WEEK 13: Towards Critical Media Policy Literacy

This is the week that I chose not to Blog for!  YAY!! Thanks again!

WEEK 12: Globilization and Youth Media

When one thinks of media and its users, one is more likely to think of North Americans, i.e.: Canadians and Americans. What we seems to forget is that even in the most impoverished societies, they still get forms of media, be they newspapers, television, magazines, some handheld digital devices, etc. Being a student in communications, I too made that first misconception. It never dawned on me that there are other people affected by the media and the digital world. Of course some people have limited and/or restricted use in certain places of the world, but they all get to see the same things we do, and are affected just the same way we are.

 

It’s amazing to me, that being in North America, most people, including youth use the internet as a way of socializing. We blog, check e-mails, facebook, myspace, whatever the case may be. We also use it for entertainment; we download songs, watch movies/shows, and even read articles/magazines about the latest trends, fashions and celebrities. What struck me peculiar is how the impoverished people looked at the internet. They view it as a chance for hope. The story about the guy in Ghana who used the internet to start a civic engagement organization in his country was simply amazing. It made me feel shameful that I took such an extraordinary tool for granted. However, I was pleased to read how others have taken this tool and ran with it, in order to benefit themselves and their nation.

 

The more technical aspect to online youth participation that never crossed my mind was the maintenance and up keep of these sites. In the survey of the article My Space they noticed that like anything else, with wear and tear it’ll brake. With uploads and downloads, viruses can form, or hackers can meddle with the site and cause for disruptions. This sort of problem can be frustrating and make the user loose interest and eventually give up on going onto that site in the future. Now that I think about it, there are several sites that I avoid simply because they never worked when I needed them. 

 

Once finding the problem and fixing it will not make the problem go away. Websites, and dynamic web sites are like living things. They need constant nurturing and looking after. Ongoing care is crucial, especially with the well-funded commercial sites. It is for this every reason why people and organization behind online communities, civic engagements, and activist, must develop some for or revenue to ensure that their sites receive that appropriate amount of maintenance and support it needs.      

 

 

WEEK 11: Civic Participation

After reading the assigned articles the only thing that kept running through my mind was the Obama vs. McCain election. I believe that the youth in today’s generation participate in many civic realms, be they either volunteer work, or actually participating with certain political parties/campaigns. However, more so, they are taking their civic participation online in blogs, or debates online. As the youth become aware of the importance of their political parties, they are becoming increasingly interested in what will benefit them now and later down the road. A perfect example of this is how the Obama vs. McCain election went down. Obama reached out to the youth of this generation as well as others and made a life changing impact. The number of youths that went out to vote was phenomenal. Moreover, what was interesting to see was how many videos and advertisements were created, by youths, for the youths to get out and vote. Youtube was a perfect example of this. Youth started to realize that their vote was important and would make a difference. Be it that they were told to vote by their parents, or teachers, or that they genuinely found interest in the campaign and made a turnaround. I myself found in this years U.S. elections to be outstanding in the amount of publicity they made, and the amount of noise that the youth created for it. On voting, I wished I could have been an American just to be able to vote.

What’s interesting to note it that for the Canadian election there was not a lot of publicity, more accurately, little to none was targeted to the Canadian youth. One would think, if they were running, wouldn’t the internet be the quickest and one of the cheapest ways to advertise and get youth involved? I received one facebook message in my account from one of the Canadian parties asking for their vote, only one, out of how many parties. I’m curious to see if there will be difference from the first election to the second one that we have approaching very soon. And in all honesty, I have not seen one for of youth grabbing information out there. One would think that the Canadian parties would learn from the amazing American turnout, but I think that ship has sailed and it’s too close to the dead line to start reaching out now.  

Youth is the largest cohort of people that our nation has. We are emerging and are growing every day. Many adult radio-talk shows host on air open discussions, and countless of times I heard these callers says how the youth of this generation doesn’t care about anything, especially when it comes to politics. I say they are wrong. I think the reason why there are so few youths who seem interested are because the majority of them do not understand what it going on, or they are not properly informed. Yet again this is another reason why the political parties should make an effort and reach out to the youths.

Adults know that in this digital generation, almost every youth has a mobile phone, I pod or another type of digital device. This would be another quick and easy way to send out messages and advertisement to youth about an upcoming political campaign. If the Americans did it, then why can’t we? It seems so obvious. Everyone carries their cell phones on them, its not as if they will only pick it up once a month. I just don’t think that Canadian’s take the elections as seriously as other countries do. 

 

WEEK 10: Youth Media Production

A few years ago, it started with Napster, one of the first sites where people were allowed to download music and videos. With time, technology advanced and then there was Limewire, Youtube along with a bunch of other sites. The growing world of technology and the ever so changing fast pace of life has kept people on their toes and constantly within finger reach of the newest and latest music, videos and what not. It all started with one college guy’s idea and started now it has blossomed into the everyday world of youths.  

 

Along with the online forms of staying connected to the latest and greatest advances, has come the cell phone. The history of the cell phone is quite amazing. What’s more amazing is how cell phones are being used now-a-days. With special ring tones, which are easily available through downloading, gives the cell phone and its user a unique style and allows one to personalize it. Moreover, it also attracts youths to purchase certain brands and promote certain artists. Wallpapers for the cell phones are also easy to download and allow for individuality, along with faceplates that people use to decorate their cell phones.

 

The marketing industries have realized the power that cell phone posses and have jumped on the money train. The way in which marketers use cell phones for advertising is astonishing. With the rise of female bodies in advertising campaigns or the cute fuzzy animals that are used in commercials (for Telus, as an example), they really know how to target certain people, and they’ll do anything to attract youth, since they and we all know that youths are the ones with a lot of disposable income.  The teen and tween market and the ones that get targeted to most, and now, more and more they are beginning to target pre-teens with cute Barbie and princess phones. Text messaging, ring tones, and music are all used in the form of advertising and are also used to draw in this target market.

 

It’s interesting how they portray woman when it comes to cell phone use. Woman are always seen as the ones who use the phone for communicating and socializing and gossiping, whereas men are viewed as the ones who only use the phone for business. It is interesting to note this type on structure of participation. This also plays into the stereotypical role of women being telephone operators, where a man would never be seen as a receptionist. I used to be a secretary, and as much as I hate to admit it, it does fit the role and I can relate. However, that doesn’t make it right, either.

 

Besides the fact that cell phones have played a major role in the youths’ upbringing now-a-days, I want to come back to the notion of how online spaces, including sites for downloading have played an equally important role. Whether it is Youtube or Limwire, youths spend the majority of their free time using some form of technology, usually connected to the internet. With the aid in certain web-sites, it is incredible to think how lucky youth are in today’s society. They, in some sense, have the world at their fingertips. With this type of privilege it can aid or can hinder their learning. By steering clear of the useless sites, such as Wikipedia, they are more often then not going to find loads of valuable information. I’m curious to see whether or not school projects for children and youth will begin to be more focused on online information, rather then going to the library and searching the information the “old fashion way”. I believe great things can come from being raised in this type of generation; however it will also make it more difficult for the children to not plagiarize, seeing as how the information is right there. However, this cool idea of being able to download so easily and for the most part free brings up the notion of whether or not its like stealing and copyrighting. All artisits work hard for their product, just so we can upload it for free? How is that fair. The same goes for stealing someones work that was published online. Many kids are and will be fighting this battle within them of wether or not its acceptable for them to copy, upload or download other peoples work.  

 

If we, as a society have come this far, how much further will we go? I grew up in generation Y, and then there was generation.com, what’s next, generation levitation? I’m curious, and at the same time can’t wait to find out!   

WEEK 9: Mobiles and Youth Culture

While I was reading Rich Ling’s article Children Youth, and Mobile Communication, I was able to relate to it 100%. Text messages are becoming very personal and intimate now. They are becoming a new means of communicating. I completely understand about how important text messaging is in the beginnings of a new romantic relationship. It takes the pressure off and allows you to say word for word what you wanted and meant to say. What I don’t understand is why people feel the need to continue this habit and never dial the person, and instead, constantly text. My brother is the perfect example. He has been dating his girlfriend for almost 6 years now. In the beginning he fit this example to the tee. He would text, as to not goof up and loose his chance with her, etc. After they started to date, the texted remained a part of the routine. It has been almost 6 years now, and to this day, she has never called the house once, nor has my brother called her. I just don’t understand it, it’s almost as though they have a robotic relationship and the only way they know how to communicate is via text messages. I’m not bashing texts, because I love to text a quick message here and there when I don’t have time to talk, but this just seems absurd that teens are taking up this type of being, it’s almost cowardly. How will they learn to deal with an angry voice? Or know how to calm down their girlfriend/boyfriend? I just think the more technology we have, they more we seem to loose another aspect of our being. It’s as if we gain knowledge of how devices work and how to use them, but we trade it off for loosing a different part of our knowledge. Before cell phones were invented, we had landlines, and telephone books, now it’s 411.ca on our blackberries to find a persons number.     

 

This brings up my next point of interest from Kate Crawford and Gerard Goggin’s article, Handsome Devils: Mobile Imaginings o Youth Culture. News, weather, mp3 player, television and movies; what is the one thing that they all have in common? They can all be found within our cell phones. Now-a-day’s mobile technology has advanced and exceeded, what I believe, all of our imaginations. People are becoming addicted to these devices and staring to get labels for them. Blackberry is nicknamed the Crackberry. People are even developing joint problems in their fingers from using them excessively.  

 

Cell phones or mobile devices are, in a weird and twisted way, like an umbilical cord. They are always in reach, feeding us the information, or ‘nutrients’, that we need. I think that this is sad, and very pathetic. Whenever someone calls a friend up, usually the first sentence that comes out of their mouth is “where are you?”. This has completely changed the nature of the relationship from a social sense to now a geographical one. We’re beginning to place an importance on where someone is, or who they are with and when they are coming home. This notion of a cell phone as an umbilical cord is even ties in with the fact that parents love to give their children cell phones. They can use it as a tracking device, whereas teenagers hate it because of that. I just do not seem to understand where society turned and placed an importance on digital devices and gave them authority. You are cool if you have one, and are not cool if you don’t have the latest version. What ever happened to good old fashion being yourself, and doing what you want to do. Where has our individuality gone?! And moreover, where has our brain gone? I’m tired of relying on my cell phone as a calculator, alarm clock, and my personal telephone book. I’m tired of society being lazy. 

WEEK 8: Privacy

       Everyday that goes by, someone’s personal issues are being displayed in the publics eye, be itintentional or unintentioal. Now, more and more people are becoming paranoid, possessive and protective over things that they feel are personal and private. However, when one discloses this information through the internet, these juciy tidbits seem to be out of their hands and now in the eye of the public, making it almost impossible to retract.

       When it came to the article Exposed, it was apparent how little privacy one has in their life. First and for most, the idea of bogging is quite unique. It is a way “to be able to have a record of your existence is kept”, as Emily Gould stated in her blog. Many people, no matter how selfdisclosing they are, they would not reveal every and all realms and/or aspects of their life. However, with blogs, and the removal of oneself with the use of internet, it makes it OK to disclose information about ones self.

       As liberating as it may seen to self disclose, there is always people out there who will judge or comment about it, and those, who will use it later on. After all, there are two main issues that keep getting brought up when it comes to blogging. First, if it is fair, or ethical to be as revealing as most bloggers are? And second, when is enough information really enough. Like anything else, addiction is bound to occur when someone gets caught up, consumed, and/or immerses themselves in something on a daily or hourly basis.

       Not only is blogging an example how someones private information becomes open to the public, Facebook is another example. As Boyd once said, there’s no space out there. It’s all online space. Facebook is the perfect example of privacy issues. Many, if not all, people who join never read the entire privacy disclaimer. As a default, profiles on Facebook are open for the public to see. It is up to the user to change the settings to ensure their privacy. Gould brough up privacy issues concerning Facebook as being warped. No matter what is comes down to, many of us do not have much say in what happens to the information that we make public by placing it online. And if someone is so concerned with their privacy being at stake, they lesson learned, don’t place private matters in the publics realm, online.

       When I was reading the Food and Beverage article, I was taken back. It’s astonishing to think that the food and beverage industries are targeting and marketing children and adolescents through media devices. Besides good old fashion commercials on the television, marketing agencies are attracting youth to their products through cell phones, video games, and instant text messages. This really worries me as one day I imagine myself having children of my own, and having to worry about this. When did it stop baing normal, and why did it turn to such extremes? Kids will be kids, and always want the newest and latest trends, why does it have to go to the extent that they’re being bombarded through their personal devices? Isn’t this the same as being solicited to? It seems that everywhere we turn our private and personal lives are being hacked into, either via online or now personal devices.

WEEK 7: Web 2.0 and Participatory Media

Danah Boyd – Why Youth – Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.

Raiford Guins – Hip-Hop 2.0.

Brandi Bell, Phillippe Budka and Adam Fiser – We Were on the Outside Looking In.

 

 

After reading the previously mentioned articles and comparing them to my personal experiences, it all seemed to make sense. The most prevalent themes were class issues, publics and network publics. Of course I was able to relate, I was there once upon a time. In the article Why Youth – Social Network Sites they mentioned a statistic of 55% of youths have used and created profiles on at least one social networking site. This information is not surprising at all, and I would say it is even lower than I expected. It was even mentioned that even disadvantaged youths, who had no access to the internet or who were not financially equipped, all managed to create their own sites as well, no matter how infrequent they were able to connect to the internet.

In high school, every teenager is at a point in their time where they are struggling with there identities, and more so struggling to fit in with the cool crowds. There becomes this type of class issue and identity crisis that happens. It seems to be that if kids cannot fit in when it comes to school, they turn to the internet and social networking sites to build their own identity. MySpace and Facebook are the two more common social networking sites that these youths use. What was interesting to note was that based on the different high school categories of different “groups” of kids, where these groups rather do their social networking online. The more artistic groups of youths, such as the punks, the band geeks, etc. were more inclined to use MySpace where as the athletes and the jocks were more likely to use Facebook.

The thing about MySpace is that it seems to drawn in these youths so that they are able to create their own personal space where they can express themselves any way they wish; with the types of music they add and the links and images they use as well. Also, many students were joining MySpace to create relationships with their favorite bands. Facebook on the other hand is more conventional and more of a template, not as easy to express your creative side on that site. The girls tended to decorate their site with more girly decors such as flowers and hearts, where as the boys were more about the bold red, black and gray colors.

Besides the social networking side of these sites, what was interesting to read was that these youths used these sites when they were bored. Moreover, many youths enjoyed the notion of being able to blog and write about whatever it was that they wanted to share. It became a way to express ones self without being teased.  

            The tricky thing about these social networking sites is the privacy issue attached to it. Many, if not all young girls want to show themselves off as being very sexy and seductive, and in doing so it can often lead to giving the wrong impression. Another key thing to mention that almost everyone forgets is that once it’s posted, it is for the public to view. However, on a more positive note, if one were to take a step back and realize how many relationships were created and deepen by these sites, it is seen as a miraculous interpersonal device.

 

            As far as hip hop 2.0 goes, there are many haters out there about hip hop in general. They believe that hip hop or rap is crap music and a bad influence. But if one were to really listen to the lyrics, they are actually very creative and ingenious. Most of them are metaphors and poems. Most rappers are sending out a message, a political message. “By any means necessary”, as Malcolm X once said; if it can get into the youths’ ears and it make logistical sense, they why not let hip hop artists send out their message. So long as they’re not saying to go and shoot someone, then there is nothing wrong with that.  The following quote from the Hip Hop 2.0 article caught me off guard. ”Hip hop artists have claimed the critical possibilities of popular culture and the marketplace as a forum to stimulate a broad discussion and critique about critical issues that most affect their constituencies”. Music is a subsystem where youth communicate and interact with the world, through their own means. It is becoming far more easily accessible to listen and view these songs and music videos from the television, on shows such as MTV, MTV2, BET and VH1. By either watching or listening to these songs, it also makes a mark on them and adds to their ever growing identity.   

 

 

 

Week 6: Youth Online

Out of all of the readings for this week, I noticed a prevalent theme, ‘the market rules’. It’s quite sad how the market and marketing employers are willing to jeopardize and even corrupt such young minds. Many ethical issues were overlooked and need to be address with these companies. In the end, it’s the children’s eyeballs that are going to pay this debt later down the line, but in the present it will be the parents who have to pay, and that’s inexcusable. 

The two readings that stuck out the most to me were the following:

 

 

Sonia Livingstone. Drawing Conclusions from New Media Research: Reflections and Puzzles Regarding Children’s Experience of the Internet

 

To state that young children/youth have turned into the “virtual society” is pretty accurate. The internet is where most of the marketing is done targeting these young children. This leads to a vicious circle of, “but I need more!” My brother is the perfect example of this; no sooner did he buy an I Pod, a newer model came out. Then he felt he didn’t have the latest version, so he went out and bought the newest one, when he knew in the back of his mind that next month, another version would come out. The sad thing is, he will continue to buy the newest and latest versions of everything, just to keep up his socioeconomic status (SES). In the end, he wants people to believe he has the best, and isn’t that what most kids want to be known for?

 

I believe that the most difficult thing that youth today are faced with is knowing what is out there. If someone is not privileged enough to be able to afford internet or electronic devices, it would not be a problem. It only becomes a problem when they encounter it through their friends, or see it on the television. Once someone has seen it and used it, then they will realize what they are missing out on.

 

More and more, as generation.com emerges, they are learning and picking up on internet skills a lot quicker than their parents. This can be very beneficial and allows for an increase in opportunity without so much of the risk. The internet is seen as a multidimensional activity. Some users are more active than others, while some are more interactive and rather do puzzles and quizzes. At the end of the day, media-rich homes are being transformed and stimulated by the internet and opportunities for connections. It is becoming more of a nuisance than an escape.         

 

 

Sandra Weber and Claudia Mitchell. Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies

 

Around the same time of puberty, many changes are going on in teenagers lives. They are crowd pleasing and trying to fit it, without looking like they’re trying to hard. They want to look like everyone else, yet be unique in their own way. It is a very difficult time for them as they develop their identity. Media seems to be one of the common denominators between emerging youths and the process of finding their identities.

 

For the most part, younger youths seem to learn, pick up, copy-cat or mirror things that they see through their older siblings and/or friends. On many personal web pages, MySpace, for example many similarities were found between boys and girls are far as their homepage set up and writing styles. The youths all want to have a desired look and they want their page to reflect that look. Their pages are constantly changing, just like the roles and identities youths are trying on and changing almost on a weekly basis. It was interesting to read that girls are more affectionate with their friends and have close knit circles that they write and blog to. This seems rather normal, according to me, however what struck me as interesting was that when they compared girls to boys, the boys were not all that far off. Boys were still trying to keep a masculine front with the bold red and black colors on their pages, yet they still had a tenancy to express their feelings to their friends like the girls. Granted they weren’t placing hearts all over their friend’s pages, it was refreshing to read that boys that age aren’t afraid to express themselves.   

Week 5: Commercialization

Amy McKinnon. The Only Girls with a Passion for Fashion! in More than Just a Phase: The Discursive Constructions of Girlhood as a Transitional Identity

 

The idea of brand loyalty is absurd, yet very clever. To target such a young market age group and know that they will continue to spend later down the line is genius, and at the same time, ridiculous. It is true, that after the war women and females of all ages started to make a great impact on society. What strikes me is how the marketers picked up on this and transformed females into an emblem of consumer citizen in the market. I believe that by marketing and seeling items that they think the girls wants, will in the end influence these young girls and transform them to look like thier idols.

Later on in the article there was something that didn’t sit well with me. To think that a girl/woman is not powerful because she is not spending money is absurd. Whoever placed the link between consumption and power had to be a man. This type of thinking infuriates me because it therefore means that social power and consumption are linked as well. So if a woman were to wear expensive labels and flaunt them she therefore has power? Does this ideology make sense, at all? 

 

 

 

David Buckingham. Selling Childhood? Children and Consumer Culture

 

It is sad to think that the media and market are subjecting these young children, some as young as infants with “saturation bombing”. By feeding them these images and personas of who they should be, it just sucks them in deeper into the consumer whole. A good analogy for this consumer whole is its like quicksand. The more you want to escape it, the more the market bombards you with more images, things, and more looks. You feel that if you don’t at least have one, you won’t fit in, or be cool. But the minute you give in to it, you’re sucked back in sinking some more. The tween market is a perfect example of how marketers targeted an age group and made them feel unique by classifying them with their own category; tweens. The tween group is the worst for this type of ‘quicksand effect’. Every tween wants to fit in, be cool and liked. If the market is telling them it’ll make them cool, then it has got to be true, right? It is horrible to know that consumers are targeting such a young and vulnerable market. One that they can mold to be the consumer they want them to be. The Bratz doll is a good example of this. And what is more absurd is that now they’re are targeting younger girls, with baby Bratz. I’m sorry, but that is uncalled for. Why on earth does a 3 year old girl need to know how to be spoiled, a nag and dress sleazy.      

Week 4: Moral Panics Through the Ages

Justine Cassell and Meg Cramer. High Tech or High Risk? Moral Panics about Girls Online

It has come to no surprise that no matter which generation someone came from, there was always moral panic about sexual prowlers. Unfortunately with the ever so fast rising technology, sexual prowlers do not need to pray young girl in public, they can do it from home over the internet. The majority of parents feel that it is never their child’s fault that these predators came after them, rather it is the adults fault. Many can argue that it takes two to tango, and that both parties are to blame. Granted, that an adult should know better then to come after a young and vulnerable girl, however if the girl exposes herself to the public, then who is really to blame? Is she the victim in the end?

It is a known fact that as teenagers emerge into the adult world, there are several obstacles they must surpass. One of the most common trends is to disobey their parents. Be it either dressing to inappropriately, or hanging out with the wrong crowd, it is usually bound to happen. The internet has become another means for this type of rebellious behavior. And by posting sexually explicit photos of ones self, or blogging about sexual behaviors, it is bound to lead to trouble up ahead. So in the end, is it really fair to  blame the internet for this moral panic, or are the young girls who are trying to find their way the ones to blame? 

 

Henry Jenkins. The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Fear politics can be seen as beneficial, when these policies are being used in a correct manner. For the sake of moral panic, and fear of sexualization of young girls, yes, a policy should be made where these girls cannot have access to certain sites. In order to get back an anti-fear socitey, certain actions must be taken. For starters, young children, especially teenagers (since we all know they are the ones who seem to rebel the most) should be allowed access to certain sites where safety is the number one objective. Moreover, adults should not have access to these sites where children are allowed to chat and blog in. Of course parents will begin to panic that they cannot see what their children are talking about, but at least they know it is only with other children. Of course no such site does or probably ever will exsist, but in the ideal world, I think it could work. As a safe heaven where kids can be kids and explore and share their thoughts, stories and ideas with other kids, and know that they are to some extent safe from online predators.