"The medium is the message"

For many years, humanity has been influenced by the methods it used to covey information. Over time, we have seen how media has evolved across print to radio to television and now the internet. Each one of these types of media has its own characteristics, similar to the people who use them. Marshall McLuhan was into technology and communication, education the study of communication and its evolution over time. He introduced observations about the impact of new forms of media. "The medium is the message" sums up a deep communication theory. McLuhan is explaining that the form of a message determines the way the message will be perceived. Whether the form of the message is print, visual or musical, these things will effect the way people understand these messages. Marshall had a permanent influence on our understanding of social impacts of communication media. "The medium is the message" has influenced the way we think and feel about media, our awareness of their potential outcomes, and the way we comprehend the media's effects.

Peer/Self Evaluation

Name: Emily Sherman
Name of Production Team: HTDI inc.
Role in Production Team: Editor in chief
Roles of the other production team members: Shelbi- Editorial Director, Lindsay- Features and Design manager

1. How do you feel about the title you were given and how well you did your job in this project? Give specific examples of your experience.

Next time, I would make a more organized schedule on completing my part in the project. I did not leave it until last minute but I found myself unorganized as I had a lot of work with other courses. 
Next time, I would not offer to share all the roles within the project. We did get the project done together. However, it would've been done more quickly if we all stuck to our original roles. 

2. How did you contribute to this project? Give at least 2 specific examples.For this project, I completed my article on time, and helped with ideas for our magazine's cover page. When our cover page was finished, I completed a table of contents and found a bunch of ads to place into our magazine, making it look more realistic. I also edited the content within the magazine.

3. How do you feel about the contributions from other members of your group and the division of labour (work) for the project? Be specific to each team member.

All of the members in my group shared the group equally and fairly. Lindsay did her job designing and formatting the magazine. Shelbi put the whole magazine together. They both helped contribute to the cover page and cover story.

4. When it comes to dealing with differences of opinion within your group: We did not have any differences of opinions thankfully. We all put in our ideas, and if we disagreed with an idea we nicely suggested a new one that we could all agree on. However, if we did have this problem, I would confront my group in a calm manner and make sure everyone in the group was satisfied with our ending solution. 

5. In dealing with group members who were not fulfilling their responsibilities: Once again, I thankfully had it really easy for this project as my friends were so helpful and did not let me down with their part of the project. We all finished it together and equally with no problems. If i did have this problem, I would speak to my teacher, asking for advice on my situation. 


Ratings:

Overall, I would rate our group's ability to remain on task as: 9/10

Unsatisfactory/ Fair/ Good/ Excellent

Overall, I would rate our group's ability to be open, respectful, and communicative as:

Unsatisfactory/ Fair/ Good/ Excellent

Overall, I would rate our group's ability to use the strengths of all of our members as:

Unsatisfactory/ Fair/ Good/ Excellent

How Teen Girls are Affected by the Media

For years, the media has progressively held up a thinner body image as the ideal look for women. The media is everywhere. You wake up and begin your day by turning on the television to check the weather. You leave for school and notice all these ads at bus stops and on buses. Coming home from school, you see these ads again and proceed to turn on the television to watch the newest episode of Pretty Little Liars. The average teenaged girl sees 400-600 advertisements per day, and by the time she is 17 years old she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media. Unfortunately, we cannot escape the media. Girls’ appearance is always being criticized and commented on. Boys’ appearance has always been spoken about significantly less often in media.

Leading teen girl magazines include a focus on appearance, using an appeal to beauty to sell certain products. This is similar to commercials aimed at women, as they also use beauty to sell products. It is shown that 59% of television is taken up by commercials. Just 3% of this fraction of commercials is aimed at men. The image that girls consider to be “beauty” is unattainable for the majority of the female population. Research indicates that mixed messages from the media make the transition to adulthood extremely difficult. Studies also show that while the number of boys who say they “have confidence in themselves” remains stable throughout their adolescence whereas the numbers for girls have dropped steadily. This was caused by the gap between a girl’s actual image and society’s unrealistic message about what girls should be like. An interesting study explains the act of researchers generating a computer model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions. They found that her back was too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body was too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman with these proportions would eventually die from malnutrition. It is proven that 99% of girls aged 8-10 years old own at least one Barbie doll.

The number of real life women and girls who seek similar underweight bodies is high, and they can suffer with severe health consequences. In 2006, it was estimated that around 450,000 Canadian women were affected by an eating disorder. Another effect shown on teenage girls are their sexual interpretations. Continuous pressure on girls is exceeded by the media’s tendency to represent very young girls in sexual ways. The fashion industry has begun to use younger and younger girls as models, posing and mimicking the visual images similar to pornographic media.

It is confirmed that young girls are bombarded with images of sexuality and these images are bombarded by stereotypical views on women and girls seen as powerless. As these teen girls continue to view these media messages, they will continue to be influenced by stereotypical images. The outlook on beautifully, obsessively thin and skimpily dressed girls is shown as objects of male desire. The overwhelming presence of images in the media has taught women that their real bodies have become invisible in the mass media. Teens judge themselves by the beauty industry’s standard and constantly compare themselves to other people. These messages being sent to women about thinness, dieting and beauty is stating that the female body is an object to be perfected- and that they are always in need of adjustment. 

How does TV influence us?

         I focussed my blog on the effect on teenagers from television. A few shows that are a good example of this are Jersey Shore, Skins and Teen Mom. They have become a very negative influence on teens. Teen Mom has caused a sudden ride in teenage pregnancies, making teen pregnancy seem "cool". Jersey Shore has glamorized drinking and carless sex, also stereotyping Italians and people from Jersey. The show gives them an image of wanting to party, tan and drink all day. The new show "Skins" is about a group of high school students who share their lives and experiences of partying, sex, drug-use and drinking. Teens see these shows, they like these shows and they want to mimic what they see in these shows. However, each show has an important life lesson. Teen Mom proves the struggles, sacrifices, and issues that must be endured as a teen parent. Skins explains how all teens should be comfortable with their own sexuality. We consume so much television that it gets in our head. Some television shows can be positive like educational programs. Several studies have found that educational television has many advantages and can be a very powerful and effective learning tool for children. On the other hand, it is told that when a person plays video games or watches TV, a part of the brain becomes very active and dopamine is released. Scientists believe this reduces your control of movement and pain and formation of feelings. A study has found that while viewers are watching television the right side of the brain is twice as active as the left side, causing a state of hypnosis. Studies also believe that kids watching television for hours connect to obesity and it decreases the metabolic rate in children, compared to kids who rest. There are both positive and negative effects of television. Television is just another part of the media that sucks us in, as we're all addicted to certain shows. It is something we must live with as there will always be positive and negative media.

My Learning Styles

After researching about numerous learning styles, I have come to the conclusion that my learning style is Tactile/ Kinestetic. I learn things by doing things hands-on. I personally have trouble concentrating and have a short attention span so I often become distracted during lessons. I enjoy learning about things by approaching them and having a better understanding by physically moving or doing. For example, I find that in English class it was hard for me to sit through an hour of reading shakespeare as oppose to me acting out one of the characters in a certain scene. This gave me the ability to pretend I was someone in the book, performing my lines, instead of sitting down and listening to my teacher read it or have to read it alone. I also believe I am Interpersonal. I am constantly overanalyzing things and trying to relate and understand others. My co-op last year was a placement as a grade 1 teacher. Don't get me wrong, it was the hardest challenge I've ever taken on, but it was also the best lesson I've ever learned. Working with these kids everyday taught me how to be patient, organized and constantly aware. I recognized each kids' feelings, intentions and motivations. I can call myself a peace maker as I hate unnecessary fighting or drama. I find it easy to give others advice and very much enjoy it. Also, as a camp counsellor this summer, interpersonal skills were absolutely mandatory for the job. I saw things from other peoples' perspectives and always listened to what someone had to tell me. I built trust with my campers and was always there to help resolve a problem, assuring each camper was having a good summer.


I have come up with a few goals for this course. Every year I make the goal of getting my work done on time, which I always do, but I keep it as a goal anyway. I do, however, hope to get many things out of this course. I did not just take this course because I needed another credit, I took it because media has always been an interest of mine. Something I really enjoy about media is that it keeps changing. I love how new shows, new trends, and new music come out everyday. This class will keep me interested and excited. I believe that if I work hard but have fun in this class, I will do well and gain more information on the media surrounding us in our everyday lives.