We are media, media is us, and we are one. In this simple statement I site my definition of media ecology. If we would all take a look at our lives we are just a jumble of representations. From the moment we are born to the day that we die we are media. We are born a certain sex boy or girl. That represents something. Boys wear blue girls wear pink. This is a signifier to everyone of what we are. We dont know we are boys or girls until someone tells different things. You have set and defined expectations for your life and ways that you will act.
From that day forward we learn our media from our lives, our families, friends, literally everything we come in contact with. Everything we do and everything we see leaves some trace of an impression on us and represents something to each of us. Thats why I feel that media is us. Media is everything. We are just representations. Is there a reality? Do we exist to just consume reality? Are we realities of a representation? These are questions that I asked myself while writing this paper. While thinking through I came up with a thought of despair, almost panic. It makes you very frustrated to think seriously about this.
It makes you question everything that you were socialized to believe as a member of society. It makes you question countless things in our lives. It made me think about life in general. Who are we to define reality? What is reality? How do we tackle these questions? Truthfully, I dont know if there is a way but I think we all need to examine our lives in general and the everyday lives that we live and question them. Everything we do or say has a representation so therefore is media. It is all around us. It is everywhere. Most places we dont even know that it is going on.
In my inspection of my life and the media that surrounds me I have found media to be all encompassing. It is everywhere. I wake up to a clock radio that I turn off to only seconds later turn on the TV which is on until I leave my apartment. But even with the TV or radio off my apartment is still crawling with media sources. Almost everything I own has labels on it from clothes to food. Some things even have advertisements of other things on their labels. All of these products represent me. I wear these clothes because I like the way this brand looks or I want to belong to a certain group so I wear similar clothes.
I eat certain foods because someone introduced it to me or it is the brand that I like. Throughout the day, media is everywhere. I get into my Honda that is labeled, many times throughout the car. I listen to certain radio shows while driving. While driving I look at buildings, landscapes, businesses, malls and billboards which all represent different things to me. At work I speak, use computers, surf the net, read reports act on my knowledge of my media surrounding me. Through my day I am exposed to countless numbers of media. I basically am media myself. I am an instrument.
I take in what I read, speak, hear or experience and then I do with it what I feel like. For the most part, I guess I would categorize myself as an image person. I would rather look at pictures or objects and try to figure it out then read something and try to find meaning in it. I think that society is moving in this direction. They want their media fast, short and to the point. People dont take time to read. With the increased media frequency in todays society, people are exposed to so many forms of media so many outlets. I choose to use the quickest and for the most part image-based outlets for my media.
The things that I want and expect from media are to be quick concise and to the point and to include where I can go if I want further information. I guess there should be things that I know and recognize so comprehension and understanding can be achieved. I get the information that I search for everyday mostly through the Internet. There are headlines. I read them all and then I decide what I want to know about in depth. Right now I think that I belong to the media culture of a busy working person. Even though I am still a student, my life is different now that I dont live on a campus.
Growing up I went from selected media by my parents to more and more freedom of media choices. In high school, I was a member of the teenage media and in college, a member of college media but now I am moving away from college media and moving towards a consumer media, or business. I am concerned with jobs, investment, and government, things that mostly grownups are interested in. I look to buy things that I can afford and things that show that I am a member of this media culture. I want to be a member of this culture. I want to get a job after this semester and start my life.
I am looking to this identity with this culture to help me become a member. I want to represent a successful person so that people will see that in me and therefore, I will have a chance of being successful. My personal use of media affects me in a couple of ways. My money is spent on things that I feel I need to buy to make me fit in with a certain culture. I need to look a certain way so I buy things that represent success. I want to look this way or dress in the business uniform because it represents something that I want to be a part of.
Media does no affect my religion because I do not believe in conventional religions for the most part. I believer or would like to believe that there is a Supreme Being or god. I dont believe though in all the rituals that churches have. I dont think they are bad and I even take part in them, but I dont feel it is necessary for belief. Media in my eyes cannot change my concept of god because I dont discriminate anyone for believing in something that I dont. The media cannot change my opinion on this because I am impartial I guess.
I do have concerns about emerging media though. I feel that these huge companies buying up smaller ones and owning too many outlets of media are censoring what is disclosed to the public. They also have great avenues to promote their agendas. I feel that we have a right to know things from different viewpoints not from one company that controls all media and is interested in purely making money and not of the integrity of the stories. I think we are media; media is us it one and we being media should be able to chose what we want to do with ourselves.