Media Chatter

My first experience with the internet was a long, slow process. It was back when I was in the seventh grade, we got our first computer. My dad had brought home laptops before but we had never been able to access the internet with them. I remember the computer was big and bulky and how it took forever just for the registration process. It wasn’t until the next afternoon when I came home from school that I was able to access the internet for the first time.

I remember signing on for the first time and having to wait for close to twenty minutes just to get connected. Then once I signed online I really didn’t know what else to do. I sat there for minute thinking who what can I do with this at my finger tips. The first website I think I went to was for my middle school. Once it finally got there I clicked on the links and was just amazed with what I could see and do. I then remember finding games online and playing them. Even though they were slow and it took forever to load games and to play, but I still loved it. I remember sitting there for hours until I had to get off to do homework when my parents came home.

What would it be like in a world with no Internet? Like most media that infiltrate cultures around the world the Internet started off small and suddenly blow up. It didn’t only take the world by storm, it conquered it. Once the mass public saw its potential they jumped at the chance to make it their own, which made the Internet the fastest growing medium of all mass media. It is the information super highway. As humans we are obsessed about the idea of moving through time and space faster and faster. This highway is taking us on a 190 mph ride through news, sports, commentary, general information and stuff you don’t need to know but would like to. The user is only a click away from planning a weekend vacation and then paying off their monthly bills. Through the Internet the world is connected—in a way, everyone is connected to everyone else (it’s six degrees of Kevin Bacon minus five). People are even falling in love with one another on the Internet.

But there are certainly some very dark places that the Internet conjures up. Porn sites are a plague owning much of the infinite space the Internet provides. These sites are not the real problem that Internet users have to face. A user does not have to visit those sites through individual choice or through parental blockage. The one threat that we should all notice is the rapid decline of privacy. We are trusting enough to put our social security and credit card numbers in the computer and send it out into space without batting an eye. And soon we might even be able to locate a persons address, full name, phone number and picture by the click of the mouse.

There are good things and bad things—just like everything else in this world. If the Internet user is savvy enough they will be able to ride the super highway in safety.

A community, in my opinion, is a group of individuals who are linked together through common experiences. Furthermore, it involves a journey of learning more about the other individuals and their interests. But the real question is can you really know about someone that you have only met on the internet and never met in real life? Sure, two people might can have a casual conversation, but is that really forming and building a relationship or a community? I do not think that online communities are genuine communities. I think that part of what makes a community so great is the common experiences of a group. For example, this summer I went on a mission trip to Mexico with my church and during that trip all the people who went formed a community. We were on the same journey and could relate in certain situations. We had a common bond between all of us that usually we would not have had. When we came home we were still a community and can still relate because there was a time of forming and building relationship. On the internet, there is no real emotion. A person can put a smiley face or frown faced emoticon but you can not read facial expressions and moods on the internet. There is no human connection. I think that on the internet you can not tell is somone is being honest or if the person on the other side of the computer is really who they say they are. Virtual communities are not communities because just like the name they are not real, they are virtual.

I was in the 10th grade when I had my first encounter with the internet. The first website that I ever accessed was Our class was in the library at my high school working on research papers. Lucky for me, that I was in the same group Jason (who was later our class valedictorian) and he already knew all about the internet.

I can only imagine that my first encounter with the Internet paralleled with my encounter with other mass media such as television and the radio. I say that I can only imagine because I was far too young to remember my first encounter with radio or television. But I believe that the experiences would have been similar because I would have imitating the actions of my family as they watched television and listened to the radio. I know that someone had to show me how to use the television and the radio just as someone had to show me how to use the Internet.

As we move forward into a digitally based Information Age every aspect of individuals, communities, and nations will be affected in a way. From the print-oriented Industrial Age to a digital Information Age you can find that the life style that we live in today is faster pace. In the past you would have to write a letter to someone and it would take a couple days to be mailed. Today, all you have to do is e-mail the letter to someone and they can get it that very second. I believe this new advancement of the internet has affected people in a positive way. We have more access to things than we did before. People can communicate a lot faster than before just because of the internet.
The digitally based Information Age will affect communities in a way that will bring them together. There will still be the local newspaper and ways of communication. Also, the internet will bring more information to the population and the people will connect on a faster level. The internet has done wonders for businesses. People now can just get online and shop. It is a great way to stay connected to love ones that live faraway.
The internet is a great way to visualize things in the world that you wouldn’t be able to do before the internet. If there is somewhere you would want to travel, the internet is the perfect place to check out your destination. Today, it’s easier than ever to book a flight, hotel, or rent a car at .So, therefore I believe the internet affects individuals, communities, and nations as a positive step into today’s advanced lifestyle.

If you are a college student, you have probably come across sites such as MySpace and Facebook. These so called “virtual communities” aid in giving us a sense of unity in a sometimes intimidating time in our lives. Are these “virtual communities” genuine communities though? The Webster Online Dictionary defines the word community as “a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other.” While these websites give “interdependent organisms” a place to interact with each other, we may not necessarily live in a common region. That is the beauty of the internet though. It gives us the ability to form nationwide, and even worldwide, communities. Maybe Mr. Webster should update his definition of the word “community.”

The internet is flourishing more and more everyday through the constant

stream of information being posted daily. Radio, Television and Phone

conversations are all media which help the internet to flourish. An example of

such media is Skype!

The above media, when merged together on the internet, can be considered

advantages in themselves. When these media are taken onto one single hub,

(the internet) they become convenient, accessible and cheaper, these

advantages are yet to be found through any other means.

Through media on the internet, we experience information, updates and

reports. These benefiting factors add to the list of advantages. The

information we experience through media, in some cases, can be considered

the underpinning glue for online schooling, international business,

conferences and work. Thus, media on the internet has introduced a new

community of flexible hours, having your office from home, for professional

athletes to be able to educate themselves while touring, and being able to

communicate with a business partner, or family from overseas.

Overall the internet and the media are in a symbiotic relationship. The

internet benefits from the media, by getting more coverage and media

benefits from the audiences they get through the internet. For media to take

shape on the internet the old and the new have to come together to form a

media, thus forming the media hub on the internet.

My first encounter with the internet was in elementary school, where my teacher allowed students who finished their work early to get online. I did not understand all of the capabilities of the internet at that time, but I thought it was amazing to be able to read about things that interested me. The first web page I looked at was that of my favorite figure skater, Ekaterina Gordeeva

In middle school my family purchased our own computer, and I had my first experience with e-mail, and using the internet for research purposes. At this point I was able to use the internet more frequently and explore more of it’s capabilities. Also in middle school came my first chance to use the AIM service. Communicating with people in this way was incredible for me, because my family moved a lot when I was a child and I was able to keep in contact with friends that I had made in many different areas.

My first experiences with the internet were more exciting than using the telephone or television for the first time, because the television/telephone had always been in our home, whereas the internet was something completely new. Also, the internet had so many capabilities and different ways to use it that it captured my attention right away.

My first encounter with the Internet occurred when I was in the 6th grade; this was about 9 years ago. My friend had it in her home, but I had never heard of it before. She was typing on Instant Messenger, and I kept asking her questions about it. I thought it was the neatest thing ever! She tried and tried to explain it to me, but I just could not grasp the concept. After playing around with it for awhile, I finally began to understand the Internet somewhat. Then, her mother showed me how to shop online, and this was even better! I remember the first website I ever went to; it was the clothing store called, Gap. I had recently visited the store with my mom, and I saw clothes online that I had tried on in the mall. Here is the site I was ecstatic! I went home and told my parents about it. We soon had it installed in our home.

Obviously, my first encounter with others forms of mass media did not have as much of an impact on me as did the Internet because I cannot even recall them. I know I watched the news, read magazines, and such, but they did not affect me as much as this. I suppose this is because it was on the computer and not just something I watched on television or read about. The whole idea of the computer was still somewhat new to me, so when I was able to find things online, it was exciting.

Today, the Internet does not excite me like it once did. It has, however, changed the way I do things in life. I use it to shop, to help me with school, to research, and to do much more. Without it, I don’t know what I would do.

My first encounter with the internet was when I was about twelve years old and in middle school. I still remember it like it was yesterday. My older cousin had gotten the net when she went to college and created a webpage for herself about her likes and dislikes. When she came home for Christmas, she showed everyone her new creation. I thought it was neat that you could share your likes and dislikes with the whole “world” online. She helped me sign up for a free Angelfire webpage. I started getting really involved and updating my site daily. I loved to figure out new html to add or things to put onto my webpage. I learned new html online by visiting Lissa Explains HTML. All of this eventually led to my discovery of e-mail as well as instant messenger and games.

My first encounter with the internet was significantly different than my first encounters with other mass media. I was introduced to books at such a young age, they have just always been there. They weren’t as exciting or new. They were simply another school reading assignment. My first encounter with magazines was a little more exciting than my encounter with books. I discovered the magazine when I was around ten or eleven. I loved boy bands and I would beg my parents to buy me magazines like Tiger Beat and Teen.

As one can seen my first encounters with other types of mass media do not even compare to my first encounter with the internet. The internet opened up so many new and constantly changing possibilities and opportunities. This was all thanks to my cousin, who was really excited about the internet access she had gotten in college.

I love being in online groups and meeting other people, but I must say that these virtual communities are not as good as real, true communities. Genuine communities, to me, include churches, schools, businesses, and groups of friends physically spending time together. Online environments lack physical contact. In groups or chat rooms online, you are talking to strangers you know nothing about. Are they who they say they are? The people you talk to online may create different personalities and be completely different in real life. The person you meet in a chat room and begin talking to on a daily basis may just be a murderer, rapist, and/or child-molester. How are you to know?

Chat rooms and groups online are interesting because you get the opportunity to meet people from around the world and discuss and debate topics that you are passionate about. At Beliefnet , for instance, you can debate such topics as abortion, church and state, and racism. All of this is great, but it does not have the same effect as talking to these people in person about these issues. Without a web cam and microphone, you cannot see these people and hear their voices. You cannot tell what they are truly like and what they really stand for.

Any dating community, like eHarmony , probably isn’t all that good. Dating online is not the same as dating someone in person. You cannot kiss, hold hands, or cuddle over the Internet with someone who lives many miles away. The only way to do so would be to visit each other. But without that, dating online has many limits. Also, the person you start having an online relationship with may have lied about their interests and personal life in his or her profile.

Chat rooms and groups can be really enjoyable, but they are not as fulfilling as actually being with a group of loving family members, genuine friends, colleagues, or co-workers. You probably know these people much better than any of the strangers you talk to online. The people in your physical environment get the chance to know you better than any stranger online could. Strangers online never get to know what you are really like, and chances are, you probably would not want them to.

Links to other online communities:

Yahoo!
MSN

The original creation of the internet or ‘net’ was for the sharing and storing of important sums of information. Whether the information was research data or simply an important document transer, it was still the primary use for the internet. Slowly the internet expanded to encompase many other functions that are seemingly vital to our everyday life.

Now in this age, we live with a culture that has grown up with access to this immediate means of information. They live, work, and even play on this massive system of interjoined computers. The mass of information has grown so huge that entire businesses have been created for the sole purpose of cataloging and allowing us to search through these pages of data. Yahoo.com as well as Google are two examples of companies that began as nothing more than search engines for the internet. Those companies have even expanded to include email and also language translators and many other things that before the internet began would never have been considered. The future expansion of this network is almost limitless and the potential for creativity spread as far as human imagination allows.

However, with such a wonderful information sharing tool there are those who seek to use it for their own purposes and not for the greater good. For those people the internet is seen as an opportunity to either get rich quick or cause torment to those who also seek to use the internet. While earning money from the internet is not a bad thing it can be taken to far. For instance, setting up an online store for people to see and purchase your products is creative and benefitial, however, sending email to random people w/o permission or even solicitation in order to sell your product is just harrassment and bad form. It may not be illegal, but it is certainly unkind to the consumers and should be lessened if possible. Receiving an email from the same company repeatedly should be considered the same as receiving phone calls from the same company repeatedly. In my opinion I should not receive more than one email(or phone call) from a company unless I solicite it or am a recurring customer to that business.

Still, to overview everything, the internet is still a tremendous addition to our abilities as a world-wide culture. It will help unite us as a people and not just as a particular racial group or country.

Middle school was a blast. We all remember tasting that first dose of freedom, when our teachers stopped walking us from class to class, and when assigned lunch seating became obsolete. Also, who can forget the moment we finally realized that the opposite sex was indeed desirable. However, even in the light of all these sweet perks, there still remained one colossal problem for me. My greatest quandary of this era was what to do after school let out. There was always homework to be done, but I wanted something fun and adventurous to do. It was around this time that my best friend, Tony, and I became convinced that watching or playing Power Rangers was out of the question. As a result, we had no idea what to do to occupy our after school time. One day we stepped off the bus to realize that all of our recreational problems had been solved. Tony’s parents had subscribed to Prodigy, an internet service provider that would allow us to e-mail friends, surf the Web, and chat with people all over the country. Oh the possibilities!

From that day forward, our lives would be changed forever. Well maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but we did spend a majority of our time online after that day. At first, we would go into chat rooms simply to watch people talk. Finally, we mustered up the nerve to actually speak in the chat rooms, which, eventually, led to us meeting some pretty cool people. The Web was still a little over our heads at this point, but it didn’t take us long to become NBA trivia champs. One element that Prodigy possessed was a basketball trivia feature. Here you could face off against several other contenders in a ten-question bout of useless sports knowledge. Needless to say, a significant portion of my life was wasted playing this trivial game.

For the most part, that was all there was to my first experience with the Internet. It came to my rescue just as I was beginning to think that watching Captain Planet re-runs was the only acceptable after-school activity. My first encounter with the Internet differs from my initial experiences with other forms of media, because someone was always there to show me the ropes for the other forms, but I had to feel the Net out on my own. Newspapers, television and radio had already been mastered when I come onto the scene, but the Internet had yet to be tamed, at least by anyone that I knew. Along with this encounter came a sense that I had undertaken something on my own. I learned how to master the Internet without the aid of my parents or older siblings, and for that I feel it was a unique experience. Now that I have flown from my technological cocoon and become my own proverbial butterfly, the people who I once sought help from come to me. I’m so grown up.

There are many uses for the internet. It has helped out many people in a variety of ways. People use it everyday. It saves time and energy. You can always type something in on the computer and search it rather than having to call someone or go somewhere to get information about a particular thing in half the amount of time.

Myself personally, I definitely use the internet quite often. It definitely has upgraded society. Back before I used the internet, to do research papers and to search stuff involved going to the library and having to search through hundreds of books to find just what I was looking for. Now I just log onto the internet and type a word into a search engine like or .. These resouces are a whole lot easier to use rather than going to the library and searching for books. Like I said, there are many reasons to use the internet. You can check just about anything on the internet. You can check the news, weather, your checking acount, share stocks, and many other things.

There are m any ways that the internet has been extremely helpful in today’s culture, no that we have the internet, i would never want to go back to doing things the old way. Technology has been advancing more and more every day, and the internet is one of the most important things that could have helped that.

And boy was it boring! My first encounter with the Internet was in 1992 (1993) when I was 9 (10) years old. The computer that we used was the ___ and the browser was the Mosaic. What I really enjoyed doing at this time was watching television, playinig, watching and studying sports, and playing my Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, my three favorite hobbies.

Naturally, when I heard about the Internet, I was curious. But when we crowded around the computer to use the Mosaic browser on Windows, I found that it took forever to load up a single page. Especially on our dial-up modem at the time. And all I really did with the internet at that time was look at Sports Illustrated’s website. Once. That is how insignificant the Internet was to me at the time. I didn’t begin to realize the potential of the Internet until 1996-97.

This chain of events happened because I didn’t think ahead to see the potential of the World Wide Web and I prefered to get my news from the big ways of media at the time: television and newspapers. Those were preferable to me because they were what I saw every day and I was set in my ways. Of course, now that has changed. I still watch television and read the newspaper for some news, but my main news place now is the Internet.

Most of us can look back into our past and remember a day when boy bands dominated the air waves and, for the ladies, maybe even a little piece of our hearts. For the time, whether it was the Backstreet Boys, 98º, N*Sync, or Hanson, boy bands were the craze and no one was embarrassed to profess their allegiance for their certain favorite. For my sister and I, the Backstreet Boys were the only ones that mattered. Countless hours were spent listening to music with lyrics such as “Quit playing games with my heart” and “Everybody, rock your body.” We also scoured through every teen magazine imaginable, searching for pictures or posters of our boys, and attended many concerts. What were we thinking? Thankfully, as I grew older, I began to discover that there was other music out there. I cannot pinpoint an exact reason for why my tastes changed, but I believe it has a lot to do with maturity. The Backstreet Boys satisfied my desire for fun, upbeat, uncomplicated music. When I desired something more in my music, I moved on.

Because my love for “the boys” was only a phase, I don’t believe the music had anything to do with the shaping of my identity. Instead, lessons from my parents and good experiences have had a bigger impact on who I am today. I can only hope that when people meet me, they don’t immediately identify me as a Backstreet Boys fan. Today, I try to keep the fact that I was a “BSB” fan quiet, but you won’t tell anybody, right?

Grease was one of my favorite movies as a child. I remember watching it at least once a week. I grew up in a musical family and so I loved all the music from the movie. I knew all the words to the songs and would dance while the actors were dancing on the screen. I guess as a child I never really paid any attention what the lyrics said or really what the movie was about. I loved watching Sandra Dee and wanted to be just like her. This past summer I watched Grease again for the first time since I was a child. I was so disappointed by the movie when I watched it again. As a child watching it I never really understood the plot of the movie or what the songs were about, but now that I do know what the movie is about I think that my parents should have never let me watch it in the first place. As I grew older and now understand what this movie is about I will not watch it because I don’t agree with the messages that Grease sends. It also had way more sexual references then I would ever allow my children to watch. My taste have changed because I don’t want to listen to music or watch movies with that kind of content, which now is what is mostly everything in the entertainment world. I definitely think my view of the movie Grease has changed as I have gotten older and more mature. I think that there are many movies, Dirty Dancing is another movie that as a child I really enjoyed and will not watch now, that have this same impact. As a child we look up to certain characters in movies and then when we watch them again realize that the character is nothing like who we want to be. In the end of Grease Sandra Dee changes what was so great about her character, that she was the only innocent girl in the group, just to catch the attention of a guy. I think the message that you have to change yourself to appeal to other people is wrong. Grease and other similiar movies were great when the content didn’t really matter, but now that it does I definetely will not be watching it any time soon.

I think that t.v. news coverage of the US occupation in Iraq has been very one-sided, especially on conservative news channels such as FoxNews. One of the key issues that disturbs me about FoxNews’ coverage on the war in Iraq is that the news station only offers the view of supporters of president Bush and supporters of the war in Iraq. The times that FoxNews does present any opposing viewpoints of the conservative beliefs, the news station almost always highlight opponents who are inarticulate or passive enough for hosts like Bill O’Riley to bulldoze or tell to “shut up”. And of course whenever FoxNews does (mistakingly) have a guest on one of their shows that presents valid, intelligent and well-presented arguments on why we shouldn’t be fighting a war in Iraq, that guest is either talked over or they start playing the theme music to go to commercial.
I think that news channels like FoxNews are purposely misleading to people through their one-sided arguments by mis representing the facts or either omitting important view points in order to better enhance their own conservative point of view. I think that they are doing an injustice to viewers who expect news media to portray current events simply as they are without trying to sway the public into taking sides or thinking a certain way. When I watch the news I expect unbiased news reporting…..When I want to be persuaded I’ll watch QVC or a Proactiv infomercial.

In 1995, Nintendo and Game Freak, Inc., developed a game that would forever change the video game landscape, and not to mention suck up my allowance for the next four years. What game was that? “Pocket Monsters.” Or as so many others know it, “Pokemon. When I played the Game Boy game sometime after it came out and watched the dubbed anime that came on television in 1998, I was hooked. It got worse when the Trading Card Game came out. My brother and I would snatch up booster packs and pre-made card decks of the game like there was no tomorrow. I even collected the Pokemon figurines. My obsession with Pokemon got to the point where I brought along an Arcanine figurine to my last AP English test during my senior year in high school for good luck.

I think the decline of my interest began in the show when I noticed that the dubbed script of the show started to sound silly. It didn’t seem to make sense anymore. What really pushed me over the edge was when they introduced a new character in the plotline that tags along with the hero, a boy named “Tracey.” I couldn’t stand that. I had no idea why they decided to give a boy character a name that is usually a girl’s name. It also got to the pont where I had no idea what was going on in the show and I just stopped watching it. Another sign of losing disinterest was the cards. I didn’t like them after they started making cards of the newer Pokemon and there just got to be too many.

The Pokemon video games, on the other hand, I’m still slightly interested in, but only because I’m a person who enjoys playing video games. A lot. Even though I don’t have them all, they’re still a decent batch of video games.

My tastes changed in that space of a few years probably because of the faddish nature of Pokemon. It is still around and doing quite well, I might add, but the peak of its popularity is long past. I still like Pokemon a little. The older games I have are still fun to go back and play, my brother and I recently played the Pokemon card game for kicks out of all those cards we still have, and I still have all those Pokemon figurines, stored in two empty Pittsburgh Pirates-decorated Kleenex boxes. But I know I don’t like Pokemon as much as I used to.

We all remember the show, no matter how embarrassing it is to talk about it everyone watched it. Yes, Power Rangers that faithful show that had the five teenagers defending their respective city against bad guys from all over the universe. Now as a young child I loved the Power Rangers and would not miss an episode. I would run home from school in time to catch the three o’clock episode before i started my homework. Watching those Rangers defend the city was the biggest thing on my mind and thinking back on it I remember just how bad I wanted to be a Power Ranger. As I grew older I lost total interest in the show. I sit and think wow, just how dumb is that show. What was I thinking? I think my taste has changed greatly becomes the show appeals to younger kids to become a good leader as they grow older, and now that I have reached that age and beyond I realize just how absurd the show really is. That no one is going to attack my city or that five huge machines are going to join together and make a huge robot to battle the evil invading aliens. Watching the show did impact my life as I grew up. It made me realized that shows like that are designed to encourage kids to do the right things. I remember in the shows that they even addressed the issues of smoking and drinking in the shows. These lessons did get imprinted in my head. I remember thinking that wow I want to be just like the red ranger. He doesn’t smoke, drink, or bully people. He stands up for what is right in the world and fights against evil. Another concept that I did learn from the show was team work. I remember how the team couldn’t beat the alien that day unless they form up their fighting machines to form the super machine. Yes, I was little and looking back now I think wow how dumb is this. The show did however start me at a young age learning the do’s and don’ts of society along with simple concepts of team work.

A national debate has been brewing the past couple years as to how video games are affecting America’s youth. The debate was ignited by the senseless violence at Columbine, where two high school teenagers sought to attack and kill fellow students and faculty members; than ultimately taking their own lives. Investigators in the case found that the teenagers were very interested in violent video games. This opened the doors to media frenzy in which questions were asked: do video games influence our youth? Do these video games desensitize our view of violence, sex and drugs?
Flash forward to today. Hillary Clinton, former first lady and potential candidate for the 2008 election, has recently lead a campaign against these violent video games—targeting the latest edition of the popular Grand Theft Auto game: San Andreas saying:

“We need to do better. We need to do everything we can to make sure that parents have a line of defense against violent and graphic video games and other content that go against the values they are trying to instill in their children.”

Apparently there is a secret level in the game, which is virtually impossible to find without research on the internet, that depicts sexual intercourse. Not to mention other violent attributes of the game that stood out to censors such as: stealing cars, shooting police officers, shooting pedestrians, blowing up things with a grenade launcher, beating up hookers and stealing their money. But it was the secret level that shocked parents and legislators into action. It’s not only this game that has taken all the criticism. There are so many others that contain violence and now more often than not, nudity. But it is San Andreas that has become public enemy number one.
The video game industry already has a rating system much like television and motion pictures, but the difference lies in the consumer. Most video games are geared toward youth. Children and teenagers are the top priority of the video game industry. The rating system is there to protect our youth from such video games as San Andreas and parents are intended to read what the M (mature) rated game contains and make a decision based on that. The problem is parents often avoid the rating system and therefore to problem lies with the parent. I don’t believe regulations and censorship of video games is necessary, only more education and product information. In the end Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas received an AO rating, which means adults only. It was pulled off the selves of Blockbuster and Wal-Mart stores because of their policy of not selling adult rated products. After all this Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now the most popular game in gaming history—go figure.

In my youth one of the most popular types of music to listen to among my peers was rock n’ roll.
While the majority of adults of this period looked upon my culture with wariness at the least and utter distain at the most, we continued to listen. It was not really out of any form of rebellion (that I am aware of), but more of an attempt to be seen as something new. I think in the back of all of our minds we saw this as our attempt to add to the world in which we lived. We saw everyone who came before us a trapped in the confines of their strict ideals and we sought to show them something different. Not to ‘convert’ them to our mindset, but to show them that there was something else out there and that we were more than hopless degenerates.
Now that I am older I am not really sure why I listened to that style of music in the first place. I admit that partially it seemed like something new and unique, but now that the years have flown by the whole 80’s rock culture seems so insane and foolish to me. I still admire the talent it took for them to move beyond the norm, but as far as being something enjoyable to me there are many other things that capture my time and attention more effectively now. As I look back on those days, I think maybe that a sense of rebellion had to do with the style of music I listened to, but more importantly I think it was a search to find the things that I enjoy that led me to listen to particular styles of music.

It all started when I was around 9 years old. My friends and I had climbed the educational ladder and were standing atop it as the 4th grade sovereigns of Concrete Primary School. When we said something was cool, it immediately became the standard of anything and everything that was to be desired. At least that is what I like to think. Anyway, it was around this time that we stumbled upon a phenomenon known as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The premise of the show is basically this: an evil sorceress named Rita Repulsa is trying to unleash havoc on everything the world knows as well and good. Just before the world is decimated, Zordon, a giant face floating in a huge watery vat, recruits five unsuspecting teenagers to join his quest to save the world from certain doom. These “Power Rangers” spend their days like any other high school students, at least until duty calls. Upon the sighting of Rita Repulsa’s next global threat, the heroes promptly drop everything, throw on their flashy getup, and ward off slews of evil putty-like henchmen. After these little guys have been defeated, the monstrous boss rears his ugly head. Knowing that he is too much for them to handle, the rangers do what they do best. They shout, “It’s morphin time,” and promptly, huge animal-shaped “zords” are summoned from various corners of the Earth and come together to form the Megazord. Typically, after all of this has taken place, Rita’s giant minister of doom cleverly says that he is in deep and proceeds to put up a shameful display of villainy that ultimately ends in his doom. The Power Rangers then rejoice, report to headquarters to celebrate with the floating face, and promptly return to everyday living… until Rita Repulsa’s next chance to destroy the world.

Looking back on everything, I am completely embarrassed to say that I had any part with these Power Rangers, but at the time I ate that stuff up. My friends and I would scurry home from school in order to catch every second of the thirty-minute broadcast. We would sit captivated by the “awesome” special effects, as well as, the intense hand to hand fight scenes. Along with all of this, although we would never admit it, we all had a huge crush on Kimberly, the pink ranger. She was quite the babe back then. Indeed, we were hooked on The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but soon after we fell head over heels for the fantastic fivesome, a tragedy happened that would end our love affair forever. In the fall of that year, we were dethroned as the kings of cool and prodded on to middle school. Suddenly, we weren’t so confident in ourselves. We quickly realized that the 7th and 8th graders weren’t down with the Power Rangers, and consequently, we began to fall by the wayside one by one. I must admit I hung on as long as I could. I even resorted to closet watching for a while, bashing it in front of my friends, while remaining glued to the program when I went home. Eventually, my tastes changed from totally unrealistic fight scenes, grossly overdramatic acting, and completely unbelievable plots to sports. You know, manly stuff like Sportscenter and Monday Night Football. Maybe this was me trading in my free-spirited childhood for a life of teenage conformity, but hey, the kids stopped laughing at me.

The media today has an effect on everyone even young children. These effects can be very harmful if not aware of them. The media even has certain ways to target children and brainwash them into believing that their product is the best. I believe that one product that is very harmful to children is cigarettes. Cigarettes are aimed toward young looking people. They try to aim their product to younger children, so they can start smoking at a young age and get addicted to it and buy their product for life. Once the children are hooked then they have their set customers.
One way to make your concerns know is to go to the cigarette company yourself. You need to let them know that they campaigning to the wrong crowd those children don’t need to be smoking at ages like twelve or thirteen. Some actions have been taking by people to stop this type of advertising. I have seen many commercials about a website called truth.org. This website is supposed to be a way for children to go to and learn about the harmful risks of smoking. I think the commercials have a positive impact on children and adults today.
I believe the product should be removed from circulation because cigarettes are not one bit positive. They cause cancer and harmful diseases. But then if the product is taken out of circulation you have all the cigarette companies that go out of business. The way to ban the product is just to get the truth out to people that cigarettes are harmful and are addicting. One way to go about banning cigarettes is to just try to stop one person at a time from smoking.

Music has always played a role in my life. I listen to it all the time, and I notice that I listen to different genres of music depending on what type of mood I am in. Conversely, it has the ability to affect my attitude and mood. When I was younger, I only listened to country music. Back then, it talked about pure, true, and loving relationships, which made me want to love and be loved. Now, it is tainted with discouraging acts of cheating, lying, etc. that depresses me and pushes me further away. It hardly ever expresses joy and happiness anymore. Why would I make a conscious decision to listen to this type of music, fully aware that it will put me in a frame of mind that I would rather avoid? Because country music has changed, my preference as to what kind of music I listen to has also. The earlier country music style did make me want to engage in happy and fun-filled relationships, and in this way, I feel that country music did help in molding me into the person I am today. However, with the current decline of moral content in country music, I find myself very disenchanted with the music and its artists. As we all know, music styles are constantly changing, so perhaps the day will come when I will once again tune into my favorite country station.

The year 2005, is a milestone for mass media. Humans have been brought, through media, closer to our ever neighboring surroundings. Today, some humans might consider a few hundred miles a neighboring surrounding, whereas; in the 1400’s as few as 5 or 6 miles might be considered an alien territory. Letting our neighboring surroundings expand so vastly, numerous amounts of developments have had to take place, including the change of Human culture. When neighboring surroundings were within a couple of miles, tribes were close and the culture was kept within a tight net community. Tribes may have completely relied on tradition and their culture as a way of living as they had no way of having contact with any other tribes or people, outside of their community. However, tradition and culture soon changed as media started to rise in the country and the world.

Native Tribes would soon loose their culture and tradition as Media gathered momentum. Media would soon influence change in tradition and break up the close net communities to make way for one family of culture and neighbors, America.

Media such as, CNN and e-mail, has bought news from across the globe and allowed for people, in what use to be far away places, to communicate in real time. Such media has molded and combined cultures of native tradition from the North, East, South and West of America to one big melting pot.

America’s Melting pot of cultures has caused harm to more traditional and native cultures, by taking away tribes tradition, and in most cases completely irradiating the tribe. Although, tradition is lost through cultures merging together, America’s people have gained one big neighbor, the world.

As a child, a show that I frequently engaged in watching was Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Thinking back on the program, I believe it was the link between fantasy and reality (provided by a really cool trolley) that captured my attention, as well as the everyday interactions that Mr. Rogers promoted, such as getting the mail, feeding the fish, and the field trips he took around the neighborhood. The simplicity of the show was enough to hold my attention as a child, but as I grew intellectually, my mind desired a challenge that Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood could no longer provide. This change in taste happened partially because, as I got older, I was able to experience these “field trips” and everyday tasks for myself, whereas when I was younger (before school age), Mr. Rogers provided my only exposure to a world outside of home.
I think my television preferences as a young child have had at least a small impact on shaping my identity. If you remember, Mr. Rogers always came in and changed his jacket and shoes, every single day, without fail and without distraction. Perhaps this has contributed to my occasional obsessive-compulsive behavior. Also, I am a very analytical person, which could have stemmed from watching Mr. Rogers analyze and talk about the importance of feeding his fish for an unnecessarily lengthy period of time.
Although my taste in television has changed as I have grown, I do not completely abandon the cause of a show like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers himself once said, “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” Mr. Rogers took it upon himself to educate children and to do whatever he could to be a mentor, even through a television show. I feel that his lessons are timeless and although we outgrow the television program, there is always something to take away from it and learn from it.

LINK-

http://pbskids.org/rogers

1- http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/27/rogers.quotes.ap/

As a young child, I loved to watch Sabrina The Teenage Witch on television.I thought that it was the greatest show ever at the time, however, my tastes have changed dramatically since then. I no longer like shows that are not realistic. Sabrina is about a teenage witch and her experiences in the local high school. This show is not very realistic and the events that occur in the show do not relate to my life at all. Since I have grown older the show no longer appeals to me even though it did at the time. I now watch Dawson’s Creek and other television shows about normal American high school and college students such as myself. I believe that this change in taste occurs within everyone. Some of the things that are created to attract smaller children and/or younger adults are not aimed at older people, therefore one must grow out of them at some point. Other media also affects your likes and dislikes. If something is strongly advertised and very popular with people your age, you are automatically going to think that it is the cool thing to watch. You don’t hear very many college students talking about watching childish television shows. I believe that peers as well as other sources of media and popularity affect a person’s likes and dislikes as they grow with time, however, what you watch as a child still somewhat affects what you will watch as an adult. For instance, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Dawson’s Creek are the same type of show, one is just more realistic than the other. What you watch when you are younger helps to shape your identity, however, it is normal to outgrow it.

A few years ago I was a big fan of professional wrestling. I was especially fond of the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), that became the World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE (www.wwe.com). I extremely hate wrestling now due to the WWE. The WWE sends out so many terrible messages for today’s youth that include messages of violence, revenge, hatred, degradation of women, and foul language, to name a few. WWE is basically the only big name wrestling show you can watch on cable now. The WCW and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) both went off the air and now WWE seems like the only choice. The WCW and ECW contained much more wrestling than WWE ever did. Plus the WCW was actually suitable for children as it did not contain as much cussing as the other shows did and showcased wrestling as more of a sport than just purely entertainment.
In an article at http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/mar29_lefko.html, Perry Lefko wrote about how he felt uncomfortable taking his son to a WWF event, but felt like it was okay to have his son go with him to see WCW. Lefko said this about WCW: “What you see for the most part is wrestling as it was meant to be: athleticism and showmanship. The use of the middleweight and cruiserweights such as Ray Mysterio Jr., Kidman, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko are one area in particular where the WCW excels with its performers for their pure finesse and skill as opposed to big, brawny, long-haired guys pounding on one another.” The WCW shows were always better than the WWF (and WWE) shows, and it is a shame that they are not on the air anymore.
The WWF has always contained a good bit of vulgarity and obscenity, but I did not mind it a few years ago because I loved all the story lines and action so much. Now, the WWE uses the same story lines. It is quite predictable. At http://www.useless-knowledge.com/articles/apr/aug222.html, Eric Schomburg wrote about how he feels the WWE is running out of fresh story ideas: “Sadly though, I’m getting bored with the WWE, it seems that nothing shocks or interests me in wrestling. Rob Van Dam still has the same moves and still has no microphone skills (in other words, he can’t give a good interview if his life depended on it). Kane is still some big bald “monster” that is now going to be a daddy. Vince, how many times has the pregnant story line been recycled? There was the one with Terri Runnels, a wife to a bisexual freak named Goldust, and of course the very disgusting story line with an elderly woman and a fat black man. However, the old woman did pop out something, a hand. A hand? Vince, what were you thinking?”
The WWF was entertaining and highly amusing in its day (http://www.derok.net/derek3/wwf.html), but the WWE cannot measure up. The language is simply unbearable now, the story lines are old, and the moves look really fake now. Besides that, women are now degraded more than ever. Back in the WWF, there were strong, independent women like Chyna who wrestled. She was actually a role model for women because she excelled in wrestling. She actually fought with other guys and beat them in the ring. There are no women like that now. There are just a bunch of WWE Divas running around half-naked. Yes, women still wrestle, but are they any good like Chyna? No, the WWE just pays them to look good and show as much cleavage as possible in and out of the ring.
Just recently, there was another WWE Diva contest. Ashley, a blonde with large breasts, won the contest (http://www.wwe.com/superstars/2005divasearch). Is that a surprise?
In conclusion, wrestling is not what it use to be. Wrestling is not a sport now; it’s purely entertainment. It’s not even good entertainment anymore. The WWE has gone over the top with bad language, scantily clad women, bad and overused story lines, and much more. There are better, more entertaining and intellectual television programs for youth to watch besides the WWE.

Media today makes it sound okay to do a lot of things that actually can be extremely harmful in the long run. There are millions of ads that can influence children of today negatively. One thing in particular is sex-ads. Sex is a big topic for the culture today. Looking at the ads on televisions and looking around on what’s going on in schools and everywhere else it makes it seem okay to have sex as long as you use protection. There are many ads and television shows that uphold sex. When you walk throuh high schools and even middle schools you see these pregnant young ladies that obviously have made a bad decision and can’t do anything about it. They were infleunced by the media and other sources and for that reasont their whole life is changed. You can sit down and watch a simple television show such as friends and the girls on those shows are going from guy to guy and not thinking twice about it. They make it seem normal to have sex and not be married. The children of today are seeing this and unless they are told otherwise they are going to think that it’s okay too. I think that sex-ads and different things that promote sex should be removed from circulation because nothing good is coming out of it except a bunch of young pregnant ladies that don’t know what to do with the rest of their life. I think the way to stop younger people from thinking sex is okay is not showing sex-ads and not having the actors in television shows just having sex with people just because they want to. Although some people disagree , all this does influence the children of today and definitely not in the positive direction. I think this is one of the biggest problems of today and it needs to change.

For examples on how to write for a web log, and for a little bit of html coding, go to this example site, which was set up for the LAL class.

Click the register button at the bottom of the left column to begin the registration process (you’ll only need to do this once).

Welcome to the wonderful world of miniature media.