst of it. Anywhere I went I found media and there was no escape from it unless I was not awake.
Monday the sixth of October was my media free day. I woke up at Twelve o’clock in the afternoon with an hour to spare before my first class begun. Luckily, I did not have anything that morning to wake up for because I could not use my alarm clock on my cellular phone. I unpack all of my dirty clothes from the previous road trip that I had been on for soccer and decided to do laundry and clean the kitchen before I went to class. After I finished my first class, I walked over to the training room for the athletes and was bombarded with media. The television was on, the radio was blaring, and my athletic trainer yelled at me for not answering her text that she sent me to come in early that morning for treatment. I was forced to hear the media, but tried not to watch or listen if it was possible to do so. After I hustled out of the training room, I went to the apartment and grabbed my school bag for class. Class was easier to stay away from the different media, but as I left the classroom I found myself again in the midst of media. I needed to check my email to see if a professor had sent me an assignment but decided not to. When I arrived back at the apartment I decided to start cleaning. While I began to clean, it was revealed that I was extremely bored. There was silence in the room and it made me feel uncomfortable. After cleaning the kitchen and my room I decided to go and visit with one of my neighbors. This was hard to do as well because they were watching television or on either on Facebook. Everywhere I went there was media. I decided to study as much as possible and resulted to going to bed very early to not further put myself in any other situations with media in it.
I choose this specific day to reflect on no media usage for many specific reasons. The first and main reason that I decided on a Monday was because I have no soccer games, practices, or meetings. Every Monday is the mandatory day off for the women’s soccer team at the University of Tulsa. The team practices on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and then plays matches on Friday and Sunday of every week. This makes the week full of soccer and definitely full of stress. When I travel to and from practices and games I listen to my ipod for motivation before and also for relieving emotions and stress after. I am dependent on my ipod every time that I have soccer because it is a ritual and helps me play better.
Another reason that I choose this day is because this is a stress free day with my schedule for classes. On Mondays my first class is at one in the afternoon making it easy to sleep in and be able to relax in the mornings. I use Mondays to catch up on sleep, clean around the apartment, doing errands, and to finish my homework for the rest of the week. I also knew that this day would be a perfect day to trial the media free day because I was exhausted from the previous weekend of traveling and playing double over time soccer matches while in Houston. I knew that even though this day was my day off from soccer that this was a day of catching up on errands and homework and not of watching television or listening to music. I had no time to text or use the cellular phone to look at the internet because I was almost all of that time period sleeping.
When I was not using media my mind was working in many different ways. I was at a constant boredom and felt useless because all I was doing was sleeping and thinking of different things I needed to be doing. I did feel confident being able to finish my errands and do all of my homework, but there were not enough tasks to do in an entire day making it harder to stay preoccupied. I finished those tasks and then sat in silence before I went to bother some of my friends. When I did feel bored many time I would go and have face to face communication other than media related such as using Facebook, texting, or internet messaging.
I felt like I wanted to draw more and write in my journal as the day went by because of the lack of media to pursue all of my free time in. When I do have this free time it is easy for me to get caught up in thinking of tragedies that have happened in the last year, but I have learned that in the silence there is hope. Instead of going and watching the television or listening to music on my computer I went and talked to my neighbors to stay away from thinking too much of the tragedies and slept more. I believe that this face to face communication is much for beneficial than media, but there were negative points to the day as well. The biggest concern that I had without having media close and accessible to me was that when I do become bored and have nothing to do I usually decide to start snacking on foods around the apartment. The positive aspect of this was that I did not have much food around the apartment, but I was ready to venture out to my friend’s places to find whatever snacks I could to preoccupy myself in my boredom. Eating and cleaning were the main substitutes for the day that I did besides watching television or looking on the internet. Even though I was subject to different tasks than using the media I do not think that my mind was used differently than any other media filled day.
As I explained earlier the harder that it was to occupy my time without media the easier it became to think of the tragedies in the past, start eating, studying, and cleaning. I was influenced to have more face to face communication and to go visit friends that I usually would not see on a week day because I would be watching television or looking on Facebook. I was frustrated at the end of the day because I wanted to be able to do whatever I pleased to do. It is hard to restrict yourself to not doing habitual acts that have been going on for years when you have nothing else to do. The hardest part was not to be influenced by all of the surroundings that were around me constantly. When I would try and get away from the television and my computer and drive around I would have my radio on usually and listen to music to relax while driving, but this was using media which was hard to avoid.
This experience was interesting and difficult to keep the media out my life. I am very comfortable with using media everyday and it is habitual. We are surrounded by different types of media whether we know it or not and we are made to be in the midst of it. Anywhere I went I found media and there was no escape from it unless I was not awake.
Media Autobiography
Growing up I experienced a normal, American childhood filled with several different types of media. I was the kid that loved to watch television and listen to popular music with my friends.
Most of my time was spent having my eyes glued to the television screen. I had several different television series that I enjoyed and watched those constantly. Televison was the the main entertainment for myself and friends of mine. Yet, when I entered middle school the internet and instant messenger started to become very popular and was a new way to communicate with friends in different houses, cities, and states. I was not accustomed to such information and the new and adventurous activity was very exciting!
Thinking back to those years of my childhood the media was new and up and coming, but it was very slow and not advanced at all. Even though the internet was so slow, I still would set that dial tone to get online to chat and wait as long as needed to enjoy a night before sleep. I loved the internet, television, and music from an early age and still do.
My parents were never strict with the amount of televsion or what programs I could watch. Most of the time they were in the room next to me making it easy for them to watch in and see what was on the screen. Without these different tyes of media my childhood and the present would have changed and would still change drastically. What can I say, I love modern media.
Most of my time was spent having my eyes glued to the television screen. I had several different television series that I enjoyed and watched those constantly. Televison was the the main entertainment for myself and friends of mine. Yet, when I entered middle school the internet and instant messenger started to become very popular and was a new way to communicate with friends in different houses, cities, and states. I was not accustomed to such information and the new and adventurous activity was very exciting!
Thinking back to those years of my childhood the media was new and up and coming, but it was very slow and not advanced at all. Even though the internet was so slow, I still would set that dial tone to get online to chat and wait as long as needed to enjoy a night before sleep. I loved the internet, television, and music from an early age and still do.
My parents were never strict with the amount of televsion or what programs I could watch. Most of the time they were in the room next to me making it easy for them to watch in and see what was on the screen. Without these different tyes of media my childhood and the present would have changed and would still change drastically. What can I say, I love modern media.
Blog post on Klein
I am a Jeep girl.
All of my life my family has driven some sort of Jeep and actually at this moment three out of the four people in my family have a Jeep. When we look for new cars or SUV’s I look first at the Jeep brand.
I agree with Klein when she talks about how “it is not so much the product that is branded, as the consumer who is branded.” The product of the car is not what my family and I look into as what we want, but it is the brand, the thought of having another Jeep in the family. The Jeep is in my mind a great product, yet it has become a brand in the fact that I look at whatever the Jeep brand creates I am going to love. When we as a family are looking at cars we would never go for the Chevrolet or the Ford, we stay with the Jeep because it is what is familiar.
The Jeep brand means loyalty, memories, and adventures to my family. We are always loyal customers, we make memories on road trips, and we create adventures with this brand.Each person has a car that is appropriate for that specific person. I mean think about! We take serious care to our cars. Most people even name their cars like they are part of their family. I even have friends that talk to their cars like they are their kids. We become a brand and we love that brand.
Klein believes that we are being exploited by the brand, but I am exploiting the brand by loving it and understanding how the brand can benefit me in the long run. I stay true to a brand and that brand in my mind stays true to me.
All of my life my family has driven some sort of Jeep and actually at this moment three out of the four people in my family have a Jeep. When we look for new cars or SUV’s I look first at the Jeep brand.
I agree with Klein when she talks about how “it is not so much the product that is branded, as the consumer who is branded.” The product of the car is not what my family and I look into as what we want, but it is the brand, the thought of having another Jeep in the family. The Jeep is in my mind a great product, yet it has become a brand in the fact that I look at whatever the Jeep brand creates I am going to love. When we as a family are looking at cars we would never go for the Chevrolet or the Ford, we stay with the Jeep because it is what is familiar.
The Jeep brand means loyalty, memories, and adventures to my family. We are always loyal customers, we make memories on road trips, and we create adventures with this brand.Each person has a car that is appropriate for that specific person. I mean think about! We take serious care to our cars. Most people even name their cars like they are part of their family. I even have friends that talk to their cars like they are their kids. We become a brand and we love that brand.
Klein believes that we are being exploited by the brand, but I am exploiting the brand by loving it and understanding how the brand can benefit me in the long run. I stay true to a brand and that brand in my mind stays true to me.
Blog on de Zengotita
Is everything that we do routine? Have we become numb to what goes on around us? Do we see the simple things and how they affect us each day?
De Zengotita writes on how our culture as anesthetic.He states on page 37, " Accidental places are the only places left. That why a weeks out in nature doesn't make it anymore...You won't see wolves, you'll see "wolves". You'll be murmuring to yourself, at some level, "wow, look, a real wolf, not in a cage, not on TV, I cant believe it."
This is an example of how real life can become routine to us. We are distracted by media on how events are supposed to be carried out, such as camping. When this happens we ponder on how media showed us how a situation is supposed to look, feel, and act like without us having a direct experience. We have these expectations that we are supposed to have met but they cannot be real. The only time we are experiencing real situations is if it is an accident.
On page 36 he states, "On the contrary, you are moved, often deeply, very frequently- never more so, than when you saw the footage of the towers coming down on 9/11...Spirtual numbness guarantees that your relations with the moving will pass."This is another example of how these horrific events can affect us and media brings fear into our lives to keep out attention. Yet, we are finding ourselves in "spiritual numbness" within because these things happen all of the time and we as humans let these things affect us and then we move on. The fact of the matter is that we have our own lives and we must go on.The third point is when he states on page 38 when he states, "the numbness of busyness works on teh same principle, but it relies upon its agents to abide by an agreement they must keep secret, even from themselves. The agreement is this: we will so conduct ourselves that everything becomes an emergency."How hard it is for each person to slow down and appreciate life? Do we have such crammed lives that we do not take a breath and live the way we wish to. It just seems as if we put ourselves in busy lives so that we can become numb to what we should or could be doing with it.Each of these three quotes do suggest how I agree with the author and how he does make sense about our numbness to society and our lives. Yet, I believe that we have a choice either to appreciate what we have and live a life for a purpose or not. Media can affect you, but the bottom line is whether or not you have control on how you want to live your life and for whom.
De Zengotita writes on how our culture as anesthetic.He states on page 37, " Accidental places are the only places left. That why a weeks out in nature doesn't make it anymore...You won't see wolves, you'll see "wolves". You'll be murmuring to yourself, at some level, "wow, look, a real wolf, not in a cage, not on TV, I cant believe it."
This is an example of how real life can become routine to us. We are distracted by media on how events are supposed to be carried out, such as camping. When this happens we ponder on how media showed us how a situation is supposed to look, feel, and act like without us having a direct experience. We have these expectations that we are supposed to have met but they cannot be real. The only time we are experiencing real situations is if it is an accident.
On page 36 he states, "On the contrary, you are moved, often deeply, very frequently- never more so, than when you saw the footage of the towers coming down on 9/11...Spirtual numbness guarantees that your relations with the moving will pass."This is another example of how these horrific events can affect us and media brings fear into our lives to keep out attention. Yet, we are finding ourselves in "spiritual numbness" within because these things happen all of the time and we as humans let these things affect us and then we move on. The fact of the matter is that we have our own lives and we must go on.The third point is when he states on page 38 when he states, "the numbness of busyness works on teh same principle, but it relies upon its agents to abide by an agreement they must keep secret, even from themselves. The agreement is this: we will so conduct ourselves that everything becomes an emergency."How hard it is for each person to slow down and appreciate life? Do we have such crammed lives that we do not take a breath and live the way we wish to. It just seems as if we put ourselves in busy lives so that we can become numb to what we should or could be doing with it.Each of these three quotes do suggest how I agree with the author and how he does make sense about our numbness to society and our lives. Yet, I believe that we have a choice either to appreciate what we have and live a life for a purpose or not. Media can affect you, but the bottom line is whether or not you have control on how you want to live your life and for whom.
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