Have you ever heard anyone say that media are unimportant, that they have no place in our modern world? If you have, you are clearly talking to the wrong people, and probably should get some more informed friends. Because media are important, and are one of the most influential driving forces behind virtually everything that happens in the world today. Universal, ubiquitous, and unavoidable are the three U’s of media. If you’re reading this on my blog, you are clearly familiar with how to use the Internet. You have the brain power and sensory capability to appreciate this particular medium (i.e., the blogosphere), and are most likely literate. (If I have made an unfair assumption of your literary prowess, may I suggest you first become familiar with the letters G, E, and D?) Media take all kinds of different forms, from ink on wood pulp to virtual amalgamations of letters and images. Within the last decade, numerous new media have sprung up, “from blogs and podcasts to social networking and digital filmmaking” (Media & Culture vii). In this time of media mayhem, while we are deciding if we would rather save the trees or the seventeen hours we spend online every day, how can we know where we fit in? Simple: We follow mass media’s lead and write about it.
As you are most likely reading this online, the Internet is probably the best place to start. The list of what can be said about the Internet is absolutely infinite, but since Google has an 89% share in infinity, I’ll have to be more creative. As most people with access to the Information Superhighway (remember that phrase?) know, the Net has nearly boundless possibilities. With it, “we can listen to a radio talk show, watch a movie, or download a favorite song” (Media & Culture 9). The way people use these possibilities, however, generally comes in two shades – for personal or community benefit, or for invasive/seedy/downright, Grade-A creepy means. I tend to stay on the personal/community side. And by that I mean I spend at least an hour on Facebook every day. This morning, as I was climbing down from my loft, I heard what every single user of the superior computer (i.e., Apple) knows as the sound of incoming mail. That usually means Facebook action. Since this past June, I have received over 2,000 e-mail notifications from the social networking site. In comparison, I’ve received fewer than 800 e-mails from living people or corporate human imposters. So it’s a safe bet that somebody has done something related to me on Facebook. I immediately checked my account, which is open whenever the invasive means of gathering personal information I like to call Google Chrome is. Sure enough, someone had interacted with my profile. I don’t remember what happened or who it was, but that really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I have friends. 333 of them, to be exact. I don’t include my friends without accounts, as everyone knows you don’t exist unless you have Facebook. Besides interacting with Facebook, I also use the Internet to check my school e-mail, conduct research for projects, and, of course, blog.
Blogging is “the biggest phenomenon in user-created content on the Internet” (Media & Culture 52). I have only been actively blogging for several months, though I had minor exposure in high school. I now independently operate four different blogs on two different hosts, and am a contributor on three more, also on two hosts. While blogging takes time, frequently time that I don’t have, I enjoy it hopefully as much as my readers do. Today, for example, I posted an update to my humor blog Pavlov’s Hair Conditioner, currently operating on WordPress. I have the blog linked to my Facebook account, so the new post automatically showed up on my profile. I also updated the blog’s Facebook page, with a link to “Procrastination Can Wait,” the new post. On Facebook I can see how many people interacted with the update (ninety-nine “Impressions” as of 9:00 tonight), how many unique hits I have had, and other bits of valuable information. For the blog itself, I have added hidden code to monitor interaction data. With this code, I can tell that I’ve had hits from five separate countries on three continents, that “Communopoly” is my most popular post, and that many friends from my old school are viewing the blog at their own colleges. Today I’ve also planned out several new posts to write. My blog – and blogs in general – is an excellent example of how connected the Internet is. Through Pavlov’s Hair Conditioner’s link to Facebook, people see updates on my profile and in their news feeds. Then it spreads to more sites, such as other blogs and search engines. Before long, my blog will be one of the most popular sites on the Web. And Ashton Kutcher will sing at my wedding.
Before continuing, I’d like to take a moment to thank the good folks who made all this possible. To the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Arabs, Italians, various monks, and Johannes Gutenberg, I give my sincere commendations. I know I’m half a millennium late at the least, but without you, none of this could have happened. I am, of course, referring to some of the people and civilizations who gave Ray Bradbury the idea for Fahrenheit 451 – and, indeed, who made books a reality. Books have played a huge role in the world’s history. Without them, Cuba would not enjoy a 99.8% literacy rate (www.nationmaster.com), we would have lived for centuries without decent ways of spreading new ideas, and J.K. Rowling would still be teaching in Portugal. And I would be out of a hobby. See, I’ve been collecting books almost since I was born, and currently have well over a thousand. At home, my room, the basement, and occasionally the garage are overflowing with my books. Here at college, I’ve got two bookshelves, books lining my windowsill, and books arranged on the floor. Besides having a hobby, I can hopefully make a living. I couldn’t very well study Professional Writing as a marketable major if we still wrote on clay tablets. Plus, “Internet-based publishing houses offer custom design and distribution for aspiring authors who want to self-publish a title” (Media & Culture 329). That’ll get me going. Today, I decided to read some of Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America. I generally have several books going at once, not because I think it’s a good idea, but because I lack the attention span to only read one book at a time.
Speaking of short attention spans, who’s ready to watch some television? While I don’t watch as much TV as a lot of people do (I prefer to spend my brain cells on the computer), there are some shows that I like. 30 Rock, Monk, House, Jeopardy!, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and MythBusters are among some of my favorites. Since I’ve been at college, I haven’t watched any of these save MythBusters. When I do watch my programs, it’s often on iTunes or from DVDs. Carrying the shows around with me on my computer is much more convenient than sitting in front of the telly and staring at the screen until something good comes on. I didn’t watch any TV programming today, though I may watch a show on my laptop later tonight. You know, as a reward for working through the day. I’ve seen some things on the tube that make me wish I could get that hour of my life back (*COUGH* Dr. Phil *COUGH*). But the one level to which I will not stoop is watching whiny, spoiled celebrities “interact” with equally whiny, spoiled former nobodies in the disturbingly popular form of mass conditioning known by the blatant misnomer “reality TV.” Some people don’t understand why I find Monty Python’s Flying Circus hilarious. My response to that would be, “I prefer non-fiction shows.” Because climbing a street, slapping people with fish, and firing elderly women out of submarine torpedo tubes really is non-fiction compared to what the well-dressed peddlers of toxic TV pass off as “reality.” I mean, I guess they’re real people in some sense of the phrase, but where’s the reality in living in “remote” locations and thinking democracy is voting people away? Reality shows became popular “by recycling old program ideas… by swiping concepts from European programmers… or just by stealing shows from each other” (Media & Culture 145). Does that sound like quality programming? No. In fact, because of the sheer petrification these mass-produced monstrosities have caused me, I did not watch television today, nor yesterday, nor the day before. As if the name Bridalplasty weren’t scary enough.
You know what’s even more frightening than reality TV? I don’t, either. But some Hollywood movies come pretty close. Along with the hordes of dedicated followers these movies create. I’d write about my love-hate relationship with Harry Potter, or my absolutely-no-love-but-definitely-stupefied-horror relationship with Twilight, but that’s already been the subject of at least three of my written pieces this semester. Instead, I will write about the probably more relevant relationship I have with movies in general. I’m not much of a moviegoer. In total, I’ve probably spent about $200 at the cinema, by which I mean I’ve seen maybe ten movies on the big screen. Something about sitting down for several hours and staring at a screen other than my computer just doesn’t appeal to me. I have, however, seen many more movies at home and at school. I like them; I just don’t seek them out. And, of course, I can’t deny that movies “have had a substantial social and cultural impact on society” (Media & Culture 213). The last movie I saw was a few days ago, when I laughed at Steve Martin and Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I also saw one or two movies over break. Today, I decided that I shall buy Clue from iTunes and watch that tomorrow night. I’ve seen it before, but it’s one of the few movies that I enjoy watching over and over. No movies today, though. Maybe I should instead tune into the…
Radio. A wholly underappreciated medium. I’ve long been a fan of radio. I love several of our local stations, and have found others across the country that I also enjoy. Shortwave radio can also be entertaining. I’ve got a shortwave radio where I can tune into someone babbling in Foreign and laugh at how different they sound. I, um, don’t really do that. But it’s nice to know that I could. My MP3 player has a free web radio service that I listened to today. I’ve also got web TV, but I don’t watch that as often, although there was an Andorran government station that was fun to watch until men in blue tights started jumping around the screen. That was when I knew it was time to read a book. Ah, yes. Radio. One thing that I love about radio is that there are “more than forty different radio formats, plus variations, [that] serve diverse groups of listeners” (Media & Culture 129). Why is this important to me? Because I count as my own diverse group. I like music ranging from classical, blues, and alternative to Turkish pop and Swedish hip-hop. (All other forms of hip-hop are *pfff*.) Today, I’ve listened to some Santana and Jethro Tull, some jazz, and am currently listening to the aforementioned Swedish hip-hop. You know what this calls for?
A good, old-fashioned discussion of the sound recording industry. I love music. In fact, I adore music. I set up audio systems in my spare time. Several surround-sound systems and an electrocution later, my audiophilia persists. I own three high-end MP3 players and a Zune, have a 5.1 system set up around my dorm-room desk, and always choose very carefully when it comes to headphones. One may say that there are more important things to spend my money on. I’d just look them straight in the eyes and tell them they’re right. There are more important things for me to spend my money on. But, I mean, audio is so cool. Clearly, I have a very strong relationship with the recording industry. Indeed, audio has its own claim to fame in the world of mass media. “The first major media convergence involved the relationship between the sound recording and radio industries” (Media & Culture 73). As I’ve said, I’ve listened to numerous distinct styles of music today. (Sadly, my Movits! album has ended. No more Swedish hip-hop.) I woke up to a recorded track this morning, and plan on repeating that tomorrow. In other words, without the sound recording industry and its long, full history, I would probably still be in bed right now. Not being productive. Comfortable under the covers. Asleep. Stupid sound recording industry.
I wouldn’t be in college right now – and would probably still be in bed – if not for magazines. My dad has been in the publishing industry for many years, and currently publishes the leading restaurant magazine. So magazines are pretty darn important to my family. That said, there are also those publications that the world could do without. Personally, I would rather learn about what’s happening in the real world than what’s happening in Hollywood. Will Ferrell, I don’t care if you stubbed your toe. Ben Affleck, I don’t care how many Jennifers you’ve slept with. And, really, I don’t care how many facelifts you’ve had, [insert name of female celebrity here]. People magazine, I care that you exist. When do you plan on declaring bankruptcy? My interaction with magazines today? Nothing directly, not besides berating popular culture. However, indirectly, magazines helped pay for the computer I’m writing with, and without magazines, I wouldn’t be here writing this paper. I used to subscribe to several different publications, including National Geographic and, when I was younger, Muse, but I no longer receive magazines in the mail. Though my connection to most magazines has been severed, I do still pick them up when given the opportunity. Over break, for example, I read through some of my grandmother’s collection of New Yorkers. One part of the magazine industry that I definitely appreciate is that, though “magazines are a major part of the cluttered media landscape… good magazines also maintain our connection to words, sustaining their vital role in an increasingly electronic and digital culture” (Media & Culture 309).
The final major form of mass media ironically finishes last in this memoir. What may appear to be a dying breed, newspapers are far from extinct. They’re adapting. In North America alone more than 1,500 dailies had their own website by 2009. Some of these charge readers to view content, others are free. But “newspapers are truly taking advantage of the flexibility the Internet offers” (Media & Culture 274). On the Web, papers can link to relevant sites, show videos, and, since they don’t have to worry about newsprint costs, they can feature longer stories and more editorials. Despite this switch to digital, however, papers are losing advertising dollars. “In 2009 alone, print ad revenue fell another 25 to 35 percent at many newspapers” (Media & Culture 274). What do I think about newspapers? I love them. I much prefer to get a physical copy, on which I can write notes, complete the puzzles, and draw mustaches on politicians I don’t like. Nobody wants to write on a computer screen, touch screens aside. I am of the same school of thought that many also apply to books: I like holding the physical copy. I like reading from paper. Plus I’m making a giant ball from the rubber bands that come wrapped around the protective plastic cover. Today, I read the daily comics my mother cut out and sent me. Later I’ll do the puzzles. What’s not to love about newspaper comics and a good crossword?
What, too soon?
(Photo courtesy of http://blog.linkeditsolutions.com/category/other/)
So, that’s a day in my media life. Media affect me, and they effect everyone. Done properly, they’re one of the key ingredients of a healthy democracy, keeping people informed on events and ideas that may affect them in some way. They also speed up information transfer, which means Cousin Callum in California can receive a message from Auntie Annabel in Ann Arbor in a second or less. The power of media in communications is vast. “A digital reinvention of oral culture” (Media & Culture 8), e-mail was once seen as the epitome of instant communication. Before that, there was the telephone, and before that, the telegraph. Now, e-mail is still very much in use, as is the telephone (what was the third one?). However, with Facebook chat, various forms of IM, and real-time video conferencing, even e-mail is beginning to look out-of-date. What will be the next form of media, and, more importantly, how long will it take for me to invent it?
Phenomenal MEDIA AND ME memoir, Jeremy. (= Excellent!)
ReplyDeleteAnd an excellent personal blog here, as well.
I have so appreciated how you grabbed blogging by the horns from the very beginning, and have made your blog your own.
Truly exemplary.
Good luck, and keep in touch - and keep meditating on your media.
Bravo,
Dr. W