I am a Machine that is run by the Media

What is mass media? Is it those advertisements you see in the bus shelter on your way to school? Maybe the music you hear on the radio? Really I think mass media could be anything. What is disturbing about that is that if media is anything, then it has become basically become intertwined with our society. So how can we escape from a world of media?

You could say that just because you don't have a television, a computer, or an iPod that you are not conforming to this so called world of media, but really who are you kidding. I mean when you walk outside, what is the first thing you see? A bus shelter with a advertisement on it. So you sit there waiting for your bus and when it comes another advertisement is laid out on the side of it. Of course you sit on the bus and you wait for your stop to be called on the PA system, so you know when to get off the bus. Really I could go on, but the point is that no matter how hard you try, you will always be surrounded by media. No matter where you go, or how hard you try you can never get away from it. You have a clock don't you? Well there you go from the second you wake up, it has got you.

So instead of trying to get away from it, just open your eyes and embrace it. I myself have accepted the fact that it will never go away, but I also know I should not let it control every aspect of me either. My eyes are now open to mass media.

1,000 songs in my pocket

This topic is actually a really hard one to blog about, I mean there is so much technology out there which one to choose? I could talk about television, the computer, or even the internet. But what object has combined all of these ground breaking technologies so they can fit conveniently into your pocket?

Who could think of anything else but the iPod? I have the recent version of the iPod which is the the touch (Well really they come out with one every week, so it's probably not the latest) and I can literally do anything on it. I mean who knows if you need to know what's going on in the stock market, maybe you missed the latest episode of the hills or want watch funny videos of people on youtube, or if you need to know how to get to France from Toronto you can do it all on your ipod. I can even do banking on it without having to leave my house and it is even a phone now.

You can basically use the iPod for anything, even as a marketing tool. Who knew who Feist was until she was in an iPod commercial? Who doesn't know the words to 1,2,3,4? Apple was genius when coming out with this multi tasking wonder, people pay hundreds of dollars for it and spend even more on accessories that really do nothing more for it except make it look pretty.

People seem to be so obsessed with their iPod's and according to Michael Bull, a leading expert of the interaction between people and their personal music devices, people use the iPod as a way to control their own space. Meaning that the ipod is sort of a part of the person mind and we are able to control it through the iPod. Like Marshall McLuhan had said in his interview with playboy, media is an extension of the nervous system. So really the iPod is like a attachment that you buy of yourself.

The iPod is a technology that has been proven to enhance with time. Who knows what they will come up with next or the iPod, maybe you can smell your emails?

"The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan." . Mar 1969. 24 Sep 2008. http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html.

Song, Krystle . "iPod Culture." Attack of the iZombies. 24 Sep 2008. http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~krystles/iPodCulture.html.

Event #1

According to Wikipedia, a blog is "A web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video". Since this is my first entry I can't say that it is either maintained or is much of a social commentary; but I would say it is more of an event. How is it an event, you may ask? Well, I have stepped over from being the kind of person who reads blogs and internet sites, to being the author of a blog! I have created my first blog and joined the ranks of millions of bloggers from your average observant civilian to celebrity commentator Perez Hilton. Yes, it is very intimidating to have all my thoughts out there for millions to see, but the world we live in today is very much about expressing our thoughts. Why not express yourself when you can create a blog to do so in only three easy steps? First I created an account on blogger.com and setting it up was very easy, but the second step, picking a background, was very frustrating and a very tedious task. Yes… I know there are only 6 choices and that it should be easy to pick one! But the fact of the matter is that they are not very interesting at all. So really there are very little choices, forcing me to look into other sources for a somewhat interesting layout that portrays what I am all about. Even though I am already endorsing google by using blogger, I must go further by using their search engine to find a layout that suits my taste for their blogging program. Eventually I found a layout that I can live with and even though I had to look for a layout outside of blogger, it wasn't too complicated to figure out how to change it to the layout from the other site. Then after I finally chose my layout I realized that that had been an easy part; I still had to write my blog article! Now that the long and hard process of writing the article was finished, it has come to the end of my first post as an official new blogger to the world of blogging. Blogger makes a very idiot proof system so that anyone can set up their own blog to commentate there daily lives and/or thoughts to the world. The option to choose one of their layouts or to create your own, gives you the freedom to either experiment with different looks or keep it simple. Now I am an official blogger that meets all the criteria that separates a blog from a common web page. I am an individual that has commentated the event of myself becoming an official blogger! I now have the world to witness my thoughts, so thank you blogger for bringing me closer to the online community.


Chanelle



Sources:

"Blog." Wikipedia. 2008. 4 Sep 2008 . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog