Entry 15: Reflection Post

I want to start my final blog entry by saying that Critical Thinking was by far not only my favorite class this semester, but it was also my favorite class I've taken at McClatchy. It made me realize everything that is behind media, and everything that goes into media. I consume a lot of media. If I had to guess how many hours a day I see some form of media per day, whether it's on my phone or on the internet, I'd say I consume four hours per day. This has a huge impact on my life, because it is a huge distraction. I always have my phone, so I always have access to the media and to the internet, whether I am with family or friends, doing school work, or just trying to do something I don't need my phone for, it's always there no matter what. Because of this class I have become a lot more vigilant when it comes to media. I've learned that what most people say while trying to advertise something is not usually true, or it's true but it's a huge exaggeration. Knowing this, I have stopped being as distracted as I had before by media. I've realized that not everything that advertisers try to sell, do what the advertisers say. This realization has definitely made my media consumption go down. Knowing that most TV shows use direct product placement during their show is kind of annoying, especially when you have commercials every ten minutes anyways. I have also realized that since most of the commercials out there, as well as most media out there is a lie, I need to learn to rely on it less. Being an educated consumer, and being media literate is important because a lot of advertisers use direct ways to get people to buy things. They find a lack of something in someone's life, and use that in the commercial to get the consumer to feel the need to buy it, same with the techniques they use. For example, if an advertisers target market was a nerdy boy or girl in high school, and they used need for affiliation and avante garde in their commercial chances are high that the target market consumer would go out and buy the product. In this situation it's highly doubtful that the product would actually make said consumer popular like they were hoping. When one is able to see these techniques being used and realize the product isn't going to fill the gap in their life that it says it will, the consumer saves the money they would've spent and can now spend it on something useful. Keeping this blog was really fun and really interesting. It gave me a first hand look at the media that is actually involved in my life on a daily basis, and now I am not as reliant on media as I was at the beginning on this semester. It also helped me be able to realize the little tricks people put in their media. Whether it is some weird, often unused, technique, or an obvious product placement in a commercial, I can notice it now easily. I really enjoyed keeping this blog, as well as taking this class. This is one class that is obviously going to be very helpful later in life, and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to take it, even if it did start at 7:18 in the morning.