Reflection

As a modern teenager, I am always surrounded by media. It is nearly impossible to escape media because it is everywhere. I feel that media makes me and majority of teens' lives. Whether I am scrolling through Instagram, watching YouTube, or even just walking down the street where there is advertising, media is everywhere. Media distracts me from doing my homework, going to sleep, etc. Media has made my attention span shorter. I don't feel like I am addicted, but I know many of my friends could not go a week without their phones. Although media for the most part is bad, there still is some good to it, like making plans and talking with friends.

I have noticed that being aware of my media consumption has changed the way I look at everything. When I'm watching a TV show or movie, I notice more of the branded products they have in their. Also, in ads I am starting to subconsciously notice the techniques that they are using to try and get the audience to buy their products.

My media consumption habits have definitely changed this year, especially this semester. Freshmen year when there wasn't as much workload and 7 classes, I was on my phone a lot more during homework. Whenever I got a notification when I was doing homework, I would pickup and look at what it was, but now when I get a notification while doing homework, I get annoyed. When I hear that vibration on my desk, I just get a feeling of, "Oh my god, who is texting me!" This year, I was able to be more efficient in working and not procrastinate as much as last year.

It is important to have media literacy because surround our everyday lives. It is very hard now to go someplace where there is no media at all. Being able to understand the world now is different from back then. Now, you have to be able to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media before you are considered literate in media.

Being an educated consumer is important because companies will use manipulative techniques to get you to waste your money. When you aren't an educated consumer, you start to buy things you don't need because these companies' ads are getting to your head. When I see an ad of something that I never knew I needed but wanted at that moment, I think of whether I really need it.

From keeping this log, I have learned many new things that I had never noticed in media. From keeping these logs, I was able to start to notice the little things that companies put in media like advertisements in movies and shows. I have been able to notice the techniques that are used in ads and have started to become annoyed with them. I will be watching an ad and I will notice the things the ads are trying to do to appeal to the audience. I think to myself, "Yea right" when a ad says that it would make you look younger or lose 10 pounds in one week.

I think that media at first was a good thing because it helped us to learn and look deeper into things we couldn't see without media, but know I think that it has become a distraction. I see people on their phones everywhere like at school, eating, and even driving. Media has even reached kids at younger ages each year. Kids are getting phones too early because parents buy their kids phones. Parents don't think it is that bad because they have phones and they are fine, but when you introduce media to a kid with a still developing brain, all they will know of is media. They will become addicted to their phones, and that is what I see everywhere. We have a real problem, and it needs to be fixed quickly.