Media!

So, I'm taking a Media class at school. Really it's how media affects human and family development. It's wildly interesting; it also requires that I write at least twice a week about the media in my life. This will be a learning experience, haha. I figured I'd start out kind of general like, with some thoughts about media.

It seems media is everywhere. Books, internet, film, tv, video games, music, advertising; someone asked in class "when do we NOT use media?" the answer to that question is "when we sleep." I thought about that a lot. I come from a family with a mother who doesn't particularly care fore media (other than books and music; she really digs those). But video games are of the devil, and a computer is not a huge mainstay in her life, and we've never really had ipads or anything. What I grew up with, then, is that books are the best and the rest is kinda whatever, if not damaging. So I thought that would be my attitude as well. But maybe it won't be.

It occurred to me that the medium of media, in general, is a neutral entity. It is not fundamentally good or evil. It just is. It's how it is used that pushes to one side or the other of the fence. What's published, what it's agenda is, how often it's used (which is now a consideration in our electronic world).

 I think something can be good (like Facebook) but even a good thing can become an issue if used too much (like if one is on Facebook so much homework never gets done, or you're neglecting spouse/kids/friends/whoever). Moderation in all things, right? I think there's a media addiction problem, though, because media is so easy to consume and it gives us a sense of importance. "Oh, somebody dinged me; it must be important, because it's to me." Or how often are you're going through your day, and you're not getting any texts, and finally you get one and you announce, "Somebody loves me!" and you seize your phone with gladness, happy that your existence was verified for the day? I've experienced this before. It's an interesting phenomenon.

I'm intrigued and my curiosity is piqued. Media is so much a part of our world now I realize it would be wise to understand how it works, what's out there, and it's effects. Even though I may not care for a lot of it very much, it will still affect me and my family, and so really I ought to learn about it. Let's rock n' roll.