Living in a Media Saturated World: Why We Need Media Literacy

A preschooler's risk of obesity jumps 6% for every hour of TV watched per day, 31% if the TV is in their bedroom. The average American child sees 40,000 commercials, each year, on broadcast TV. By the time a child is 18 years old, he or she will witness on television (with average viewing time) 200,000 acts of violence including 40,000 murders. Teens consider musicians their heroes more frequently than athletes and rate the influence of music higher than religion or books. Plus, 44% of children and teens report watching different programs when their parents are not around.

These facts from Common Sense Media and the National Institute on Media and the Family just show how much the media affects people in their daily lives, especially kids. Children are surrounded by all kinds of media outlets on a daily basis: internet, television, music, movies, and much more. This world is constantly becoming more media saturated every day, as people continue to rely on the media for their information and entertainment.

And while media technology continues to develop, education on how the media affects people is not spreading quite as rapidly as it should. Children of all ages are especially being targeted to expand their media usage, since they have grown up with this technology, but they are not being educated on how to use the media properly and how to interpret what they are exposed to every day. Many children mistake the media world as reality. In order to make sound and safe choices when considering the media and what it means for them, children need to be taught what they should believe and what they should be critical of when dealing with the media.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

The early years of a child's life are crucial for cognitive, social and emotional development. Therefore, it is important that we take every step necessary to ensure that children grow up in environments where their social, emotional and educational needs are met.

This is especially true for young children, but parents also should be concerned about their young teens' exposure to the media. During that time, children are experiencing a struggle between independence and dependence. Young teens will surf the web, listen to music and watch TV without much supervision by their parents. While many parents do trust them to make good decisions, these early adolescents need the tools to understand and to analyze media messages in this media saturated world.

At this age, teens make more of their own choices about friends, sports, studying and school. They become more independent, with their own personality and interests (The Department of Health and Human Services).

One major problem that these young teens face revolves around the social scene. This group is especially being sucked into the world of MySpace and Facebook to meet friends and to interact with people their age, therefore creating a sense of isolation from society. Most of MySpace's almost 50 million users are under the age of 22 (National Institute on Media and the Family). These children will sit for hours on the computer every day, and there's no guarantee that people are who they say they are on these Web sites. It's scary.

Children of all ages need to be educated to become more media literate. As technology improves, these kids will continue to be more and more exposed to a media saturated culture, so it's important for the schools and for the parents to teach their children how to deal with the media.

Playing the Right Cards...

The media has a purpose: it seeks out certain reactions from its consumers, hoping to get the most profitable response. The movie industry has increased its release of violent movies because, according to the Media Access Network, "…Action films export well. Unlike drama and comedies, which need expensive translation of their dialogue, action-packed movies make the transition to foreign languages and markets easily and cheaply."

With this kind of motivation, it's important for people to realize how the media affects them. According to W. James Potter's Media Literacy, oftentimes, the media does not affect us enough to manifest itself in our behaviors; instead, the media continues to move us along a "risk continuum" little by little towards a manifestation of a particular behavior.

I completed an exercise in the book, and to my surprise, I learned a lot about myself that wasn't always so evident to me. First, I analyzed my response to a violent movie, Casino Royale...then I looked at my behavior during and after I watched one my favorite movies of all time, The Notebook. I realized that I'm more likely to manifest emotional behavior after watching a romance, than to exhibit aggressive behavior after watching a violent movie.

Like any Bond movie, Casino Royale lives up to its name with high action-packed scenes which includes violent images. Even the opening credits use "cards" to depict all the violent scenes throughout the movie.



Bond kills at least 10 different people in the movie, and yet after I watched the movie, I didn’t act any more aggressively than I did before I watched the movie. This movie doesn’t result in a manifestation of behavior, but it does move me along the risk continuum.

The media factor "context of portrayals" adds to how I look at characters in life. The book says, "The good guys' violent acts are always portrayed as being justified…The meaning of violence, then, is that if you are a good guy, violence is an essential and successful means of resolving conflict." I began to become desensitized to the kind of violence in the Bond movies, believing that characters like Bond are justified in what they are doing, despite how many innocent people they hurt in the meantime.

However, romance movies make me emotional. For example, I still cry every time I watch The Notebook, referring to the "states" factor. Certain emotional factors temporarily result from watching media messages. In addition, my "lifestyle" factor is affected by romance movies. I begin to think that relationships and love should be like a storybook fairy tale romance.

The way media affects us is like "playing the right cards." It’s like the complex plot of a Bond movie woven together in a complicated card game. If the right combination of factors pushes me down the risk continuum, behavior will manifest itself. In the future, I hope to be more aware of how romance movies affect my attitude towards relationships and to consider the deeper reality of relationships and love.

Lost in TV Ratings?

An ABC Network favorite, Lost has captivated a large audience since its premiere back in 2004. At the end of its first season, the show won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series and averaged 16 million viewers per episode, ranking 14th in prime-time network shows that year.

Lost was a success; it was signed on again for another season. The second installment increased its strength with the show's niche audience demographic of 18 to 49 year olds…going from 15th to 8th place for that particular audience.

Lost is currently in its fourth season. The TV series will air for a total of six seasons, planning to end in May 2010.

However, Lost seems to have taken an unexpected turn. TV networks are out to make money and need shows that bring in the advertising dollars; Lost is not fitting the bill.

Despite a strong fourth season start with 16.1 million viewers, Lost is falling behind other competing network shows.

Recent Nielsen TV ratings show Lost is having trouble competing against CBS's CSI and Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5^th Grader? For April 3, Nielsen reported the following ratings/shares during Lost's Thursday 9 p.m. time slot:

CBS’s CSI 12.8/19
Fox’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 6.6/10
NBC’s The Office 3.9/6
ABC’s Lost 3.1/5

Lost's share is higher than its rating, which is generally the case for any show. A rating is the percentage of people watching compared to the total number of households with television sets, while a share is the percentage of those watching a show compared to the total number of people watching television during that time. However, the difference between the two for Lost is not as much as for shows like CSI.

Lost was a repeat last week, so it's not surprising the show is in last place. ABC has been showing repeats since March 20, because of the WGA strike, which prevented episodes to be written and shot during that time. DVR ratings released by Nielsen also revealed that Lost is one of the most-recorded shows on television.

Lost does have a strong fan base, but increased DVR viewings have lowered the show's overall ratings. Trying to counteract this effect, ABC has moved Lost's time slot numerous times during its four seasons (either a 9 or 10 p.m. slot), giving the show higher comparative ratings. Lost is scheduled for a new time slot later this season (10 p.m. instead of 9 p.m.), which should help the show succeed with 18 to 49 year olds, without competitors like CSI for that audience.

While Lost's scheduled return on April 24 should bring the show back up to par in ratings, only time will tell.

A Plea for Media Literacy...

Kids ages eight through 18 spend 44.5 hours per week watching TV, playing video games, IMing, and listening to music...more than the average 17 hours they spend with their parents. Nearly two out of three TV programs contain violence. Sexual content appears in 64 percent of all TV programs. These media facts published by Common Sense Media may surprise you…and it’s because we’ve become numb to the overwhelming amount of media messages thrown our way everyday.

Perhaps Postman was right to worry about the future…

Social critic Neil Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death in 1985, attempting to

call people’s attention to the media they so readily accept without question.

On page 92, Postman says, “Television is our culture’s principal mode of knowing about itself.” With television as the most influential media medium in society, he feels that people are no longer actively thinking for themselves. Instead, they rely on the media to tell them what to think and what to do. The problem is, he says, that television is not providing people with an accurate depiction of world; instead, it is trying to entertain, and consequently making a profit in the process.

Although Postman wrote this book back in 1985, his fears do not fall short in today’s world as kids spend more time with the media as Common Sense Media’s figures show. This reality paints a scary picture.

As kids watch more and more television, they start to identify TV programs with reality, thereby creating a “fake sense” of what the real world is like. For example, they may think the world must be a very violent place after watching TV, so they close themselves off and have a hard time trusting other people. Such misconceptions about the real world have a good chance of sticking with them throughout their lives.

According to Postman, who cites an idea found in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, “…Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.” If we do not try to understand the motives of the media, we will continue to fall to this unfortunate ruin of remaining misinformed. Television is too entertaining to stop watching it. While I think his outlook on American culture may be extreme and a little bitter, Postman makes a good effort to inspire future generations to take their exposure to the media more seriously in efforts to become more media literate.

It's Our World, It's Our Media...

It's true that the news is swayed by news reporters, producers, and editors. Despite how much those who report the news try to approach their reports with an unbiased attitude, the news always will be slightly influenced by their values or interests. It's unrealistic to think that the news will ever be completely unbiased.

The whole concept of citizen journalism seems to be a way to address this problem in news reporting. This movement allows the readers, everyday citizens, to interact with or become a part of the news reporting process. Citizen journalism bridges the gap between the news reporters and the viewers, readers, listeners, etc. And perhaps this is a good thing...or maybe it's a little bit dangerous...

I used to think that citizen journalism was just a little bit too risky for the news business. For example, companies constantly would need to check if someone posted anything objectionable or obscene online.

However, after reviewing the OurMedia Web Site, a Web site that relies on content from everyday citizens, I was relieved to find a sense of balance between freedom and security in the site's approach. OurMedia uses the slogan: channels of creativity. The Web site allows registered users, everyday people, to display their own work: video, music, photos, audio clips, and other personal media. This gives these users a way to promote their personal media to the public for free.

CyberJournalist has started to create a list of citizen journalism sites in order to try and keep up with this growing phenomenon. OurMedia was included on this list. CyberJournalist's description of OurMedia gave me a better idea of what the company was trying to accomplish...

OurMedia's goal is to expose, advance and preserve digital creativity at the grassroots level. The site serves as a central gathering spot where professionals and amateurs come together to share works, offer tips and tutorials, and interact in a combination community space and virtual library that will preserve these works for future generations.

The Web site's layout and content demonstrates these goals. On a side bar, anyone can sign up to become a member of this site. Only members can upload their work; however, everyone can view the video, audio, and photos. On the top of the page, people can choose whether to look at a specific channel, check out the producers (aka everyday people who post media to the site), and visit a variety of blogs. In the middle of the page, people can listen to any of the music streaming on the OurMedia site or hear any of the featured podcasts. The bottom of the page includes a section called Community Talk that allows users the opportunity to publicize a certain event or issue they think is important to share with the general public. In addition, the page displays on the side bar those users who are currently online along with how many guests are visiting the Web site. I was surprised that the people visiting the site were from all over the globe.

I think OurMedia has the right idea when it comes to designing a citizen journalism Web site. Not only does the site go beyond just publishing print, it encourages sharing all kinds of media with the world's community. Plus, OurMedia is attempting to monitor the content of the media published on the site by making sure everyone has to register as a member before they can upload anything. This provides OurMedia with a safety net to fall back on in order to protect the company if someone posts anything inappropriate or controversial.

I think it's important for everyday people to interact more with the media today, and OurMedia is giving the public this opportunity while using a safe approach.

Reality TV Doesn't Really Reflect Reality...

No matter how much I like to watch reality TV shows, my Mass Comm class has really made me realize that if you look closely at these shows, they don't really reflect real life.

Throughout the semester, we are reading Media Literacy by W. James Potter. In Chapter 5, the author makes the point that we live in two worlds: the real world and the media world. However, sometimes the lines become blurred between the two. As we become overwhelmed by a mixture of media messages, I think many people can confuse the two worlds as being the same. I think the quote below from the new season of the reality show Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites demonstrates one combining the real world with the media world.

During one of the early segments of the show, Alexis, a motivational speaker, on the Fan team said:

I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage.

Alexis is trying to inspire her team by giving them a glimpse of hope. She seems to believe that she knows the "favorite" players' strengths and weaknesses because she's a die-hard Survivor fan, who has seen all the episodes. Here is the problem...she doesn't really know these players like she thinks she does. She's never lived with them in the real world; she's only knows them through the media world. By watching Survivor, Alexis may have learned a lot about these characters, but the shows aren't accurate depictions of what really happened while the shows were being filmed.

Through the process of post-production, the show's producers are able to develop Survivor into what they think will attract the most audience members, into what is most exciting to watch. For all the hours upon hours of footage that is shot, only a small percentage is used in the actual show and shown to the public. Viewers do not get to see what really goes on "behind the scenes." In that sense, I don't think audience members can say they really know any of the "favorite" players well enough to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

The media would have us believe that we do know these past Survivor players. In today's world, television has become our "magic window" to the real world, or so we think. However, I think as long as we just rely on television as a source of entertainment and realize the real motives behind the show, we all will be fine. Unfortunately, you can't trust what's on television to depict reality...

Max Headroom...Is This How We See Media Today?

The show Max Headroom seems funny to us today…the clothes, the props, and the technology have an outdated look when compared with society’s current style. Despite its odd outer appearance, this short-lived science fiction show, which aired in the 1980s, still has relevance to today’s problems that we face when we encounter the media.

On January 30, my Mass Communications class watched one of the episodes, War. The episode shows a concerned Network 23 board, trying to figure out what to do to increase ratings during a sweeps period. The network is in competition with BreakThru TV, which boosts up its ratings by showing exclusive news coverage of a terrorist explosion. Meanwhile, Network 23’s ratings continue to fall as it shows dancing poodles during this critical time for the station.

Then the plot thickens as enterprising journalist Edison Carter, who works for Network 23, tries to uncover the truth behind the “news story.” He watches as BreakThru TV continues to push their exclusive coverage of this story, and asks himself, “Since when has news been entertainment?” The question describes one of the major issues dealt with in the show concerning media messages. This statement suggests that sometimes news station will start to blur the lines between different types of media messages, in this case, that of news and entertainment.

As the story enfolds, Carter eventually realizes that the whole story is a scam, a deal between an individual reporter and the terrorist group, plus that a Network 23 anchorwoman was already onto the story. However, Network 23 doesn’t know all this, so the board agrees to buy BreakThru TV’s coverage of the story in effort to increase ratings. A board adviser says it best, “Morals are one thing, but ratings are everything.”

Although everything is resolved in the end and the truth is revealed, what does the quote suggest about the media? The quote seems to question the motives of television executives when putting shows on the air. In order to become more media literate, it is up to us to see past the story and to see why the programmers do what they do, which is often times to get higher ratings and in turn make more money. Despite this show being aired in the 1980s, the portrayal of the media in the show is still relevant for today...we can't always trust the media.