Blog #3 Amusing Ourselves to Death

The rise of social media and technology has greatly changed our culture. From iPhones, twitter, instagram, Facebook, you name it, thousands of people today are a part of it. This new obsession with social media and technology has changed our culture by causing America to shift from a more personal, active, true friendships lifestyle to a more public, lazy and fake friendship lifestyle. Nowadays people don't go anywhere without their cell phones, it is as though they are attached to them. Instead of having face to face conversations the majority of conversations today occur over text or via twitter or Facebook. Even when someone is having a face to face conversation they will still check their email in the middle of a conversation. According to the CNN newspaper article "5 ways the iPhone changed our lives" iPhones have become our obsession and "ushered in an age of all Internet, all the time. For better or worse, it's blurred the lines between work and home lives, made communication a round-the-clock habit" this meaning that face to face conversation is now becoming more non-existant while communication via technology is increasing.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/28/tech/mobile/iphone-5-years-anniversary

According to the Center for Media Literacy, media literacy is, "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms." Media is all around us whether it is the internet, newspaper, magazines, television, you name it, we have it. It is important to be able to understand the purpose for the media rather than allowing ourselves to be subconsciously swarmed by it. We can learn from the media through good examples for example a superhero movie who saves lives can help make us strive to do better and help others. A newspaper article about the competitiveness of the work force can help us strive to work harder in our education so we can  get a good job and get paid good money. It can show us how we should act and what a family should look like. However these days there are more bad examples than good. It is ironic for ABC Family's slogan is "ABC Family a new kind of family." The shows on television that are most popular are the ones that are about lying, teen pregnancy, and broken families, all specific ways we should not live. Also the news is full of all the bad things that happen in the world whether it is a burglary to a crime, we are constantly being exposed to it.

I would consider myself to be media literate, but have a lot of room for improvement because I know how to access and create media, however I do sometimes lack the ability to analyze and evaluate the media around me. For example I consider myself quite computer savvy, I have known how to email since the second grade, I am a quick typer and I am a teenager, so obviously I text a lot. Also I have a twitter, Facebook, instagram, snapchat, and all different types of social media as apps on my phone so I am constantly being exposed to media and having to  create my own. However, sometimes I do not know how to analyze or evaluate the credibility in which the media around me contains. I am always told "don't use Wikipedia" or "don't believe everything you hear/see on the news" or "Google doesn't know everything", but these different types of media are what I am surrounded with. If I can't trust them then I don't know what I should turn to because our society has become so centered around technology and social media.

I do agree with Postman in his "Amusing Ourselves to Death". Although death is a little over dramatic, Americans today are drifting so far from intimate relationships and becoming so obsessed with social media and technology we are letting it take over our lives. I know for myself, the first thing I do in the morning and before I go to sleep is check twitter, Facebook, instagram, snap chat, email, and my messages. I, along with thousands of Americans, am allowing technology and social media come first in my life before real people, real activities, real games. Americans are constantly on their phones tweeting, Facebooking, texting, etc. but rarely are they spending actual time with real people. Also people spend hours upon hours throughout the day playing games on their phones, but rarely go outside and play neighborhood games anymore. When Postman talks about "amusing ourselves to death" he is trying to persuade us to stop being so obsessed with social media and technology for it ultimately "kills" or takes away from our personality and intimate relationships.