Mediate Cultures- October Blog Post

     It is vital to analyze the relationship between media and culture so that we can check the influence that media has over our own perception. As we were taught in class, "media shapes our ideas in culture"(Ivey, 2018). This happens through two avenues, co-construction and representation. Co-construction is the idea that "we use and create media even as media uses and creates us" (Ivey, 2018). Co-construction is about the symbiotic relationship between us and the media; we create media for the public to consume, we consume that media, and it informs our ideas, which then forms our society. The media that we take in molds our view of the world around us, which makes the media extremely powerful. The second way that media influences culture is through representation. The people or groups of people we see represented in media, and the way that they are represented, determines the way that we view people in real life. Seeing all kinds of people represented in the media in all different ways reduces prejudices and increases empowerment. When people are exposed to lots of different representation in media, their perception is shaped from that media and they treat people better. If representation is low in the media, and they only show one kind of person, people will be less tolerant of anyone that isn't the same as what they see in media. This shows the sheer power of media on the way that we see the world. 

     My grandparents are baby boomers. Being a part of that generation, they did not grow up with the wide expansion of technology that we have now. Their perception was shaped by the limited media they had growing up, which was radio, limited television, and the newspaper. Being from rural Wyoming, their geographical positioning in the world limited the representation that they saw in the media growing up. So, the media that they were exposed to until their late 50s and now into their 60s has been very consistently homogenous. Now, they have an iPad and my grandmother has an iPhone. They use Facebook and Twitter. Since they did not grow up with technology that allows for the spread of all kinds of ideas from any person at all, and because their ideas have already been shaped by their lack of exposure to representation, they are susceptible to misleading information from the internet. They never learned the skills they need to vet information before they believe it, and they already have preconceived notions about any group of people that doesn't look or think like them from lack of exposure to anyone "different". This inability to fact check information, along with previously developed prejudices has turned their lives on social media into an echo chamber of conspiracy theories. The media that they consumed has shaped their perception of the world in a big way, and there is no way to really fix that because they won't believe anyone outside of their idea of trust worth media. 

     I think awareness of how media shapes culture is vital. If we don't know this, we can allow media outlets to influence our culture without anyone to check if what they are saying or doing is right. My grandparents aren't equipped with the skills they need to ensure that their media consumption is ethical, but my generation doesn't get that excuse. 

Ivey, C. (2018). Mediated Cultures [Prezi presentation]. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/sq-j4vjhd2ks/mediated-cultures/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy