The Implications of The Internet on ME*
When looking at the different types of mediums and types of technology that surround me everyday I can easily say, without a doubt that the Internet is the type of technology that shapes my daily routine the most.
Different types of technology and mediums are always around us and most likely always available to us, such as television, phones, even our cars are apart of the technology that surrounds us everyday. The Internet for me is a way to connect me with old friends, family and even catch up on news about people I don’t even know like celebrities. The Internet is a way to share our ideas and information in front of a very large ‘virtual’ audience. Recently Internet has become an even bigger part of my everyday life; and there are two main reasons for this. The first is that all we do in school is done over our school website, out course and schedule selections and our emails are all done over the Internet. The second reason is our blogs, as first year media students we are required to make blogs for both our Mass Communications class and our Internet Research and Survey class. Even when you think that you have been using the internet as much as you can, you are surprised with what else could be done.
The technology of the Internet has become so large that it has even begun to take over the mediums of the phone and the television and even movies. With websites that hold episodes to almost every television show and movies from more than sixty years ago to movies that still have not come out on DVD viewers can watch these shows or these movies from their own bedrooms. Also with new programs like Skype people can also phone as well as see someone from miles away from their own computer screen. It is almost as good as having a face to face conversation with someone but again using the Internet to do so.
The Internet has become a big part of society and a big part of my world; it is something that I do not know what I would do without it and something that I am very grateful for.
The Theory of Eternalism
Theories are like the media, they are all around us. The theory that I found most interesting after learning about McLuhan and the real meaning of media is Eternalism, the theory of time. It is a view according to which the past, present and future are all equally real, which relates to McLuhan’s Rear-view Mirror Theory. This theory brought out by McLuhan offers the question; why do we find it difficult to interpret the present when we are emerged in it? We look into the past because it is what is familiar to us, it is what we know best.
Eternalism comes from the Latin word aeturnus which means, an age. When looked at metaphysically it is the view, opposed to creationalism that the universe is eternal. It is also “a philosophical approach to the ontological nature of time” (Encyclopedia)
I believe that the theory of Eternalism and Marshal McLuhan’s Rear-view mirror concept is something that everyone, especially I have encountered at some point in their lives. For example I constantly find myself saying “oh I wish we had this when I was younger” when it comes to the gadgets or brand name clothes that the young teenagers of today have. Meaning that I often look to the past for ideas, memories and even answers, but then there is the present and the future that are also influential in our lives and are equally real as our past.
As a society we are always looking into our future especially when it comes to technology, we look to knew things that are about to be released into the world of innovative technology because we believe that these new things are there to make our lives better and further more, complete. We also find ourselves looking into the future on a day to day basis when it comes to aspirations and goals and what we hope will happen sooner or later in our personal lives.
So we look into the past for reminders and answers and we look into the future for what has not yet come and what we hope will come but that is not all, we are also subjected into the present because the present is what is happening right now at this point in time.
Time is just another dimension that future events are already there and there is no objective flow of time. In fact, time and the knowledge of past, present and future are very tricky things and is something that each person has their own views about and that is why the theory of Eternalism is something that is very interesting and plays a role in each of our lives.
Works Cited:
NationMaster.com. 6 Oct. 2008
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Fashion Junkies- A Deconstruction of an Advertisement
The definition of an advertisement is; a notice, such as a poster or a paid advertisement in the print, broadcast, or electronic media designed to attract public attention or patronage. In today’s society advertisements are everywhere, they are used to promote almost every product that there is. An example of a large scale of advertisements are ones for clothing companies, which is the form of advertisement I chose to analyze.
The advertisement I chose to deconstruct is one done by Sisley Clothing Company called Fashion Junkies. The advertisement consists of two young looking models, bending over a table with rolled paper to their noses snorting drugs, although they are not snorting drugs but fabric from a dress. One is looking up at the camera, noticeably under the influence with her eyes half rolled back and dark bags under her eyes while the other is bent over the table with a look on her face almost like satisfaction with a Chase credit card covered in white powder. Although the models are still very beautiful looking and give meaning to the phrase “a beautiful disaster” it is a very damaging ad. When I had first saw the ad I was in shock and could not believe what I was looking at, here is a high fashion clothing company using drugs, alcohol and sexual scenes such as a picture just of a woman’s chest with a man’s hand grabbing one of her breasts to sell their clothes. This I can say truly angers me, are they really running out of advertising ideas that they have to resort to the worst to sell their pieces of clothing?
Yes, these advertisements can sure grab someone’s attention enough for them to want more and wonder about the clothes that are actually being sold by Sisley but it totally delivers the wrong message. The ad is called “Fashion Junkie” and gives a whole new light to the word, and advertising it in the literal sense. Unfortunately this is not the only ad they have that depicts addiction to drugs and alcohol. When looking at this my first thought was “Typical” because the ad portrays the stereotype that drugs are automatically related to models. When looking at the ad, at the viewer’s first glance, the models’ positions over the table, the rolled paper and the expressions on their faces are really the only thing that is noticed.
I think that the advertisements are actually very appealing and very different but they do portray the wrong message to viewers, and not just young viewers but those of all ages and because of this I think that clothing companies should think before they put out ads. They need to think about who is going to see them and how it is going to affect the viewers and also their clothes. Advertisements are supposed to influence and set an image for the clothing and the company and it is this image that helps sell the clothes.
Works Cited:
http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/SISLEY-FASHION-JUNKIE-1.jpgDictionary.com
The Definition of Mass Media
When asked about Media people automatically think television, phones, Internet but what I have recently discovered with the help of Ian Riley’s Mass Communications class is that there is so much more to media than just that. The readings and teachings of Marshall McLuhan, Roland Barthes and Scott McCloud (to name a few) help us understand the extents that media can take us today.
Marshal McLuhan in the Playboy Interview brings up five important points about media, one of these five points is Media Extensions. This is explained as the idea that media is an extension of us and how the media allows us to extend our senses. For example take the actions of riding a bike or watching television, the bike is the extension of our feet while the television is the extension of our eyes. So with this we are able to look at everything that is around us as a form of medium that further makes up a media.
The medium that I have most recently become more involved with is photography which Roland Barthes says to be “a magic not an art” in his book La Chambre Clair. This shines a new light on photography for me, and allows me to explore it in a new way. Just like the Mass Communications class has shone a new light on media and allowed me to understand it better.
Scott McCloud in “Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art” also talks about media extensions, only this time explaining that we can extend our identities through objects. “Our ability to extend our identities into inanimate objects can cause pieces of wood to become legs, pieces of metal to become hands, pieces of plastic to become ears and pieces of glass to become eyes.”
Theorists like Scott McCloud and Marshal McLuhan have taught me many things about the media, so from my previous view of media being the small scale from television to Internet I know understand that it surrounds our everyday lives in ways we do not even know it does. Which I think makes our lives more interesting and more full of depth than we knew our lives to be.
Works Cited:
McLuhan, Marshall. “The Playboy Interview.” Interview with Playboy Enterprises, Playboy. Mar 1960. Oct 6. 2008
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics The Invisible Art. New York, USA: HarperCollins Publisher Inc, 1993.
