Social Currency.

In the video Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health? the speaker talked about 4 major stress factors people encounter while using social media. One of them was social currency. She defined it as the worth one gives based off the likes or follows a person receives whenever they post on social media. Nowadays, many individuals look for acceptance or base their "social currency" on how many likes they get from others, because the more the better. Social currency relates to social media because of how many times a person makes themselves present on a platform and how that affects their "popularity" in a way. For this reason many of us experience anxiety or insecurity because our social currency is not as large as those we follow and "admire." We live stuck on our phones searching for that feeling of fitting in, not missing out, and gaining likes/followers.

Fear Advertisement

This ad is using fear caused by possible car wrecks and the injuries that come with them. It pinpoints a problem by demonstrating an amputee from a possible car accident/drunk driving. Here we can observe a person with a prosthetic leg, which assuming from the ad was driving while under the influence of alcohol, this way it creates anxiety around the problem. In other words, if this happened to this individual it can happen to you. Now, the cure is to not drink and drive, but since this ad is sponsored by BMW it technically says that, don't drink and drive while using a BMW vehicle because original car parts are replaceable, but human parts are not.

This ad is using the fear of aging, because we're not supposed to look old, we'r supposed to look young and beautiful our whole lives. It pinpoints the problem by implementing a photo shopped image of a middle-age women thriving with smooth young skin, and adding a little quote "For stunning youthful skin." The ad creates anxiety by saying that you don't look this young and stunning. The solution is using the Olay Miracle Duo to achieve beautiful results and look young again.

Mixed Message

Nowadays, many teenagers come to debate whether or not they should get a tattoo. For many generations tattoos have been redefined multiple times, from going to good, to separating classes, to bad, and all over the place. But, for modern adolescents, tattoos have different meanings, some are for self expression and others for formation. Nevertheless, it is clear that the media has played a very important role, "..by positively portraying the tattooed that many young people admire, such as actors, musicians, and athletes." While the media does so, it gives out the message that it is morally correct and acceptable to have tattoos or be tattooed.

However, this idea is only fit for public figures that people admire. Because as the media accepts famous individuals, "..the media is critical of average people with tattoos." This is the mixed message the reading Secret Ink was talking about. As individuals use tattoos for formation ad self expression, they have to manage to keep their tattoos a secret from society. For this same reason, many choose to get tattoos on areas that are easily covered to not be marginalized by those around them.

Consuming Kids

While watching the documentary Consuming Kids the three most significant points that stood out for me were how kids are being convinced that life is about buying, turning kids into life-long consumers, and how marketers are similar to pedophiles. Kids are being convinced that life is about buying since more and more products are being made to resemble adult life, new shows are being created just to make toys out of it, and more categories are being created. Children spend about 40 billion every year. As well as kids are being turned into life-long consumers with all the categories ranging from newborn to tween to teenagers adjusting the objects according to the category. Lastly, marketers are similar to pedophiles because they are always observing children, in the bathroom, taking  bath, eating, changing, their every move and interactions. All these are important because to marketers a slight error can cause a big marketing malfunction.

Why We Play

In the reading two motivations that caught my attention were emotional and social motivation. To better understand these two motivations, I will provide a definition for both of them. Emotional motivation is that feelings that emerges from the action we desire to achieve or we have achieved/failed. On the other hand, social motivation is that need to interact with others and to feel accepted. These two motivation can be observed in the video "Gaming Can Make a Better World" in several occasions but I will be addressing two. The game World of Warcraft is a great example of social motivation since it involves interactions with other players, this game is not the only one with this motivation, in fact, most games nowadays involve social motivation either to compete or socialize. Emotional motivation can be observed by the proposed idea of playing more games to achieve a better world, not only will the participants feel that emotion but Jane McGonigal portrays emotional motivation throughout the presentation.

Team Sports in America

When it comes to team sports, there is a lot in play, whether its transportation, religion, rules, social class, etc. In the reading and the video, I will talk about two themes that were included in both, these are; transportation and rules. Transportation was addressed in the reading dating back to the Industrial Revolution. This was because it allowed teams to move from one region to another and compete with other teams. In the video transportation was seen when the school teams would transport to other schools in school buses provide by the schools itself. This was either on regular season games or even big post season competitions. In both cases, the sports teams require transportation as an essential part of their "career", without it teams would not be able to compete with other teams. Nowadays transportation is of course easier to attain and more practical.

Rules became important after transportation was invented during the Industrial Revolution. This was because players and spectators expected the same quality game in one region as well as any other location played. This was to create a more concise game and equal game opportunities. On the other hand, even though the game of football has it's own rules, they're not specific when it comes to certain areas such as concussions, aggressiveness, and minor injuries. The big leagues pay more attention to these but rather in high school they're mainly shrugged off. The connection between both the reading and the video is that fr the most part rules are essential to create and equal game play and keep it competitive.

Mansome

While watching the Mansome video, there were three instances that caught my attention and related to the reading. In the reading, style was a form of expression but in earlier times they had to hide or make it look like they dressed nice without trying too much. According to the video Men have always been interested in looking good, nowadays, men are finally allowed to "decorate" themselves. Self improvement in he video are on the rise as well as more male products, body mods, etc. While in the reading, it mentions that magazines are being created to focus on men and are based on women magazines and the contents they have. These magazines, tend to "talk' to men about the best products, cologne, and relationship tips. In both the reading and the video, they talk about metrosexuals, which is a term for men who focus in every single detail about themselves, but this doesn't label them to certain groups. 

The Young Turks

The Young Turks news video, talked about and quoted the comments made by students towards the Duke Freshmen as well as her own response to the situation. The lady was concerned and believed the comments lashing at her were unnecessary and rude, while the guy said that the student shouldn't be surprised by the way her classmates responded. The guy seemed pretty rude saying how the students should just watch her videos and enjoy it rather than bashing out at her. They also talked about how the Freshmen should've known that people would recognize her because porn is public and seen by many.
On the other hand, the view talked about how it was a great way to pay tuition and a different take on it. They also talked about if this was a new alternative towards college students fro paying the tuition. Even though they took a more comedic take on it they made some good point on how the girl should focus on her and do what makes her happy.

This is Emo

In the article This is Emo, the author Chuck Klosterman's mentions how society misinterprets romance in modern time. Romance is based on the examples movie and media give us. The author explains that couples base their relationships on love stories created by the media. This is what he calls "fake love" because they're not seeking to find that feeling, but they seek to interpret a love story. Another example is romance songs, they attach lyrics to some music which creates the audience to believe the artists are total romantic individuals when it comes to relationships. This is not the case, they sing the songs, but aren't like that in real life. Fans fall in love with the artists believing they are the perfect man or a representation of the perfect love partner.

Last but not least, the author compares romance to fairy tales. Many kid stories/fairy tales are created with the purpose to teach kids lessons, but romance stories are creating this fantasy world that society has start to believe. This can have a great impact on adults, who start living around these fake ideas and can impact the way they socialize with love candidates. If people were more aware of all these myths, true love could be more easier to find an relationships could be more fun and real. People would stop basing their relationships on media ideas and begin to explore on their own finding what they really like when it comes to romance.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory is the study of how watching television for long periods of time, can affect your perception of reality. For example, viewing too much crime topics on news shows can impact how the surroundings of the individual are seen. The creators of this theory were George Gerbner and Larry Gross, who began their research towards television viewers and how this impacted their knowledge towards the real world. The initial research involved television consumption, but it also includes newspaper, films, and media. Cultivation theory can lead to media phobia, making society more afraid of situations that either don't exist or are less common than initially thought.

The video viewed in class of John Oliver viewing the issues of torture is a great example of cultivation theory. These scenes that either are created in films by the media or actual situations in news, are seen by the observers as something that happens commonly in society. In reality, the torture methods are very scarce when it comes to implementing them in real life. Nowadays, we live in a world with great fear of being the victim of an unwanted situation. All these images that our brain processes create the fear that terrible acts are happening very often and can reach us at one point.

Media Panic

A moral panic is a fear spreading across many people of some sort of evil threatening society. Since the media began broadcasting and becoming more popular, society began to blame it for the amount of time kids were watching TV. Many were concerned if their studies would be affected by it and others began blaming it for the changes in childhood and social problems. Society blames other sources about the problems happening around us, we always try to find the blame for everything without actually assessing the real problem. No one likes being wrong or taking the blame, this is why moral panics exist and affect so many individuals throughout society. As a matter of fact, the crisis that's mostly affecting American children is poverty.

As discussed in class, The "MOMO CHALLENGE" became a moral panic because so many parents were scared that their kids would be harmed. No kid was hurt by MOMO, but the same parents would transfer the fear to them and make them feel unsafe of their surroundings. Dungeons and Dragons is another great example, so many were playing this game that society started to associate it with the violence occurring around them. The game was being blamed for the violent acts of teenagers, who's acts were not related to the game at all. This are some examples of how media panic has affected society in more recent times, and they'll probably not be the last.

Blog 1

During the Caulfield interview, he makes three important points about what he believes surrounds the celebrity dream/culture. The first of these points is the fact that he heard the name "Kim Kardashian" every day while working on his book. It is no doubt that she is one of the most famous celebrities there is, it is certainly because of the drama and more than likely her looks. Like it was mentioned "Inside the Star Machine", celebrities have "preppers" which focus on keeping them looking extremely good and beyond average. Kim Kardashian has a great impact on young generations which view her as a role model and an image that must be followed.

The second point, is when he went to a modeling competition and go to see first hand various children and parents be scammed. Wanting to be a celebrity can reach great extents and can get into someones mind so deep that they become blinded by the desire to be famous. Thirdly, he talks about the impulse of wanting to become a famous person. Individuals are mainly drawn to this because of the glamour, adventure, excitement, lifestyle, and wealth that comes with it. Most importantly, this desire has been woven into our culture and is somewhat seen as something reachable to future generations.

These points are important because it is helping many see how much of our society is being affected by this cultural change. Nowadays, if you ask a children, like Caulfield mentioned,what they want to be more than likely a celebrity. It is no doubt the great impact this dream is making on society, its seen as normal, making it more difficult for others to see and judge their own abilities.