Social Media Pros vs. Cons

     One of the pros versus cons that stood out to me was how social media can impact students' grades in school. The argument here is whether or not kids who use social media are being negatively affected by it when it comes to school.
     On the pros side, a middle school in Oregon introduced a social media program for students to use to help them stay engaged. After this was implemented, grades went up 50% and the attendance rates went up 33%. Social media can also help college students feel more welcome and reduce the dropout rates among freshmen.
     On the other side of things, using social media while doing homework can also lead to the quality of the work decreasing. According to the article they claim that students who use social media while studying score 20% lower than students who don't.
     After some fact checking, the websites that these facts came from all appear to be legitimate, credible sources. At the end of the day, students should study however they want whether it involves using social media or not.

Product Placement

     Product placement is a great way for advertisers to get their name out there and sell their product. Subtly placing certain brands in movies can be a big way to increase profit. Today, I watched the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. The movie is about race car drivers so I assumed there would be plenty of advertising in it. My expectations became true right away. They threw in some phony brands in the movie but overall there were countless companies that made air time in this movie. Each car in the movie had its own company so that is dozens right there.
     There was on particular scene early in the movie where there was a dinner at Ricky Bobby's house and there was so many different things that were placed on the table for the viewers to see. Ricky Bobby even says a prayer at the table and mentions foods like KFC and a few other major brands. Across the table there are other foods like Subway, and Pizza Hut for the viewer to see. There wasn't one main brand that was used in this scene, but a combination of many brands that the movie producers put in order to make the viewers eat their food.

Favorite Readings

     Throughout the semester, there have been many articles and videos that I have genuinely enjoyed doing. A few of my favorites have been the violent video game readings and the pornography industry readings/videos. In the Violent Video Games reading and the Shooting In the Dark passage, it was interesting to see different viewpoints on the issue from different perspectives. As someone who frequently plays these games like Call of Duty, and other violent games, I didn't really think they affected me. After reading some of the studies that were done, they can affect a person's mood/actions directly after playing which is something I found interesting.
     Another topic that was pretty interesting to learn more about was the pornography industry. This is a topic that is rarely taught in schools, so it was pretty nice to learn about something that was considered taboo to talk about. I especially liked the video about the Duke pornstar because it shows that not everybody supports this behavior even though she is doing it mostly for money.
     There have been some readings and videos that I haven't enjoyed as much. For example, the Rise of the Lavish Wedding was one that I personally didn't find as engaging. The topic of weddings and the history of them just didn't connect for me and had me bored while reading it. I did like the Say Yes to the Dress video we watched in class because it shows how crazy some brides are by spending that much money on their dresses.

Pinked!

     In the article "Pinked", by Peggy Orenstein she talks about how toys and many things have become gender oriented. For example, boys are supposed to play with certain toys and girls are supposed to play with certain toys. This was done by marketers who realized that they could make double the profits if they released toys in separate colors for each gender. The example given in the text was parents buying two different baseball bats for their kids. She states, "If you make a pink baseball bat, parents will buy one for their daughter". This is a smart tactic by marketers, but in the long run could be damaging to children. If kids grow up and think that certain color toys are only for one of the genders, then they are likely going to get bullied for playing with the opposite genders' toys. Kids should be able to play with whatever toys they want and feel comfortable. Like she pointed out in the article, kids will make fun of others and expect them to wear certain things. She tells the story about the girl with the Hello Kitty scooter with a "boy's" helmet and another boy exclaimed "How come your helmet's not pink?". Statements like these are what can make kids feel self-conscious and make them feel excluded from being friends with other kids.
   

Why We Play

     One motivation for why we play is for social contact. A large amount of the time kids are playing video games, it is with someone else. Whether they are physically together playing or just chatting through a headset, they are communicating and they feel good because they aren't alone. Jane McGonigal also talks about this during her Ted Talk. She talked about how video games create a social fabric and she even mentions how people like others more after playing games with them whether they are on the same team or not because it creates unity.
     Another motivation for playing games is there are goals and challenges in them. These keep us motivated because we want the best rewards possible and the challenges help us get there. McGonigal also hits on this point in her Ted Talk. She says that there's always something to be done when playing games and we get constant feedback when playing games. These are things that don't really happen as often in real life. McGonigal also says that people are always willing to work with you online which is another thing that isn't always true in the real world.

Football High

     There are some common themes that appear in both "A Variety of Religious Experience" and "Football High". Among them are religion, rules, transportation, social class, and more. I'm going to be focusing on religion and social class. Football can be associated with religion because much like religion, football generally has a specific day that it's played on which is on Sundays. Both football and religion satisfy our need for our psyche and our spirit. They both also make most people feel good and both teach lessons in different ways. This relates to "Football High" because in it, football and religion go hand in hand. The coach of the Shiloh football team is the son of the pastor of the church they all go to. Also, the church is the one that is paying for the team, essentially giving it the success it has.
     Social class also plays a role in this. In "A Variety of Religious Experience", it discusses how there really isn't any cultural background required to play team sports. This is a true statement for the most part, but in "Football High" it tells the story about how some families move around to different schools because their kid isn't getting enough playing time. This shows that in certain areas, you need money to become successful at team sports.

Mansome vs. Boys Will Be Boys

     In the article Boys Will Be Boys by Guy Garcia, he talks how companies try to advertise to "The Average Man". He goes on to explain that there really is no such thing as an average man because all men are so different and enjoy different things and have different styles. This is also shown in the Mansome documentary because they gave men different topics and many responded different ways. An example is shaving their body. Some said that they did and they liked it while others said they let it grow out because they don't care. 

     In the article, Garcia also talks about metro sexuality. This is when men are almost obsessed with grooming themselves and looking good, something that females are generally known for rather than males. The article talks about how this has become a sort of slur and has a negative connotation. In the video, this is sort of proven because many of the men in the video agreed that metrosexual has become a bad term and one of them said that he didn't know anyone who would be proud to be a metrosexual. 

     Boys Will Be Boys also mentioned how men's magazines are becoming more and more like women's magazines. It states that these magazines are, "serving up testosterone-ized versions of women's magazine staples on beauty, health, and relationships." Mansome also describes this concept and said that men's magazines are treating men how women's magazines treat women. They do this by placing strong expectations on them such as having good abs, big muscles, good hair, etc.