Social Media

There are tons of pros and cons to using social media but I still can't decide if the benefits outweigh the risks or not. I really don't know if that will ever be determined but I don't see social media ever going away.
One of the pros I agree with is that social media can help you make friends and improve relationships. This was taken from the source of Brian Solis "people use social media to connect with family and friends" 2011. I have gotten in touch with old high school friends and even friends that I haven't seen or talked to since early elementary. Its nice to see how they're doing and get to know them again.
One con from the procon.org website is that social networking sites entice people to waste time, from "Generation M2L Media in the lives of 8-18 year olds" kff.org 2010. I feel like this has become a problem for a lot of people. We all have busy lives and a million things we should be doing but instead we often chose to scroll through facebook when we could have gotten a lot accomplished in that time.

Celebrities and American Culture

Celebrities are different than regular people in several ways. Celebrities are seen sometimes seen by regular people on a daily basis in the media. Fans of celebrities keep up on their personal lives as well as their celebrity life portrayed in the media. Regular people feel as if they personally know certain celebrities because they see and hear about them so often. Celebrities can have a powerful impact on society because they are in the spotlight so often. Aside from having more money from the average person, celebrities can be outspoken and regular people are waiting to hear the next thing they do. Celebrities can have a large affect on American culture by what they do and how they portray themselves to the American people.

What's Hot in Pop Culture

http://www.apple.com/iphone/?afid=p238|sGb7nPCg2-dc_mtid_1870765e38482_pcrid_117729694927_&cid=aos-us-kwg-iphone-slid-
iphones are especially popular and have been for the past few years. Having the latest best model of iphone is what is popular now. This is a "insider" form of social currency because if you have this latest greatest phone you are part of the "in" group.

https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeedtasty/videos
Another hot thing in pop culture now are those tasty videos that pop up on your facebook feed. I love those videos and I want to try all of the recipes, yet I have never tried one. These videos are "remarkable" because they look so delicious and grab your attention in such a short period of time..

 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33486177
A thid hot topic in our popular culture would be changing your diet to vegan or gluten free. It seems like a lot of people are doing this lately and not necessarily because they have to. It is the next latest greatest trend to be healthy by going gluten free or the paleo diet etc. I would say this falls into the "insider" category. You feel like part of a group when you chose the same diet as others.

Tattoos in America

There are definitely mixed messages in American culture when it comes to tattoos. Tattoos are portrayed as "cool" or the in thing to do when it comes to people in professional basketball or wrestling. The majority of these players have tattoos and we see nothing wrong with that. On the other side of our culture tattoos are still taboo and equal crime and prison. Even many people must cover their tattoos while at work. This is unfortunate because having tattoos does not tell you anything about a person's personality. It certainly does not mean you are a bad person if you have tattoos. Many people get tattoos only to have them in places where no one will see them. It seems as though in our culture it depends on who you are and what you do as to whether tattoos are okay or not.

Cultivation theory and Torture

In class we learned about George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory. George studied the affects of violence in the media. People are not more violent because of violence they see on T.V. but it is the exact opposite. The more violence people watch the more they think they will be the victim of violence. Although crime in the United States has actually gone down in the last decade, people are more fearful because there is so much violence portrayed on television and by the media that people think crimes are happening in large numbers all of the time.

We also watched a video on torture by John Oliver. In the video the use of torture to get information has been proven to not be effective. Even though it has been proven over and over that torture is not effective the majority of the population believe that torture is a good means for military/government personnel to use. I think that this indicates that our population is highly affected by the torture scenes we see on television and in the movies. This shows that George Gerbner's cultivation theory is true. People see these torture techniques work on movies and believe they will be useful in real life even after proven to be false.

I think it is very unfortunate the hold media has over our own personal thinking and society/culture as a whole. It is like the more television you watch the more ignorant you become to important issues. 

Why We Play (Motivations)

Stress reduction is discussed as a motivation to playing video games in the article Why We Play, as well as Jane McGonigal's lecture. In the article, college age guys lives were reviewed. The author discussed how in today's culture, college guys are expected to be successful in college as well as when they graduate. Success today is much more difficult to obtain. A college graduate may not be able to become successful finding a career related to his college degree. Stress relief discussed as a major motivation for these college guys. Being able to forget about the expectations put upon them by playing video games can reduce this common stress. McGonigal also talked a great deal about how "playing games" makes us happier, ultimately reducing stress.

Social contact is another motivation for playing video games. College guys can have the social contact they are needing by playing video games with their friends. It is a common past time that they all enjoy and can participate in together. McGonigal talks about how people even miles away can have the social contact with each other through playing video games online.

Men vs Women

One similarity in the way men's bodies and women's bodies are portrayed and treated in our culture is that both are expected to be ridiculously "perfect". The definition of sexy in our culture is pretty much impossible to obtain. For men, they must workout religiously for hours a day and have a rigid diet to achieve this perfect body. Women also have to live this life of deprivation in order to have this unrealistic body.

One difference between men and women in American culture it the specific idea of sexy. Men are to be extremely muscular. They are to look in control and confident. Women are expected to be very thin and non muscular and also looking submissive and meek. I think these ideals of what is sexy in the bodies of American men and women is saddening because this leads to children growing up seeing these unrealistic body images and the pressure to attain these unattainable bodies.