teens online

I think that this frontline special was a great wake-up call to parents about how kids are using the Internet. This new medium has created several new positive and negative influences for teens especially. I cannot believe how fast the internet has changed our culture. This generation uses the internet for everything from research to satisfying social needs that go unfulfilled in our own lives. Friends are contacting each other through social networking sites rather than meeting face-to-face and we are also using this medium to create and maintain our most private relationships. All teens need to be informed of the dangers and precaution they should take online but I did however think this tv spot was overblown. I found this article from the MIT Technological Review and felt it presented some good points about online use:

"For almost a decade now, the debate about youth and new media technologies has been polarized around two conflicting mythslet's call them the Myth of the Columbine Generation and the Myth of the Digital Generation. The first is driven by fear, the other hope, but both distort the reality kids and parents must negotiate in the online world, and both exaggerate the centrality of digital media in children's lives.Parents, educators, and policymakers can get whiplash trying to respond to the competing pull of these two myths. One pulls us toward wiring every classroom in the country so that kids may enjoy the benefits of digital access, the other mandates filtering programs in school and library computers since kids can't be trusted once they log on."

The major problem here seems to be about finding a balance. How much is too much and how far is too far when the internet is concerned? As a culture, we have profoundly mixed views about how much adolescents should be protected from adult realities and almost uniform agreement that children should be protected from pornography. I think a lot of responsibility of how much teens use the internet should be placed on parents.

Teens today face a public life with unimaginably wide possibly for publicity. The internet opens up a whole new world of possibility. We can basically advertise ourselves for friendship, for jobs, and anything else we desire. Because of this, I do no thins it is accidental that teens live in a culture infatuated with celebrity, the “reality” presented by reality TV and the highlypublicized dramas (such as that between socialites Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie).

FCC Regulation

a. describes Dunbar's theories of "The Spinning Door", "Frequent Flying", and "What occurs behind closed doors" in regards to the Center's investigation into the FCC

The spinning Door: This reflects the findings thatr many employees within the FCC are former industry executives and lawyers, and vice versa. Dunbar uses Dorothy Atwood, former chief of the FCC's Wirelind Competition Bureau and discusses her switch to SBC. He points out that while not illegal there is a serious conflict of interest present when this happens.

Frequent FLying: This refers to the "cozy" relationship between the agency and the industry. The study entitled "On the Road Again-and Again" revealed that the FCC had accepted nearly 2.8 million in travel and ebetertainment over eight years. The FCC coutered this attack saying that they were providing services for small businesses etc.. with some aid that would otherwise cost them too much money but a lot of exoenses were unexplainable. These executives flew first class, stayed at lavish hotels, and reflested a lot of unnecessary spending. Congress has put a cap on the amount of travel the FCC can accept however in an ideal situation, all travel money should come from the agency or from a non profit organization.

Behind Closed Doors: the top decision makers at the FCC often "rub elbows" with those they regulate. Before the FCC deregulated many restrictions, several secret meeting went on with industry leaders like SBC and Viacom. These are officially called ex parte meetings.

b. at the end of the article even chairman Powell says that sometimes industry influence over the FCC has gone too far. Has anything happened since the writing of this article in 2003 to change this?
I do not think that much has really happened since this article. With all the other problems going on in the nation, many just are not that concerned with the FCC. Michael Powell is no longer leading and hopefully our new government will make necessary changes. I agree with Stigler in that regulatory agencies are destined to become beholden to the very industry they are supposed to regulate.

Trend-Setting Media

"Often advertising is not about keeping up with the Joneses, but about separating you from them. That's especially true of advertising directed at a particular group, such as adolescents or young-adults - it's called 'dog-whistle' adversiting because it goes out at frequencies only dogs can hear."
Dr. James TwitchellSmithsonian, April 2000

The media has become more and more saturated into our culture today. Marketers seem very well aware that they have the power to set the new trend just by coming up with that perfect ad campaign or getting the right person in Hollywood to represent their product. Life without technology feels impossible with the explosion of cell phones, mp3 players, and blackberry’s etc… 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 everything we experience us as individuals, it is probably the commercials seen on television that have the most influence over our own choices and decisions. In America, the media and advertising are some of the biggest influences on an individual's method of viewing and interpreting the world around them. The influential power of the media is reaching controversial levels and very few aspects of life in America remain outside the pressure of these outlets. Violent programs, biased twenty-four hour news networks, and impossible social standards promoted by advertising are some of the negative byproducts of modern media. Nonetheless, television, radio, print ads, and other forms of media all remain crucial to the dissemination of knowledge and ideals which continue to inform people's views about the world.

If you go to this link, you will read an article about how to generate influential propaganda: http://www.doshdosh.com/the-art-of-propaganda-seven-common-techniques/

I thought this article was interesting because it hit on some major techniques that marketers use to influence its audience. One particular point that this article makes is the importance of appealing to the audience’s emotions. This tactic can be seen in many commercials on TV like the Hallmark card campaigns or as the holiday’s approach, those tacky family food commercials with everyone around the table, talking, laughing, and enjoying a nice holiday meal. The article also lists six other main tactics such as name-calling, glittering generalities, and testimonials. These are just some of the ways that advertisers manipulate language and images to capture our attention. The following are some true statements I have found to be true about advertising:

• Advertising sets us up to feel dissatisfied - even if we think we have everything we need, ads will still try to convince us that there is something else we need.
• Advertisers try to show us how much more satisfied, popular, happy, hip, attractive, sexy, fun and in control we would be if we had their product.
• Fashion and trends are always changing so that we must continually spend money to be current.
• Advertising stresses competition and status versus feeling good about being who you are and accepting others for who they are.

One trend that I think has the most influence in teen culture especially today is the projection of the perfect female body. Images of the thin, idealized female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food (USA today 2006). Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career. The American research group Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc. says that one out of every four college-aged women uses unhealthy methods of weight control—including fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting. Who introduced this trend? Who taught girls that being thin was the only way to go? Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery. Television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a woman’s worth. Canadian researcher Gregory Fouts reports that over three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight, and only one in twenty are above average in size (BBC News World Edition, Feb 5 2003).

Killing Us Softly is a 20-minute film that is an excellent resource for use by classes or discussion groups that want to explore the impact of advertising images on society's view of women. This is extremely eye-opening.
Here is a link for a seven minute clip from the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHrVyVgwRg

Here are some sample images of women in the media: