Amos Metacognates Via His Keyboard: Media Blog Reflection

As I sit here typing my reflection, trying to figure out what I can say that will have the right blend of thoughtfulness, self-awareness, and humor as well as sufficiently addressing the prompt, I realize that this assignment helped me understand media in a way I would not have expected. Even as I type these sentences, I am trying to create something that is true to myself but in a good way, just as advertising executives all over are constantly trying to construct messages that people will respond to in a positive way and learn to associate with the right product. (This sounds like it's trying too hard to be "deep." Oh well). 

Even though the project was for me to learn from and even though I probably enjoyed my posts a lot more than anyone else, just about every sentence I wrote was partially an attempt to project an image of myself that I like. Is this relevant to the reflection assignment? Maybe. (That was actually my thought but also a way of showing that I can use abrupt transitions to create a not-stiff style while also showing that I am not bound by the directions I received). 

One of my other goals was to make people read about running

That aside, how does the media I consume impact my life? Once again, I think I'll enjoy using my previous blog posts to answer that question. (Just for my own benefit, I promise). The style (titles and number of parentheses used especially) I decided to employ was based on other things I have read on the internet, although at 9:42 p.m. I am realizing that I am not actually sure which sites gave me my ideas. Anyway, it's a reminder that we imitate the things that we see in the world, and if my blog is imitating others odds are I imitate things I see in the media in other aspects of my life.

I haven't payed meaningfully more attention to stuff I see in the media as a result of keeping this blog--there's so much it's just a matter of sifting through it all--but it has changed the way I look at it. I now naturally look for the appeals and needs we discussed in ads and sometimes try to figure out what it's really saying rather than just realizing it's trying to sell something and moving on. As a result of practicing I've probably gotten better at figuring out who is sending the message to whom, and I've also gotten better at noticing something in ads--coming up with some observation or analysis that I would not have before. I think that's kinda cool.

Cantona is saying something about media here. Can you figure it out?

In my first blog post, I talked about how media was banned at my preschool. After this semester, I feel the same way about that policy I did at its outset: probably a good thing. When you're a little kid (and later, but too late for that now), limiting your media consumption is likely going to help your brain and sense of self develop, although a childhood without Harry Potter is a sad thing. The story, the main characters' growth, the importance of love, the beautifully, tragically, perfectly woven-together character of Professor Snape--but I digress. Ultimately, just as I did last sentence, you are going to end up in a world with a lot of media, and you had better be able to understand it, because it is learning to do a creepily good job of understanding you.