My relationship with the media

My Relationship With Media

    
         My relationship with the media is a tumultuous one. From Snapchat to Instagram a large part of my free time is spent engaged with the media. These social media platforms are constantly in use by me and my friends, therefore I am almost never detached from them. They cause me to become more distracted from important tasks and most likely distances me from reality. Both of these consequences are undoubtedly negative, however I doubt I would give social media up any time soon. Despite the known effects social media has on my life I rely on it to keep me connected and also provide me with a needed distraction from the difficult things in life. This all culminates to form a fairly unhealthy relationship with social media, which is merely one aspect of the media.

          In addition to social media, something else that I interact with daily, are advertisements. Whether its on my phone, the TV, or a billboard I can never escape the constant flow of companies promoting their products. Within itself advertisements are a nuisance that I don't want to be bothered with, however on the next level it is also promoting being a consumer. All these advertisements do is make you want to buy their products. And to do so they use many tactics that manipulate your emotions. For that reason I am 100% susceptible to this kind of advertisement, because I can't help but feel sad during SPCA ads and happy when everyone in the Sprite commercial smiles. This kind of toying with my emotions only makes me more confused and more eager to buy material items. I have many luxuries that I enjoy and the promotion of more items only makes me want more. I notice that every time I see the newest iPhone on TV I also want it. I do not need a new phone, frankly I don't need a cell phone at all, yet in part because of these advertisements I feel that its a necessity. The presence of advertisements in my life only highlights the materialistic aspects about myself that I dislike.

          Another form of media that I am exposed to is television. In television shows all of the actors and actresses are beautiful and live in an ideal house, within an ideal reality. However if its in a television show that's likely all it is, ideal, not realistic. Growing up watching all of these seemingly perfect people in perfect families living their perfect lives gave me an unrealistic standard for how life would be. The actors on TV are impossibly beautiful and the majority of people will never look that way. The houses that these fictional families live in are nothing more than sets, which are built to be perfect, but not built to be an accurate representation of reality. And the families are merely actors posing as cohesive members of a family, when in reality each and every individual posing on TV has a slew of problems surrounding their own family life. All of these fake and unrealistic standards that television has set makes my own life pale in comparison. However I do not blame all of this promotion of a romanticized version of reality on television, its also our own fault. When I watch TV I expect to see a perfect life being lived by a perfect family, because its an escape. An escape from the reality that will never be on par with the one portrayed on the screen in front of us. But, the truth is that we should not be trying to escape, yet we want to, and do-through television. Therefore my unhealthy relationship with the media is perpetuated even through television.

           These are just a couple of examples of the different kinds of media I am exposed to every second of every day. And clearly I have a tumultuous relationship with them, to say the least.