KaraEquestrian @karaequestrianblog-blog - Tumblr Blog

Working in New Media

Prior to this assignment, I had never used Tumblr before. It’s definitely different to use social media for a school assignment rather than for personal entertainment. On Tumblr, I was able to complete each entry a lot faster than I would have if it was assigned on paper - since I’m used to typing on a computer everyday, being able to type these entries and posting them online was much more efficient than handwriting on paper and physically handing it in.

I think that many students can communicate their ideas using Tumblr just as clearly as in a typical essay on paper. However, some students may not be as concise, and may use the familiarity of the platform to blabber-on too much. So, ideas and information may not be communicated as effectively on a social media platform like Tumblr, compared to in a typically-structured assignment.

I like that the platform allows you to add pictures, videos, or other links within an entry. In comparison to a typical essay on paper, I think this makes it more interesting to write the entries, and more interesting for others to read them. Essays can often make students’ work look homogeneous, due to an essay’s typical structure, but Tumblr allows for more individuality and creativity. This medium has shaped my content in that I was able to expand my ideas through adding related content. For example, I enjoy editing videos (both for film class and on my own time), so I decided to make a short video compilation of some memes with a spin on the song “What Do You Mean?” by Justin Bieber, for entry 7. I thought it might be fun to add that to my entry writeup, and I believe it made my content more individual, or more “me”.

Overall, despite using an unfamiliar social media platform for this assignment, I have definitely enjoyed writing this portfolio assignment on Tumblr.

What do you MEME?

I decided to create a fun little meme video, with a spin on Justin Bieber’s song “What Do You Mean?”. Enjoy.

What Do You Meme?

This meme from 2019 (wow that rhymes) is a reference to the “10-year challenge”, where people post two pictures of them, 10 years apart. In the 10-year challenge in the meme (see below), a young boy is blowing bubbles, and 10 years later, he’s blowing vape rings. This is a representation of today’s “vape culture”: the expectation that the audience has based on this theme is that vaping is cool (especially when doing vape tricks), and that it’s a popular thing to do amongst friends. The meme also represents what our society has become, with more and more people starting to vape. It’s almost humorous that our society is like this, and this vape meme captures that perfectly with the 10-year challenge.

The meme addresses audiences such as teenagers and their parents. Since vaping has recently become a lot more popular, more teens are beginning to join in with their friends -- the concept of peer pressure is also very relevant. Teenagers’ parents also often don’t know that their child vapes, so this meme also addresses that.

Exploring Genre

Billie Eilish’s music video for her song “Bury A Friend” involves the theme of horror -- the artist intended the music video to be very creepy, and to make the audience feel uncomfortable watching it, and even listening to the song itself. The genre of horror is mainly used in films, and not often in songs. From the very beginning of the video, the audience feels unsettled, and the expectations of the horror genre are made clear.

In terms of iconography, at 0:47, the song has an abrupt scream sound, which perfectly fits into the genre. At 1:04, after the lyric “Step on the glass”, a sound of breaking glass can be heard, and at 1:06 after “Staple your tongue”, a staple sound plays. These sounds add another element to the structure of the song, where the audience dives deeper into the piece. I think that the text conforms to genre conventions. The song deals with themes of suicide, with lyrics of “I wanna end me” which can be heard throughout the song, and this is a very relevant issue in today’s society. This is reflected in the music video, with the image of gloved hands suppressing Billie, almost as if society is suppressing us all.

A very important issue. #plasticinocean #marinelife

Digital Media as a Force for Good?

I’m very passionate about the wellbeing of marine life, and I would like to focus my campaign around this. The goal for my campaign would be to reduce the amount of plastic that humans are putting into the ocean. I think people should care about this issue because the health of marine life is crucial to our own wellbeing as humans. If the marine-life ecosystem is suffering, that’s not a good sign for us. Our society does not seem to value the planet of which we call home, but we need to start caring if we want to survive. Plastic in the ocean is just one of many issues we need to address, but it’s a start.

My target audience would be everyone and anyone -- all people need to be mindful about this issue, and it definitely concerns everybody. I would encourage people to be more mindful of the items they buy. Each time they shop for groceries, I would like them to buy three less plastic items than they would normally. For example, if they would normally buy bags of milk, I would like them to replace that with buying a carton of milk, which is recyclable. If everyone did this and was more mindful about the plastic they buy, the amount of plastic going into the ocean could be reduced.

To reach my target audience, I would use Instagram to spread pictures of the marine life affected by plastic in the ocean, such as sea turtles, birds, and many others. Seeing the damage plastic does to these animals would hopefully inspire people to care more. I would also use Snapchat to send daily reminders to others, snapping them to remind about mindful shopping. Lastly, I would use YouTube, uploading educational videos about the effects of plastic on marine life.

A limitation I could encounter with these digital media platforms is that people may briefly look at the Instagram posts, YouTube videos, and Snapchats and forget to be mindful when they are actually in the grocery store. Even with good intentions, people just may not remember. However, an advantage of using these platforms is that so many people use these platforms -- this allows for a very large audience, and hopefully a large number of people who would help make a difference.

Internet Regulation

The internet is a scary place, and it can influence many young minds. However, it can also be a great place to interact, share, and communicate with others… but the amount of explicit, violent, and other inappropriate content that is easily accessible is unsettling. I think the Canadian government should introduce new federal laws to help with internet regulation. Even with the addition of new federal laws, the internet will probably never be entirely regulated, but I believe that having these laws will greatly improve it. Yes, there will probably still be under-the-radar websites that will not be tracked by regulation, but these will hopefully be harder to access by the average person than they currently are.

Technology can have a positive relationship with freedom of speech and ethical conduct, given that the internet can be used for people to express themselves and their thoughts, and to find others who think the same way -- although, this can also be a negative relationship in that the internet is often abused with hate speech, and its open platform can be used for the wrong reasons.

It’s becoming more common for children at young ages to have access to devices and to the internet, which is why it’s very important to have new regulation laws introduced. Even though many parents attempt to regulate their child’s use of devices on their own terms, their efforts still may not stop the child from seeing inappropriate content, and permanently affecting their developing mind.

I think it is feasible to try to regulate the internet -- if large search-engine companies such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo work together to regulate what can be found when someone searches on their platform, this could help to reduce the accessibility of inappropriate websites. Browsers such as Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome could also work together on a similar level. If more effort was put towards regulation, I think the internet could become a much safer environment.

#internetregulation

6,671 Likes, 147 Comments - Beauty Redefined ® (@beauty_redefined) on Instagram: “When girls are policed for dress code violations and taught to dress modestly as a protection for…”

A very wise post from Beauty Redefined (@beauty_redefined on Instagram).

Analyzing Media Representations

When it comes to skin-care product commercials, the actors chosen for these types of commercials all have ‘perfect’ skin. Like in this Neutrogena ad, when viewers see these actors using the product, it’s easy to get caught up in the ad. The ad is designed to make viewers think that if they buy the product, they will get the same rewarding skin results that the actor has in the video. The same strategy is used in other media forms as well, for example, product websites. The pictures used for websites also show beautiful models, like in this Glossier website. Companies who sell these skin-care products like to guarantee that their product will work for everyone, which is not necessarily true -- it may be suitable for some people, but everyone has different skin which the product may not be right for. People who view the ad often end up buying the product and not receiving the results that they thought they would, but having already purchased and tried the product, they can’t get their money back. With these compelling (and often misleading) advertisements, this is how companies succeed at gaining people’s business.

Particularly for women, the value of having flawless, young-looking skin is highly sought after in today’s society. This has become a hegemony -- it’s built into the way people think, and unfortunately, it has taken a very long time to start breaking that stereotype. Even so, we are still not at a place of complete acceptance. Everyone wants to be loved, seen, heard, and accepted -- the modern way of thinking encourages people to change the way they naturally look in order to fit in. Unfortunately, women are often judged on how they look before they are listened to, and skin-care products are one of the many things that are marketed to help women change their appearance in order to feel accepted.

An Instagram page that challenges the mainstream ideology is called Beauty Redefined, which posts encouraging messages dedicated to women, and addresses issues surrounding beauty and acceptance. With quotes from celebrities and other inspiring women, this Instagram page empowers women of all ages to feel accepted and to love themselves the way they are. I think this text will have a very positive affect on the hegemony for years to come, and if more organizations like this are created, I think they could definitely help society to step in the right direction.

Assessing McLuhan

McLuhan’s aphorism that “time has ceased and space has vanished because of new media” is a very relevant concept in 2019. In particular, social media has been very influential, and it has greatly implicated the nature of human interactions. On social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, space seems to vanish between people. Someone can interact with another person who lives across the world with the use of a phone, which would not be possible without this technology. But when people communicate through this media, are they really communicating? Through texting on a messaging app, or when commenting on someone else’s Instagram post, the essence of a real human interaction is altered.

As McLuhan said, time seems to cease -- emotion cannot be properly communicated through a media device as it can be when people are face-to-face. When speaking, humans communicate meaning through their timing of sentences and tone of voice, but this cannot be heard through a text. When waiting for a response to a message, time is interrupted, and the flow of interaction seems to pause. The feeling of being in the moment with another person is gone, and tone and intention can be interpreted wrongly. This can often escalate, and may even cause implications for people’s relationships. A real, authentic conversation between people is something that media should never replace.

Another form of new media that has changed human interaction is that of home devices, such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Home. These devices may be fun to have at home, but what most people don’t realize is that they are constantly listening. These devices listen to conversations even when the device-owner doesn’t activate them to listen by saying, “Hey Siri”, or “Hey Google”. The acquired personal information is given to the large corporations that the technology is owned by, and can be used for exploitation. Home devices have changed interactions because in a normal human interaction, personal information like this would not be openly given away unless a person chose to share it.

Because these devices are programmed to send information to the corporations as soon as its acquired, the device-owner’s private information is taken without consent. In this sense, time ceases. The information obtained can be very confidential, and as space between companies and device-owners vanishes through this new technology, information-hungry companies ignore the concept of privacy. Once these companies have the information, they have permanent use of it -- people’s information can be leaked onto the internet, used for hacking, and uploaded to databases. Before home devices existed, information would remain more confidential, and privacy was still valued. As these devices become more popular, more people put them in their homes, which means more personal information is given to companies.

McLuhan was spot-on with his aphorism that the future of human interactions will be permanently changed by seemingly harmless new media, as this has been proven with how social media takes away the authenticity of a personal interaction, and by home devices that are able to steal private information that would not normally be shared with others.

Mediated Life

When it comes to spending time on devices, I estimate that I spend a total of 46 hours per week on various forms of new media, which is quite a lot of time. That’s almost two full days out of every week that I see the world through the lens of media, which can alter perception of reality. But, I think I use new media slightly less than the average high school student. According to Common Sense Media, the average teen spends 9 hours online every day, which adds up to 63 hours per week. Because I don’t go on my phone during class, that helps to lower my usage time per week. I never sleep with my phone near my bed so that I’m not tempted to check social media during the night. I also try not to procrastinate my homework by wasting time on my phone… but let’s be real -- that doesn’t always go according to plan. In 10 years from now, I think the time I spend using new media will decrease. Since I will probably have a busier life (being an adult and all) and I will hopefully have a job which will take up most of my day, I won’t be able to spend as much time using new media. However, on weekends, I think my time spent on new media will actually increase. Given that I won’t have as much free-time on weekdays, I think I’ll just end up spending more time on my phone on weekends. Overall, I think I have fairly good habits and am aware of how much time I spend using new media.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

KaraEquestrian