Media is everywhere

Media, it is everywhere. It is essentially hard to get away from it. People use media for many things such as, communicating with friends and family, gathering their daily news fix, and general entertainment. The media may have a way of controlling us and what we think, but as the media continues to evolve, we become more and more a part of it.

In our ever changing world, we discover new technological advances. Anything from new social media sites to the latest iphone, or samsung galaxy. It's everywhere and we are consuming it everyday. Some of us more than others. From pictures on instagram to snapchat, to tweeting about events in your community, to those long ass facebook stories that some people post. We are part of this never ending loophole of the media.

Social Media. As human beings we need social interaction, we are so called social "creatures." many of us get our daily social interactions by interacting with others on social media accounts, such as facebook, instagram, snapchat, twitter, reddit, youtube, etc. according to ( Author first and last name) kids and teens who use social media are at a higher risk of having depression or suicidal thoughts. This is due to the lack of face to face interaction and conversation.

How social media influences us

The use of social media is becoming kind of a social norm. Various companies and businesses use the many different forms of social media as a way to market, sell, or promote themselves or their products. The more a company or business can successfully use social media to promote, the more people are going to want to see what they are all about. People will also be more influenced to purchase something from these companies or businesses. Often times, these companies or businesses use pictures and post them in order to draw people in, which makes sense. In my experiences, I know that I am more influenced to purchase something when there are pictures advertising it.

The manipulative power

In the book the Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone, it is mentioned several times that the media can be easily manipulated. Since anyone can use social media, anyone can post whatever they want. People can simply post their opinion about a particular topic which often times blows up into a worldwide discussion that may turn into an argument. Along with people being able to post whatever they want to, certain sites can get a hold of your account information and show you a questionable amount of pictures, videos, and stories based on what you like and dislike on your social media account(s).

The media has a way of manipulating/influencing us to have certain political views as well. Whoever is likely to be controlling what we see on our various social media sites has enough power to pick and chooses what to show us for upcoming elections. For example, if we tend to like posts on the democratic side rather than the republican side, then we will see more democratic posts then republican, visa versa. Moreover, if we tend to like more liberal views rather than conservative, then our social media sites will probably be flooded with liberal views. Who has the power to manipulate our social media sites to choose specifically what we see? Could it be that the government has that power, or is it all in our heads because we are so drawn to our daily devices that we think that someone else is controlling it, but really it's you.

People can also manipulate the media by creating fake accounts. Not only is this dangerous, but it is also just plain wrong. People create fake accounts for many reasons, such as to find someone on a certain site and stalk them, or to post certain political views and or fake news stories, and since their account is fake, no one would know whose account it really is. It is always a good idea before accepting friend requests, or follow requests on whatever site, to make sure the person on that account really is who they say they are, and if anything is suspected, block them.

Our role in the media/my opinion

It seems as though everyone has some sort of social media account in our world today, and if it's not a social media account, its some form of technology in which they can access whatever they please. In reality, everyone plays a role in the media, weather you have a facebook account, instagram, snapchat, twitter, or even just tune in to watch the news on your local news channel, you are interacting with the media, you are a part of the whirlwind of it all.

What exactly is our society's role in the media? I think our role in the media is what we post on our various social media accounts, communicating with others through the media, how we interact with what we hear or read on the news, how we take in that information, and weather or not we intend to do something with it, or leave it alone and let someone else take care of it. In a way it is taking over our lives, and I can't help but think, what would I do without it, how would I communicate with my friends and family if I didn't have a smartphone, or computer, because, I genuinely do not know. Maybe that's because I have grown up with it, and I'm so used to it that if it got taken away, I wouldn't know what the heck to do.

For now, I think that the media will continue to advance, and people will continue to find ways to manipulate it, and to influence us how they want to by using the media. I don't know if there is a way to change the technological advances that continue to complicate our world, the media is going to continue to make us believe certain stories, it's going to continue to hold us captive by showing us what we like. In the meantime, all we can do is live with it, and continue to adapt through all the changes.

The younger generation

Considering everyone uses social media, and many other forms of media, it would seem like a good idea to let children in on the action and let them have their own accounts, or use yours. What age though, is a good age to let children use social media? According to laws regarding the use of social media, children younger than 13 are not allowed to use social media or create social media accounts. Despite this age limit, many children younger than 13 still choose to utilize social media and get away with it. There are many dangers online that kids can run into though, and it's not always safe, even for adults.

In my opinion, I think an appropriate age for kids to have their own social media accounts is the early teen years. Mainly because the early teen years is when they start wanting to go out with their friends and they need that constant communication. There are benefits of social media and letting younger teens utilize it, such as the ability to stay in communication with family members that live far away, seeing events that may be going on in the community, or sharing photos of a vacation so that others can see how much fun it was.

In the era of technology, kids are constantly exposed to different forms of media at a young age.