Reflection

   
     Over the course of my study of media, I realized something major; I consume a lot of media. I do not  even watch TV very often, and I still find myself consuming media in all different forms at almost any given moment. I might be driving down the street and I could see a billboard, bumper sticker and sign and hear a radio commercial or show all at the same time. Media has become an ever-present factor in our lives, and has and will continue to have an enormous affect on our culture as a whole.  I feel that the constant presence of media blurs the line between what I like and want, and what the media is telling me I want as a teenage girl. 
     After studying media for a few months, I definitely noticed that as I realized the enormity of the amount of media around me, I have begun to analyze almost every form of media being thrown at me. If I see an advertisement or a commercial I automatically start analyzing the target audience, the techniques it uses, and the needs that it appeals to. Then I decide if, based on my knowledge, the marketing campaign will succeed or not. This helps me to reconsider how I receive messages that the media directs towards me.  Without the knowledge that I have about media, I would most likely make decisions based more on emotion (i.e. what the media tells me I want or need) rather than take a step back, and make a decision based off of logic. 
     My media consumption habits have not necessarily changed this semester so much as I have changed the way that I perceive the media that I do consume. I still watch TV shows that use product placement, however I actually notice the product placement and know that they are doing this on purpose to make me buy stuff. At one point I would have seen a Haley Dunphy on Modern Family using Lash Blast mascara, and thought to myself "I wish my eyelashes looked like that." and gone out and bought Lash Blast mascara like the poor media consuming sponge that I was just a few months ago. 
     Some people are not so fortunate as to be media-literate as I am. As a consumer, this is very dangerous because it becomes very easy for marketers to make them genuinely feel like they need the product and they will use their emotional instincts to make decisions instead of being logical. Even people who are perfectly intelligent find themselves succumbing to the messages of the media without even realize that they are doing so. Without media literacy, consumers are extremely vulnerable to the messages of advertisers. By keeping this log, I have proof that what I just described is true. In my first log, when I was not used to the idea of everything in the media being the way it is for a purpose,  I talked about how it irritated me that there was little more information on a billboard besides a phone number, and a picture. Back then, I probably would have called the number. Now I know that the billboard was simply trying to appeal to my need to satisfy curiosity.