Reflection #3

This week in my Understanding Media class we are required to spend 24 hours on a “media fast.” This basically means that we have to go a day without the Internet, texting, movies, television, magazines, ect. The point is to notice how much the media, including the news affects our world, and the frequency to which we utilize these resources, whether for entertainment or dependence. Admittedly, I have putting this assignment off for as long as possible because it is just incredibly inconvenient. However, this week’s lab at the Newseum required me to think about how the media affects my life in an entirely different way. When we think about dependence on the internet, cell phones, and technology in general, a sense of guilt remains in the backs of our minds because so many people view these resources as a double-edged sword: helpful, yet harmful. People claim that we don’t interact with each other the way we used to, and that pretty soon we’ll all just be hermits who check up on the world through various websites and friends that we have never actually met in real life. After seeing the 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, it is impossible to see the media as anything but a blessing, and key resource in today’s world. There is a quote on the wall of the September 11^th movie room that reads, “There are three kinds of people who run toward disaster, not away: cops, firemen, and reporters.” In some ways, I feel like the reporters should not be held up to such a high pedestal, especially during the 9/11 attacks, but the bravery really is undeniable. This was most prominent to me at the Hurricane Katrina exhibit. While everyone was desperately trying to escape the disaster, the reporters were desperately trying to get in. One story that stood out to me in particular was told by a reporter who traveled into the chaos with his team and was confronted by many more obstacles than just finding a good story. He explained that he had to ask the men he came with if faced with the choice of saving a life, or getting a good story or picture, was he allowed to choose the former? In these terrifying situations, these people must do much more than just their job. The Newseum also made me think back to our debate about Machiavelli. While we argued that his attitude towards political image would never work today because of the media, the twisting of stories still exists today through PR firms as was demonstrated by many inaccurate claims made by various big name publications. In general, I have to disagree with the claims that the setbacks brought by technology and often times the media, is equal to the benefits. I believe the benefits of being able to know what is happening in the world at any given moment far outweigh the fear that we are headed towards a hermitic society.