Media Bruh

My Media Reflection Over the course of this semester, I have realized how much media has shaped our communities and this generation. Personally, media has altered the way I perceive the world, trapping myself in a feeling of needing to purchase the next “trendy” thing or a persona of an influencer to fit in. Of five months of this Critical Thinking class, I have begun to take a step back when analyzing general media and advertisements, and the spontaneous feeling of needing the next cool thing has severely diminished. I do not yet consider myself completely media literate, as there are still advertisements that are targeted towards myself that I could overlook when I am not looking for the mischevious ways corporations try to your attention. When watching television with my family, and seeing those Nike and Adidas advertisements about achieving greatness, I have learned to analyze the strategies these companies emotionally trigger your want for their product. I believe it is importa

Earlier this week, I watched the 2019 Youtube Rewind and the amount of hate it got was unbelievable. Although it didn't get as much hate as the previous Rewind, it still gathered way more negative feedback than positive making three million likes and almost eight million dislikes. The worst part was how Youtube tried to fix its mistake made in last year's Rewind but failed and only became a "meme" for not including any of its hard-working content creators.  The main reason for the hate on Youtube is for their elimination of their creator's autonomy. With hundreds of thousands of creators trying to make a living off of Youtube by making the content they like makes it almost impossible with Youtubes' strict algorithm. Their algorithm forces content creators to post content aimed towards younger audiences by demonetizing videos that have any adulterated humor, cursing or political opinions on anything. This makes their content creators feel oppressed by the s

When watching the "Merchants of Cool" documentary about young teens and adults, and how they are shaped by the corporations controlling the market and what we see on television and media. When watching this documentary, the question of actual freedom over my decisions of what I purchase and portray myself came to question. When products are so tailored to your gender, ethnicity, and more. How could you say, what you buy is what you like. When I think of myself and the shoes I like, I think of Vans, Nikes, and many more, but when I think it about it more and more, it becomes clear that there is no coincidence that myself and millions of other teens like the exact same brands of clothing. Everything we see on a regular basis is simplified to our liking. When we scroll on Instagram or scroll through Snapchat stories, we are hit with an advertisement tailored to what we have searched on the internet or even what we have mentioned in the previous conversations. This leaves me