Mainstream Media-content vs. image

There has been a shift in what is known as mainstream. As the new generation is up and coming, entertainment media outlets such as music, movies, and television are constantly changing. I believe that the new generations “theme” to media is the word “instant.” The attention span of human beings seem likes its becoming smaller and smaller. The new generation thrives on instant action and drama. It must be right then and there, or else the interest will disappear. People always want new technology to become “faster” more than anything else. As long as people get what they want, at a quicker speed, then they are satisfied. However, is faster always better, and is this theme of “instant” effecting the qualities of society.

First let’s look at music. I turned on the radio today and all the songs that I’ve listened to were upbeat, and were meant to be played at a night club. None of the music had any substance to it, and the lyrics mostly talked about broad subjects, usually involving a girl and getting drunk. I hardly listen to the radio because of this reason, and can’t even tell you what the popular songs are now days. I don’t hate mainstream music, but it is not like it used to be. There is no heart or soul to music anymore. Musicians used to be called artist, but now I only see them as entertainers. The movie industry is also changing, with more and more blockbuster films getting released. From superhero movies to Harry Potter, the film industry is becoming more and more difficult to work in. Big name producers will not take as many risks like they used to. Action is what the people want, and with CGI(computer generated images) becoming more popular, movies are turning into video games. Of course, there are still movies out there with great plots and movies that have some meaning to them, but the industry itself is shifting for a more “instant” way of making money.

Although the “instant” generation is up and coming, there is a possibility of another shift, where things can slow down, and where quality will be more important than quantity. It is just a matter of time. For example, the 1970s was a decade of peace, love, and rock and roll. Movies and music from the 70s focused more on the content rather than just scratching the surface. Movies like the Godfather and Taxi Driver, and musicians such as Led Zepplein and John Lennon. However, in the 80s, people wanted more media that was entertaining such as movies like Ferris Bueller and Tron, musicians like Cindy Lauper, and Styx. Each decade brings a new audience for the media, and for this upcoming decade, who knows what will happen. We will just have to wait and see.

Iphone siri

There has been news that people have been complaining about the new voice command app on the new Apple iphone 4s called Siri. The complaint was that it couldn’t find any local abortion clinics. Have people become too dependent on technology. It went from searching on the Yellow pages to surfing through the web, and now people are wanting to get instantaneous results through a voice command app. New technology is always innovating to see, but people shouldn’t depend on it so much. Being dependent on someone or something will never allow people to evolve. Siri for the iphone is another technological advancement that will make people move much more faster, but at the same time it will make people have that shortcut mentality.

If people want to find information about abortions, they should just type in information on Google or yelp. Voice command should not be the only option on the list. People have been to drawn towards shortcuts into getting information. Shortcuts save time, but there not always the best. Shortcuts are fine for somethings but not for everything. Technology is changing every year, and the goal for each technological advancement is to make like more easier. However, life shouldn’t always be so easy, people should still have to work for things. Siri cannot do everything and some people need to realize that. Siri is quite an advancement in technology, and has revolutionized voice command technology. I’m sure that it will soon be able to answer more questions, but it will never answer all.

I believe that one day, technology will be so advanced that we wouldn’t even have to move a finger to find information. However, people can’t lose the mentality of hard work. Siri is great for anyone who is on the go and may need to find a specific store or restaurant really fast, but it should not be used to find everything you need in life.

“99 Percent” Occupy Protests

There has been plenty of protests going on today, more specifically the “We are the 99 Percent” protest campaign. More than  a 1,000 protesters gathered near the New York Stock Exchange and blocked several intersections. The police officers tried to break up the protesters and ended up arresting over 300 individuals involved in the protest. Occupy Wall Street protesters clogged streets and tied up traffic around the U.S. on Thursday to mark two months since the movement’s birth and signal they aren’t ready to quit, despite the breakup of many of their encampments by police. Hundreds of people were arrested, most of them in New York. Their were also protests in Los Angeles around the Bank of America building, about 500 people were protesting. Occupy demonstrators had also protested at landmark bridges in several U.S. cities to protest joblessness. Putting up signs saying “We Are 99 Percent” and “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” There were also protests in many other U.S. cities like Portland and Seattle. The question is whether or not these protests are effective.

Capitalism is the economic system that played into role ever since the creation of Government in the United States. Of course the system have changed overtime, but it is a economic system which favors the rich more than the poor. The top 1% is richer than 99% of people in the U.S. Although this is a sad but true fact, it is the nature of the beast of capitalism in the U.S. Has there been any changes since the protests are ineffective, I think not. The truth is that the 1% own all the giant corporations that exist in the U.S., and control the economy in the U.S. Unless a powerful figure in the 1% can convince the others in the 1% to change their economic policies, a change will not happen. No one in the 99% can change the powerful people in the 99% because unfortunately, money is power in the U.S. The 1% even control the Government., and so the 99% face two dilemmas. It is a pessimistic to think that the 1% and the Government will never change their ways, but if you had the amount of money and power that the 1% has, why wouldn’t you keep everything the way it is. The 1% doesn’t care about the 99% as long as they are making profit off of their corporations and stocks. Money not only equals power but it also leads to corruption and greed in which most of these people in the 1% have.

However, it is not impossible to change the economic policies in the U.S. Just like how segregation ended, a man or woman, like Martin Luther King Jr., needs to announce to the whole world how the 99% economically suffer everyday. Violent protests and riots will only put the 99% deeper in the hole from economic revival. Specifically someone from the 1% needs to step up to the plate and try to convince the others from the 1% of economic reform and gain their sympathy to make them realize the true economic suffering of the 99%. It is not an easy task, but the people in the 1% are so corrupted by money, that it will take a lot of convincing to get these powerful people to finally give into economic change.

Video Games and Violence?

Video games, are they really responsible for teen violence and violence caused all around the world. It is true that video games are getting more and more realistic every single day due to the growth in technology over the years, but is it really having a negative effect on kids and teens around the world. Their is no definitive answer to that question, but there has been studies shown that teens who play violent video games are more likely to act in more aggressive ways. However, the video game companies should not take responsibility for violent teen behavior, because just like television or film, it is up to the individual to see it and experience it. The Video game industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and the top selling games are the ones with the most violence. For example games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. All of these games are not only violent, but they also look realistic. Graphics for video games have increased significantly during the past decade, and video games are growing closer and closer to reality.

However, video games should not be singles out, movies and television are still much more closer to real violence than video games. The key to reducing teen violence is through the parents or the older generation to help guide the younger generation  and to educate them on media violence. It is strange that humans enjoy watching violence so much, although it is a taboo subject to talk about. Violence is actually considered more appropriate than nudity, especially here in the U.S. Violence is all around the media, whether it be on the news or as entertaining. People want to experience conflict in their lives, and most people either experience it personally or they watch it through the media. It is not something that a human being needs, but conflict is like a drug, which needs to be recharge in peoples’ lives at some point of there lives. All of people say that getting rid of violent video games, T.V. shows or movies would get rid of violence. However, if you look back in time, every historical event had some sort of conflict or violence in it, or else no one would remember it. Who knows or cares about what else happened on 9/11 2001, besides the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. War and violence is inevitable, humans in general are too power hungry. Of course, one country always wants to be on top of the world. Media and Violence cannot live without each other, and it will forever stay that way.

Although violence in Video games are becoming more and more realistic every year, the world is not becoming more violent because of that. Acts of Violence and Wars have been going on since the beginning of time. There was never a period in time when there was total peace in the world. It is up to the new generation to determine whether or not there will be a time of peace in the world. However, this is a monumental task which cannot be done without a big shift in peoples’ mind sets. The media controls the way many people think, and since it is becoming more and more bigger each year, it will be harder for people to change. All in all, the media should not be an excuse for being the cause of violence, if the older generation starts teaching the younger generation to be more media literate, then violence can be reduced.

Reality T.V. and Love

Television, the main source of entertainment throughout every American household, can’t live with it and can’t live without it. 98% of the people in the U.S. own a television and watches it. Television has grown and evolved throughout the years, therefore, many new types of shows and programs had landed in the world of television. One of the biggest types of shows to ever come out through television has to be reality shows. Reality shows happen to be one of the most popular types of television in the U.S. More than half of all the shows in the U.S. today happen to be reality shows. Even though, these shows tend to have a lot of entertainment in it and tend to relate to real life, in reality it can truly brainwash a persons mind thinking that reality shows are as real as real life itself. Especially about the subject of love, which exists in more than half of all reality shows today. Through reality shows the word “love” has twisted into a word with truly no meaning at all and ultimately many people tend to believe and become blinded by the faultiness of reality television. Although the media says that love can come through reality shows, they often try to mislead people into thinking that love can possibly happen through these shows.

Reality television has really made an immense impact on the U.S. It has controlled the lives of many people and has falsely cajoled people into believe that what they see on reality television is actually true. remove people from more active forms of involvement in their own lives. Since reality television has been around, the media has controlled peoples’ lives and the social lives of people have slowly creeped out of their lives. The persuasive power of television can affect social norms and that studies show that 80% of people who watch T.V. constantly for several hours suffer from depression. Reality T.V. has created a very influential media machine and has a way to hook its viewers on to the television screen almost every day. However, over half of the reality shows these days involve love and relationships and most of the shows try to fallaciously persuade the viewers that love can possibly happen through reality shows. Surprising enough, many viewers tend to fall for the love trap that reality T.V. sets right in front of their eyes and tends to believe that love can happen through reality shows.

Reality television has drastically changed throughout the years and has rapidly grown much popularity throughout the years. Reality shows happen to be one of the most popular genres of television these days and happens to be booming in the media today. More people nowadays watch reality television than the local or national news. People these days don’t know the difference between television and real life and they try to live like what they see on T.V. in a fantasy reality show world. Reality television has come a long way and millions of people each day tune on to these shows and stay hooked on and thinking that it is the way to live their own lives. They even go into thinking of finding love through reality shows. Thinking that they will end up with a fun loving relationship just like how they show it on a reality show. All in all, It is all for the ratings, but people who are not media literate, may not fully understand, and take it as fact.

Violence, Media’s tool of choice

Violence is certainly a taboo subject and almost everyone knows the cliche phrase, “Violence is not the answer.” Although this phrase is true in the real world, it is used in the media as a tool to attract viewers. From newspapers, Television news networks, to online sites like Yahoo news, the front news is almost always about the killing or murder of a certain individual or a group of people. News of violent crimes are always going to outweigh any other news because of how shocking they are. The front news of any major newspaper in the U.S. will most of the time be about a violent crime that was committed. The sad truth is that if there was no violent crime in this world, newspapers would not have even existed.

Although Violence is a terrible thing in the real world, in some dark twisted way, people are attracted to it. It’s not only in news but on television, movies, and video games. The media is full of violence and it is the main attraction for audiences. When we watch a television drama or movie, we expect some sort of conflict, which is most of the time an act of violent crime. Being attracted to violence is a human trait that really can’t be stopped or controlled because it is everywhere. However, there is a fine line between violence in the real world and violence that exists in the world of media, but they correspond with each other. Violence in the media is a reflection of violence in the real world. Without violence in the real world, the violence that is seen in the media would not exist, sadly this is the truth. Violence in the media are just examples of violence in the real world. One cannot exist without the other.

However, this does not mean that violence in the media is responsible for real world violence. Real world violence and crime is caused by several different factors like childhood trauma, bullying, a violent household, drugs, gangs, or poverty. The media only reflects on the violence in the real world, but it never encourages it. Also, since violence is one of media’s main tool to attract audiences, they are making more profit because they are drawing a larger audience, and the more profit these media outlets make, the less likely they will stop using violence as a tool of attraction. Throughout the decades of media it has been proven that violence is the answer to attract more audiences and those are the facts.

T.V. News-Can we depend on it

Ever since the beginning of Television starting in the 1950s, the news was always something people were always looking forward to watching. The news gives people the chance to learn new information about the world that they live in. Whether it be learning about a national tragedy or the local opening of a Mega Mall, the news on T.V. is one of the first sources that we look into. However, the news like many other programs on television all get their funding from advertisement and they depend on a rating system. The more popular the news show, the more money, and longer it stays on the network. News networks like CNN, FOX NEWS, and MSNBC all have to compete for the viewers. That is why each of the news networks that you see have a different approach of telling their news to the public, and they control what news people should hear. However, news networks nowadays are giving people what they want to hear to attract more viewers, instead of trying to give news that are of great importance and urgency.

The news networks today need viewers to tune in every night so that they can stay on the air, and beat their competition. That is also the reason why some news networks associate with certain political views. For Example, Fox News claim that they are “Fair and Balanced” in their news. However, they have a reputation of being Conservative and the reason being is because the owner of Fox News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, is a conservative. Both CNN and MSNBC is known to be liberal and all news channels have some sort of affiliation with a certain political view. However, this does not only apply to news on T.V. but also for newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Another thing that these news channels are doing to draw more viewers, is that they are showing news that are not particular important, but something that the general public will be entertained by. For example, instead of showing news of Afghanistan, they would show news of a certain celebrity getting married, or losing or gaining a lot of weight. News that doesn’t effect the people in this world. It is like watching a movie like Harry Potter, it is exciting to see, but it won’t benefit the world in anyway.

News channels are trying to become more and more like entertainment weekly. Some programs on T.V. specialize in celebrity news and gossip, but news channels like CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News should not. The news might be depressing sometimes, but it keeps people up to speed of what’s going on in this world. The world moves at an extremely fast pace, and people need to be informed of what’s going on. They need to start giving people news that will motivate them to take action in this world. I am not saying that entertainment should be gone all together, but when talking about serious matters like an economic crisis, or a war, the news channels should tell the world of what is going on and tell the people of whether or not everything is going to be alright. There is a time for entertainment and there is a time when things need to be taken with seriously.