The simple television has completely changed the world and also changed how we view the media. This is by far the most attractive way to find information. We rely on sight the most as people, so it only makes sense that the television gets more attention than listening on the radio or reading the news. Not only has it changed the way we find out things, but it also lets you find out about it right from your couch without having to do anything.

The first film we had to watch was called “Tuning into media”. I liked this short 9 minute film because we take our TV’s for granted and this really showed what behind that. The truth about television and the history it has brought us. One thing that I saw as soon as the film started rolling was how “outdated” it seemed. I don’t think it was really that old but I think technology has advanced so much in the last couple of years that we think it seems old. Once something is replaced in the technology world, it is gone forever. People want the newer and more quality gear. After something better comes out, nobody will ever use the old and outdated version. A few years ago box TV’s were still a thing. All of my friends had one, I had one. Now if you see a box TV, your questioning the decisions of the owner. Everyone has a flat screen now. It is a better TV, not as awkward, and obviously gives you a better picture and sound. I’m only 19 years old. This transformation and advancements happen so rapidly. The potential for technology and media with TV’s and radios is through the roof. It’s actually kid of scary to think about.

The second film we had to watch was “Rod Serling, Submitted for your Approval”. I was very excited to see this pop up on our syllabus because I love the “Twilight Zone”. Every New Year’s day, my family and I sit down and watch the Twilight Zone, we usually have it running all day. Rod Serling was an older actor. Out of my time, but I still know who he is. He is only in glimpses of the series but he is a familiar face that everyone must know. The film went on about his life, how it followed his trip when starting off with the Twilight Zone. I never knew until I watched the film that Serling was a huge pivotal point in the making of “Planet Of the Apes”. That makes perfect sense after I thought about it. The old Planet of the Apes have a very creepy feeling to them throughout the whole film. Not a scary feeling, but an unsettled and almost worried feeling. The Twilight Zone is a perfect example for getting that feeling. So now I see how he contributed to the production of that movie. Serling was a very interesting man, he worked with both CBS and NBC. Not at the same time obviously but those are two great programs to have worked for and be able to put those on your resume. A very talented man with a very talented career.

History has brought us some very unique entertainment, of all cultures. Along the way, there has been very influential movements that make us who we are as a nation. One of those crucial movements was the long entertaining movement of music.

In modern day society, it is normal to want to experience excitment with your eyes, Media is an example of that, with TV and Live airings, but there is a whole other aspect of entertainment that we can experience with our ears. Music has always been apart of our history. It has changed drastically throughout that time. Every decade seems to bring out a different mood of music. The music industry holds some of the most influencial people to ever walk this planet. David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson all changed the world with their music. Artist have so much power in this world. These people have changed the ways we talk, listen, dress, feel. There is always different and new music coming out that there is no way of predicitng it’s potential. Modern day music however, holds a lot of below average artists who maintain the publicity with terrible music. Tekashi 69 and Fergie come to mind first when I think of poor music.

The screening for this week was “downloaded”. I watched this last year in Professor Schlegels Social Media and Society class. I didn’t even know about this event in time until we talked about it and researched it. I asked my parents about that time and my dad said it impacted the world. It changed the way we used technology and also changed how we listened to music. Essentially, Napster is multiple online services that help you stream your music through file sharing and digital audio files. Before that time, you had to buy all of your music, which in the long run will cost you a fortune if you listened to a lot of music. The Napster movement helped eliminate the paying factor to music. You could download all music at the touch of a button. This was very overwhelming to most people because you never could have had your hands on all music before Sean Parker came around with this historical idea. 80 million registered people were using Napster. It quickly spread and became a viral service very quickly. The sun always has to come down though and Sean Parker and his Napster crew found themseleves in legal trouble when running into copyright issues. The online service was shut down by the court. It didn’t matter though because the idea was out and nobody would ever pay for music again because it impacted people in a big way. Napster was stopped, but it came back in different ways. Now there are hundreds and millions of ways to get free music. Napster wasn’t that long ago. It goes to show how quickly the world can change. Its all about influencers. People that make things happen affects everyone.

I enjoy listening to music and I don’t think I’ll ever stop listening to music. I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.

This week in class, we talked a lot about the media and how it affects our everyday life. It is hard to talk about a lot every week when we only have one class, but there is a lot said in our block time. We touched on the topic of the newspapers and the media behind it.

Newspapers have been an extremely pivotal part of our history, That is how the news began. Unfortunately technology has taken over the news media and newspapers are becoming outdated. Everything that we need to know can be seen in seconds from our phone. If we don’t see it on our phone then it will definitley pop up on the TV or even the radio. I will say though, I like to read sports news papers because you can read about the back stories and the quiter topics. You wont see that on TV or on your phone because it doesn’t really attract immediate attention. My parents and my grandparents grew up on newspapers, so they understand the change way more than I do, or for any kid. Cellphones weren’t a thing during that time so newspapers were the next best thing. Politics, Economy, sports stats, movies. People found out everything through the newspapers. It’s not completley dying down either. For example, the FIAT LUX is still an up and moving newspaper across campus. One of my roommates is currently writing for them and he is busy all the time writing. There are still so many journalists and writers still that i’m not sure if the newspapers will ever die down. I know you can find the same article online usually, but I think more people by from stores.

The film we had to watch this week was “The Wire” season 5 episode 1 (More with Less). The whole episode is based on a very stressful time for politics. Mayor Carcetti is trying to get a campaign together and is sturggling with what is known as a “campaign promise”. He is attempting to modernize the Baltimore Police department when his whole operation is stopped due to the funding needed for the educational community. That is a really tough situation to be in. He rightfully leads people on to believe that his campaign will make a difference to the Police Department and then he has no say in the shutdown to funds and there is no way to fight for it because education is the future of our people. Drug frontiers is also a topic brought up in this episode. Trying to make boundaires and dividing lines between counties. Not only did this episode make me a little anxious, but it also keeps you interested throughout the hour.

Reading is a true skill that all kids must have when going through school. Not being able to read really holds you back in many ways. It is useful for so many things around the world. Thats why we are reading as soon as we enter Kindergarten, (and for some kids its even longer) However, the world around us is changing in drastic ways. The early stages of technology are shooting through the roof and only improving from here. Most people now are just reading what they want to off of their phones or tablets. It started about 10 years ago when amazon came out with the Kindle. That was the first big step into reading over a screen. After the kindle started coming out, buying paperback books started to go down tremendously.

Do we need books? yes, absolutely, if we didn’t read about things then we would be so unprepared and left in the dark. It iOS very important to stay up to date on current events and write ups and new books. With today’s modern technology though, most of that reading is done off of social media and off of our screens, rarely do we pick up a book anymore hoping to better ourselves for the immediate future.

Our generation is the first group that was born into technology like this, with the smart phone and the Smart TV’s and computers and also the kindle. My parents still mostly read paperback books because that’s what they know, they grew up on paper books so they like to stick with it. It is completely opposite with our group however, we are starting to grow up on all of these technology devices and we will most likely continue using those until we die, because of comfort. Not because we know it’s better, just simply because we are comfortable using that equipment and we tend to gravitate more towards the way we are comfortable with. In multiple years, there will be something else that comes along that blows all of this under the water. Something that is very convenient and at the same time just better than everything else before it when it comes to technology. I’m equally excited as I am scared. Technology is a very intimidating aspect of life that we can’t let slip our minds. Books have drastically changed over the years from paperbacks to completely on technology now. We buy most of our textbooks online now just for example, but as technology changes, surely we will too.