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.

BIRGing and CORFing

After reflecting on the video The Football High I can see the birging and corfing. There is a lot of birging with the family, friends, and fans. These people who are not even on the team talk as though they are using terms like "we" when referring to their football team. I would also call it birging when a family moves to become a part of a better team. It could also be corfing by moving to leave the team doing poorly.

When the team lost to the Texas team the media focused on why they lost. They really lost for reasons out of their control such as the Texas team was much bigger in number and size of the players. The team was pushed to do their best but in the end they lost so the team, family, and friends were corfing, or pushing away related failure, by making excuses for the team.

Sports in America

My personal opinion on sports in America is that we have taken things way too far, especially with our children. After watching the football video I was surprised that people actually move across the country for high school sports. I think that that much pressure on a child to preform cannot be a good thing. I like that sports teach children how to work with others, is good exercise, and can be motivating for children to reach a goal, but when is it too much? Kids also need to be kids and not treated like professional athletes. It is also disappointing to hear about parents putting everything on the line for the child's sports career and then the child not making it because someone better comes along.

In professional sports I was shocked to find out the average salaries and length of career. I always assumed professional sports players made a ton of money based on their extravagant lifestyles. Knowing now that most are in debt after only 3 years after playing I actually feel bad for them. It is unfortunate that these players don't have any foresight to recognize their future financial downfalls. Maybe investing those millions and living off interest would be a good idea. Also, I think these players need big time education on their finances.

Lavish Wedding and Say Yes to the Dress

The reading and the tv show were similar in that the wedding dress is to be white, worn only once, and be unlike anything you typically see women wear on a daily basis. Your wedding day is to be “perfect” and extravagant. The reading describes how theses lavish weddings came to be, from the earliest time of the Cinderella story in China, to the exuberant wedding of Princess Diana, and many significant weddings in between. In the television show, Say Yes to the Dress, one bride to be actually references Princess Diana several times and she wants to look just like her. 

I think that the television show is directly linked to the reading and could almost have been the next part of The Lavish Wedding. Say Yes to the Dress directly supports these outrageously lavish weddings. The hosts of the show tell women to expect the perfect wedding and that they must have the perfect dress (and in some cases TWO wedding dresses). Women are bombarded from the time we are born by images and advertisements of these beautiful and expensive weddings and believe that we “need” this same type of lavish wedding.

Sexual Objectification Ads

This is obviously an advertisement for Skyy vodka. This image shows only a woman's legs wrapped around a bottle. I guess the image implies that if you drink Skyy vodka you will get sexy women to hang on you.








This second ad I found is for men's cologne. It shows a women very into this man because of this cologne. it also seems this woman could be interchangeable for any other sexy woman.

College Student and Porn Performer

The CNN report on this college student focused their story on the fact that she is proud and feels good about being a porn performer. They brought on a sex therapist that discussed women and their sexuality and that it was a good thing for this student to be in control of her sexuality. I think this just further shows our cultural focus on sex no matter the situation. They hardly mentioned the fact that she was upset about her personal information being given out and the death threats she's received etc. I think it is unfortunate that CNN chose to focus solely on the sexual aspect.

The Young Turks reported on the negative parts of this story such as her private information given out and her being bullied at school which she doesn't deserve. They discussed how sex opportunities are not available to all women and other women are jealous of her. I like how they focused on the negative impact on this student's life and not focus on sexuality. I think this shows that culturally we can get past the sex in this situation to discuss other aspects.