Today, I finish completing the media use inventory and the results were rather shocking. The days I spend without the media is 105 days. There are 365 days in a year. Subtract 365 from 105 equals 260. I assume I spend 260 days dealing with some sort of media? Anyways, I usually spend most of my time listening to music (5 hours a week) and watching television. (4 hours a week) The total hours a week I spend with media is 20 hours. Yes, practically a day. I truly cannot imagine my life without the media. Ugh, how did people living in the 1800s live life without it? Talk about boredom, but I’m sure they lived a more productive life than me.

Here’s a bit of information about the “you and the media survey” I took.

2. What was the last book you read? What kind of impact did it have on your life? The last book I read was Fast Food Nation. This book has definitely impacted my life by limiting my fast food intake. It also gives a great in dept look about the fast food industry.
13. What is your current favorite song? Nujabes- Think Different. This song is highly recommended for anyone who is into underground hip-hop.
24. Which of the media do you think influences you the most in terms of opinions, values, clothing styles, products you purchase and so on? Why? Definitely television. For examples, VH1’s The Celebrity Life of… show. The public gets to have a glimpse of what a typical celebrity life is. Viewers get to see what sees what the celebrity wears, their opinions and etc. Many people, especially children, eat that up thus imitating the celebrities’ lifestyle.

A quick side note, P Diddy’s girl group Danity Kane debuted number 1 on the billboard charts!



I guess it pays to have reality show.

What is media? The American Heritage Dictionary defines media as “A means of mass communication, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, or television.” In today’s society, the media influences are daily lives, to the clothes we wear, the music we listen to and even the food we eat. One example of this is television. MTV is one of the most watched channels for young adults. Commercials shown on MTV definitely have influence myself and my fellow peers with their snazzy Verison cell phone promotions and beautiful models endorsing the new and improved mascara for Covergirl. Items I don’t care too much for, but will probably give in.

Media is intriguing, especially magazines such as US Weekly. I love celebrity gossip and this magazine covers my needs for it. US Weekly take a glimpse of the celebrity life we all want - wealth, fame and glamour, but also their personal life. If you flip open a page of this magazine, you’re bound to see pictures of celebrities intoxicated or with a new significant other. Obviously, this sells because normal, everyday people want to take a peek of someone else’s life, instead of their own. In the recent US Weekly, I read the article on actress Kate Hudson and how she supposedly cheated on her ex- husband. Obviously this causes a damper on her “good girl” reputation. This article alone probably changed her perfect sweet innocent image, to a cold-hearted woman. Kate Husdon is not the only celebrity affected; famous actor Tom Cruise is another victim of the media. For the past two years, his reputation went down the slopes with his infamous jumping on couch on the Oprah show and his constant PDA with Katie Holmes. Since these incidents, Cruise was recently dropped by Paramount due to his ratings.



In a nutshell, to me, the media is persuading and influential. It is up to us to buy into it or not.