Goodbye.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          xox.

Cheryln.

Well if you do, guess what. According to the cultivation theory by George Gerbner (1976) a pioneer researcher on the effects of television on society, you’re expose to way too much violence and therefore are effected by the Mean World Syndrome, an idea that the world is worse then it actually is. In this case, one would be rather wary of their surrounding, thinking that something might happen at any given time. Thinking that the world is an intimidating and unforgiving place.

I would have to say I know people like that, people who think that the world is much more ‘evil’ than it really is. My boyfriend would be a living example. He never ever allows me to return by myself after dark. To him, he feels/thinks that the worst might just happen. Even though I assure him a thousand and one time that nothing’s going to happen, he would stand firm on his point of view and insist that either I go home earlier or someone sends me back. But I guess his would be the mild case, as compared to others and to the video.

However, individuals who watch television infrequently and adolescents who talk to their parents about reality are said to have a more accurate view of the real world than those who do not, and they are able to more accurately assess their vulnerability to violence. They also tend to have a wider variety of beliefs and attitudes.

The media plays a big role in all of us, in case you didn’t know. It influences and shapes our thinking and mindset. It is through the media that we see the rest of the world and it is also base on how the rest of the world is being shown on the media that we see what we see.

How Media Controls Our Lives

We live in a fascinating world and an even more fascinating society. We are part of a culture where every morning we wake up to the energized voices of the morning news crew, whose job it is to make the rest of us as upbeat and awake as possible, fill us in on the beautiful sunny weatheroutside, and inform the average American on the hopelessly packed freeways. When at the end of the day, exhausted and hungry you crawl home, your television, the radio and your bellowed computer are waiting patiently to be of service. In this day and age life without technology feels utterly impossible, and life without the media is simply unimaginable. Media provides us with entertainment, information, and comfort. As the standard of living in this country is rising, people find themselves investing in digital cables and high speed internet connections, thus increasing their exposure to such media as the World Wide Web and the hundreds new channels that come with digital cable. While we are all intelligent people, with the freedom and ability to make our own choices, how much influence does media have over our decisions? I believe a lot.

While everything you experience shapes you as an individual, it is probably the commercials you see on television, that have the most influence over your choices and decisions. Advertisements target various audiences, depending on the product, but a lot of it is directed towards young adults. Teenagers often feel self conscious about appearance, their size, or their clothes. They also have the disposable income needed to purchase impulse goods like the new soda or the latest CD. Thus it is to the advantage of advertisers that they target these insecurities and need for acceptance, promising love and happiness the instant they purchase a given product. While individuality is still important to young adults, it is just as important to have the latest mp3 player or the new camera phone to keep up with their peers. Commercials also inform the viewer on the latest product or the emergence of a more advanced one.

written by:Tatyana Burtina

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13871/media_influence_in_our_society.html?cat=35

We stereotype people base on how we assume people might be from their appearance. Just take the blondes for an example again. Not all blondes are dumb but the vast majority or should I say those that are expose to us, are dumb. And thus, when one meets a blonde, she’s dumb.

People from stereotyped groups can find this very disturbing as they experience an apprehension (stereotype threat) of being treated unfairly.

We change our stereotypes infrequently. Even in the face of disconfirming evidence, we often cling to our obviously-wrong beliefs. When we do change the stereotypes, we do so in one of three ways:

• Bookkeeping model: As we learn new contradictory information, we incrementally adjust the stereotype to adapt to the new information. We usually need quite a lot of repeated information for each incremental change. Individual evidence is taken as the exception that proves the rule.
• Conversion model: We throw away the old stereotype and start again. This is often used when there is significant disconfirming evidence.
• Subtyping model: We create a new stereotype that is a sub-classification of the existing stereotype, particularly when we can draw a boundary around the sub-class. Thus if we have a stereotype for Americans, a visit to New York may result in us having a ‘New Yorkers are different’ sub-type.

We often store stereotypes in two parts. First there is the generalized descriptions and attributes. To this we may add exemplars to prove the case, such as ‘the policeman next door’. We may also store them hierarchically, such as ‘black people’, ‘Africans’, ‘Ugandans’, ‘Ugandan military’, etc., with each lower order inheriting the characteristics of the higher order, with additional characteristics added.

Stereotyping can go around in circles. Men stereotype women and women stereotype men. In certain societies this is intensified as the stereotyping of women pushes them together more and they create men as more of an out-group. The same thing happens with different racial groups, such as ‘white/black’ (an artificial system of opposites, which in origin seems to be more like ‘European/non-European’).

Stereotyping can be subconscious, where it subtly biases our decisions and actions, even in people who consciously do not want to be biased.

Stereotyping often happens not so much because of aggressive or unkind thoughts. It is more often a simplification to speed conversation on what is not considered to be an important topic.

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/stereotypes.htm

According to Wiki; An avatar (अवतार, from the Sanskrit word for “a form of self”, commonly used in many Indian languages) is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,^[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities,^[2][3] or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an “object” representing the embodiment of the user. The term “avatar” can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user.^[4]

To me, an avatar is what you think would most probably represent you.  As the communication technology(Internet) improves, more and more information about oneself can easily be found.. As such, there are times when one will not place one’s own picture online. (Take for an example, when you sign up for a ‘porn’ website, and have to choose a profile picture.) one would choose an avatar instead.

Your avatar speaks on your behalf, it shouts to the world how kind of person you are. Are you a fun loving person, or are you a dull and boring person. It all can be seen by what you choose as your avatar. However, these days, people no longer care about what they choose to represent themselves. They change their Avatars every so often. What does this tell you?

From my perspective, I feel that the reason why people change their avatars so regularly is because they themselves do not have a clear idea of who they are and have yet to reach the point of self actualization.

What are your views and say on avatars?

Images taken from http://images.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cpluv.com/www/medias/SeBN/SeBN_48611e539b165.png&imgrefurl=http://www.cpluv.com/www/tag/community&usg=__gFH4hmCnUOvLCgzx7DyEc9XZbIg=&h=693&w=490&sz=152&hl=en&start=21&um=1&tbnid=_X-c1Peu_ABrBM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Davatars%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1 ; http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApX6ZnGqCn08it0Ae9yb.Ssh4wt.;_ylv=3?qid=20070521094403AAy6W1A

(This video may be in chinese but I believe the message put across is straight forward. At about 3:00 +/- you see the lady walking over to the dog, she gave the dog food and water. The dog then, took half and gave it to his mate, probably hoping that she would wake up)

Looking at the video, even without knowing the chinese characters, one would be able to tell from the body language of the dog how deep the love he has for his mate. How desperately he wants her to get back on her feet. Also, from how no one else bothered to show a little care and concern, for the both the dog shows how cruel the world can be at times. Who knows, if someone did something earlier, she wouldn’t have died.

Back to my main topic, body language plays a big part in the society, be it now or then. As seen in the cartoon above, the man probably wants to hook up with the lady therefore emitting friendly vibes with his actions to the lady, such as smiling. One can also tell how the lady is reacting towards his ‘friendliness’, her body language shows that she is distancing herself from the man by crossing her leg and showing her ‘get lost’ facial expression.

The few different expression people normally give.

As taught, there are certain expressions that are hard to express with verbal communication. Take for example, when youre piss off at something, you dont go around telling people ‘ Hey, I’m angry!’ Instead, you show a black face and give out a killer aura. Or when you’re in love, you emit out a super cheery aura, and more often than not youre smiling from ear to ear!However, sometimes your expressions give you away. Such as showing a bored face at a friend’s party. And when ask whether or not the party was dull, you smile but then as said, it gives you away. Your eyes would be one of the give aways. The tone you use to reply and the body language you show, unintentionally, would also be a give away. Yet there are times when body language are being misinterpreted. Using non verbal communication is like a two edged sword that may back fire.

Saying ‘I love you’ , who can’t say that? Again, its the action that makes people believe that when you say ‘i love you’ you mean it.

Isn’t true that people say actions speaks louder than words?

Images http://images.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http://hrclubsyd.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/facial-expressions.jpg&imgrefurl=http://hrclubsyd.wordpress.com/tag/non-verbal-communication/&usg=__Hf9WnjSqoRWtkhfF_IaExY_UDtQ=&h=527&w=409&sz=36&hl=en&start=36&um=1&tbnid=FEeUabr8aOZTNM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnon%2Bverbal%2Bcommunication%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1;http://images.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cwl/lowres/cwln1125l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/n/non-verbal_communication.asp&usg=__KyPYsArHUksQgGWG1dlNCqPZoyY=&h=363&w=400&sz=29&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=hSY49Xz3cw-zKM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnon%2Bverbal%2Bcommunication%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

Who says being big can’t be beautiful? Plus size models or some called it full figured models are making it big in the modeling industry. Take a look at Emme Aronson, being acknowledged as the first plus-size model to achieve widespread recognition in the United States. She hosts Fashion Emergency on E! and has appeared on most major US TV networks. She was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” twice (1994 and 1999) and Glamour magazine’s “Woman of the Year” (1997). She has a collectible doll named for her, and bearing her likeness.

Thinking back, she vividly remembers her first assignment, in 1990, with a big-name fashion photographer. “I was getting made up,” she recalls, “I was all excited”—until she overheard the photographer complaining. “He said that he didn’t want to shoot a quote-unquote ‘fatty,’ “says the 5’11″, 190-lb. Aronson. “The ad agency had to talk him through it. He was nasty.”

The first time I came to know about plus size models were when I was watching America’s Next Top Model (I forgot which cycle). They had a guest appearance Kate Dillon, who came to talk about health issues. A once size 6 model, her life started changing when she overcame her health issue (anorexia), making a comeback in the modeling industry with a size 14.

I think the main point here is that being beautiful doesn’t exactly means being all skinny and bones. I’ve seen people, way skinner than me go on strict diet, not eating this, not eating that. And when they do eat, they start puking after. What’s the point man? And the most vexing part is when they tell me

”Eh, I’m fat. I need to go on a diet.”

I look at them and question “what about me then?”

And their reply was “you’re just nice, really”

“Right.”

Magazines, being communication mediums are partly at ‘fault’ for setting the mindset of people. They always show ‘must have figures’ to encourage sales of their product yet indirectly, they are affecting the way people view themselves. Although there are plus size models out there, how often do we see them? I don’t think there has been any in Singapore, are there? This shows that Singaporeans aren’t being expose much. Then again, on how one view their body is base on how much self confident one has. If you think you’re hot, no one can change that fact except yourself.

Information came from Wikipedia, People Magazine Pictures from http://curvesmart.blogspot.com/2009/05/oh-cliche.html?zx=339952a905ca0d33

The first person that came to mind was Britney Spears. I remember the time when her first album came out. Such sweetness and innocence she had. Princess of Pop they called her, a role model she was. Idolize by people all over the world. But look at her now, what a mess she is in. Yes, she is in the midst of making a comeback, but still, the damage has already been done.

Extract from the song Lifestyle of the rich and famous by Good Charlotte.

Y’a only see it on TV
Or read it in the magazines
Celebrities that want sympathy
All they do is piss and moan
Inside the rolling stone
Talkin’ about how hard life can be

Why is it that people filled with money are still complaining about how hard life is? Aren’t they suppose to be the happiest people around? They have the ‘key’ to what makes the world goes round. Does being rich necessarily mean everything? If so than why do rich and famous people still “piss and moan” when they have everything in the world?

Pictures taken from http://dailygab.com/files/2009/04/britney-spears-teddy-bear1.jpg , http://reedacademy.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/britney-spears-shaves-her-head-03.jpg