This was an interesting chapter overall. Here are three quotes that intrigued me:
"When parents and teachers stand on a soapbox and bemoan the problems of media culture, that's not an effective form of education (p. 113)"
This short statement is very powerful. I see way too many parents, teachers, and leaders simply "bitching" about their views, through social media most of the time. However, it is much more important to teach our children to differentiate right from wrong, good from bad, than it is to simply lecture them on what is bad without teaching them to decide for themselves!
"Some people think that media companies (like TV networks, radio stations, magazine, websites, or Internet service providers) simply sell radio or TV time, online banner ads, or space in a print publication. But this is inaccurate. Media companies are in the business of selling human attention, and it's sold in units by the thousand, depending on age, income, race, geographic region, and other characteristics of the audience (p. 114)"
It is important for us to have an understanding of how and why the media does things, if we are going to teach our students how to dissect and evaluate things the media shoves in their faces. I thought this quote was interesting. I always assumed media companies sold blocks of time, so it gives me a very new perspective to think in terms of selling human attention.
"Advertising's blend of fantasy and reality offers a little jolt of stimulation and a sometimes pleasurable escape from the routines of our everyday and often mundane lifestyles (p. 116)"
Two things ran through my mind when I read this quote. First, I thought about how easy it is for people to find ways to stimulate our pleasure centers, and how this stimuli often brings on addicting reactions...we seek out these scenarios over and over to reactivate that pleasure. I am currently attempting to cut sugar out of my life completely, and I have never been more aware of how companies use addiction to keep us buying products that are so obviously bad for us.
The second thought that occurred to me is that I am glad I do not lead a mundane life! I am always on the go. I am a busy person with many things that keeps me stimulated and excited, and sometimes downright exhausted. There is no room for me to find pleasure in commercials, such as the quote suggests.
Jessica, I found the "selling of human attention" to be quite an eye opener too. The thought that I still have rolling around in my head... "is the "they" that are only selling human attention... does that mean "they" are responsible for the content based on the demographic they are selling at the time?" The point is the ads that played during certain times of the day seem to perpetuate a negative connotation or are directed to a target audience, which I understand when you are selling a product it makes sense to run ads when that demographic is watching... (got it), but who is responsible for the negaitve connotation the seller or the advertiser? All of this was the perfect segway into your final quote, which led me back to how we have become a society that lives for and can only attend to a 30 second sound-bite. The escape from our own "reality" oddly gets wrapped into watching someones elses "reality," which (produces a connection to, a position above, or a position below) generally does Not promote good values or decision making, but glamourizes poor choices or irresponsible behavior. Good post, thanks for sharing your views!
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