Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Weekend Media Madness

In this article I will be listing everything I did on a weekend in September. The purpose of this is to show you how much media you will most likely experience on the weekend, even if you just sit at home. Whether you are driving, wathcing Tv, or going to the grocery store, you experience media. Through this I will show you how much media you are experiencing.






































 Friday, September 7  
 Activity  Media Experienced
 Watched South Park DVD  Movies, racist/political comedy, ads(previews)
 Drove to friends house  Music, Tim Hortons billboard, store fronts
 Had band practice  Music, inspiration from other bands, waering band merchandise
 Went to Swiss Chalet  Drive Thru board, other restaurants-fast food industry, music in car
 Drove home  Radio ads, "popular" music, concert listings, store fronts
 Played video games  Grand Theft Auto -- violence, coarse language, adult themes
 Fell asleep to music  Song gets stuck in my head - usually more "chill" indie music



































 Saturday, September 8  
 Activity  Media Experienced
 Looked for a job  Store fronts, applications, beer billbards
 Talked to people on MSN  Internet ads, personality profiles, listening to music while on computer
 Met friends at Mc Donalds  Fast food industry, listening to music while driving
 Drove to Pearson Airport  Radio news, music, Toronto=BIG ADS -beer, clothing, electronics
 Went to Mc Donalds...Again  Fast food, menues, worker uniform-Mc Donalds logo
 Went home  Listened to radio































 Sunday, September 9  
 Activity  Media Experienced
 Saw my dad watching Tv  commercials- car, cleaning products
 Went to Wendy's  Music - radio, fast food industry
 Went to Toronto for Virgin Music Festival  Billboards on highway, Music - radio
 Watched Virgin Festival  Live music, Sponsors - Pizza Pizza, Futureshop, Virgin Mobile
 Drove home from Toronto  Billboards, Music - Radio


As you can see, in one weekend the media can influence a lot in a person. It can influence the way you think and do things as well as the way you conduct yourself. It affects the way people act, the people they hang out with and even what activities they choose to do. For me, music is the part of media that influences me the most. I listen to it, play it and write it. I don't think I could live without music. It is the one thing that I look to when I'm bored or just feel like sitting around and I don’t want to be subject to video games and television. I listen to all types of music depending on my mood but sometimes I think the kind of music I listen to can shape my mood. This kind of thinking works both ways. In that sense, music opens and expends your mind and can shape the way you see things. Music is my favorite part of media but what is yours? If you only pay attention to certain media, you will only think in certain ways. Everyone is different because of what media they are exposed to. Someone who sits at home all day watching TV and playing video games will see a lot of commercials, internet ads and product placement in TV shows. Subjecting yourself to this reality will make you a more commercialized person. It can help you understand what you are seeing or suck you in to what they want you to believe. "They" meaning the corporations of course.

There is nothing really surprising to me about the roll of media in my life. Media is there to be in our faces with new products and offers. In my opinion media can help inform us of up and coming events, products, music and sales. While this is true you must be sure that you don't expose yourself to too much of it. Exposing yourself to too much media can result in you believing everything the media tells you. My media exposure has been pretty good so far. I fallow media to get information but I know where to draw the line and I try to do my research before believing rumors.

In conclusion, my weekend with media showed me that media is everywhere. Everything is advertised in our "buy and sell" world. Media is everything from clothes, to food, to music and it will always be here because of the money people put into it. Media is a big part of every person's life and my two drives to Toronto and experience at a rock concert has helped me realize that. Media affects the way an average person functions and for everyone it is a different experience. The media is more than just in our lives. For most people, media is our lives.

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