Reflection Week 3/31

     This unit is interesting to me because although most of it is very apparent in society I have never studied it in depth. A lot of it I already knew, I just had never though about it. Studying the media has shown me why our society is the way it is. There were some things I didn't formally know that I found extremely interesting. Psychological  noise was one of these things. I understood the concept of psychological  noise before I read this textbook but I never considered it for myself. For example, selective exposure is a type of psychological noise which is that in general, "we expose ourselves to information that reinforces rather than contradicts our beliefs or opinions." (Culture and Communication) I started thinking about my behavior and if I conform to selective exposure and I found that I do. I tend to only inquire about things I know that I will like the answer to. I don't even do it intentionally but it is how my brain works. I know there is information out there that will contradict my beliefs I just unconsciously chose to not seek it out.
     Another point I found very interesting was about how although nearly everyone views the mass media we all see it differently. "...we all think that what we see with our set of goggles is what everyone else sees." (Culture and Communication) I had never really recognized that everyone sees these things differently and it effects their lives in different ways than it effects mine. I was really grateful that this reading exposed me to that concept because I think that is important and can be applied to multiple aspects of my life. It is also interesting to think about the task of being a media producer, advertiser, director, etc. It must be so difficult to mass produce something that has to have an impact on such a mass audience. Overall I enjoyed diving beneath the surface of our culture and exploring the mass communication and media and how they effect  our  daily lives as well as our life spans.
 
I chose this picture because it demonstrates how the media interconnects all of us and it puts everyone on the same level because the majority has access to the same things.