Week 11

     Today was probably the most interesting class yet, in my opinion. We were discussing the negative aspects of the Internet and social media. For example, we watched a video about what all media is doing to us. It said all of us view, on average, about 10 hours and 45 minutes of media EACH day. This includes television, radio broadcasts, movies, music, magazines, and social media/Internet. The point of the video was that for something that we invest so much of our time into, we are not watching things that are helping to construct our morals. For instance, I have yet to see a show on Netflix (besides maybe on Netflix Kids) that does not have curse words, show nudity, or drug use/alcohol consumption. Children who are still learning about how to interact with others and constructing their morals are being exposed to this, and in turn thinking that this is how the world should be. The video made a really great point. There are half naked women all over media (all attractive, for the most part) which teaches women that they are not good enough unless they have a nice body or pretty face. On the other hand, it teaches men that women are just their bodies and nothing more. On top of it all, there are celebrities that young girls look up to, that portray this same idea. For instance, Kim Kardashian posts nudes on her social media, which makes the girls that look up to her believe that they must look like her or be beautiful to be successful and noticed. Then, the celebrities arguments are that they should not have to feel ashamed of their bodies and by posting these nudes, they are "liberating" themselves. There is nothing liberating that is going to come from posting those things, because all that teaches us is that girls need to have a body like that, and boys need to find a girl who looks like that (regardless of personality, brains, etc.). As long as this media is what we are exposed to--and it is literally everywhere--nothing is going to change.