Media Concepts and Feed

When reading multiple books at one time, things can often get a bit overwhelming. However, often one may find connections between several books if reading them during overlapping time periods. In the Media/Society book by David Croteau and William Hoynes many media related concepts are presented. One particular concept I found to be notable was that of A model of media in the social world. This concept entails different parts consisting of the social world in the center, surrounded by the readers or audience, medial message or product, the media industry, and technology.
The four parts of the model described are "simultaneously a part of the social world and surrounded by the social world" (Croteau 25). Each part of the media model are all related to one another. One component would not be the same without the others because they all work together. For example, we use technology in order to send and receive information on the medial message or product. This media model in the social world is not just a concept that exists in the Media/Society book. One may find that this concept reappears indirectly in other forms.
One such novel that presents its own version of the concept described in Media/Society regarding the model of media in society is the novel Feed. This book by M.T. Anderson tells the story of Titus, who had a Feed transmitter implanted into his brain and has to learn how to function without it. The concept of the model of media and the social world relates to this story because the "Feed" transmitters send news updates, ads, commercials, reminders and many other things directly to the brains of humans. This directly relates to Media/Society in that each aspect of the model of media in the social world work together because the industry is able to send the medial message or product information to consumers through Feed technology.

"You go try to have fun like a normal person, a person with a real life - just for one night you want to live, and suddenly you're screwed" (Anderson 53). This quote shows the display of reliance on the Feed, and how the kids in the novel realize that their everyday life depends on Feed updates constantly.

Media Memoir

Over the years media has evolved in many ways. My personal experience with media has also changed drastically as media has evolved over the years. As a young child, my media experience consisted primarily of television. I used to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings just as every other child did. As a child, I knew everything I saw on television was not real; however many of the shows I watched had an influence on me.

As I progressed into my teenage years, I began to use the internet more and more. The internet has grown extremely fast over the years, and is now one of the most prominent types of media for my age group. Growing up, my dad taught me a lot about computers and how the internet works. This was very beneficial because as I got older I was able to learn more about online media myself. My family tends to use internet very often for work, news, and leisure.

Radio was also a prominent form of media for me growing up. I used to listen to the radio before CD’s and mp3 files become the new age. I also remember riding in the car with my dad when I was younger and he would listen to National Public Radio. At the time, I also nagged him to change the station because I considered talk radio to be boring. Listening to talk radio more recently, I realized that it is very informative for news and many of the topics are actually very interesting. Recently, this past Fall I was interviewed about online social networking on Vermont Public Radio. This changed my opinion of talk radio, because I realized they include topics I am interested in. The interview allowed me to explain the prominence of social networking sites such as facebook.com or myspace.com to an older demographic that may have little to no knowledge of these sites.

Newspapers were not as prominent in my childhood, besides the typical comic strips. I always saw my parents reading newspapers but never really understood why they enjoyed that so much. As I got older, in my later years of high school, teachers began to encourage students to read the newspaper and assigned summarizing articles. This made me begin to get involved in reading the news.

Personally, I do not enjoy reading something that I am not necessarily interested in; whether it may be book, magazine, or newspaper, if it is not on a topic of my liking, than I will dread reading it. Instead of reading a book or newspaper, I would much rather watch television, browse the web, or listen to radio or music. The web is the most prominent form of media for me today, and will more than likely become traditionally accepted form of media in our society.