A common purpose in life is to find, perfect and follow our meaning in life. Everyone has an impact that they will make on something or someone on this earth, and we constantly strive to determine what that will be. Does media help us determine this meaning and work towards a goal, does it not affect anything, or is it counterproductive to what our goals and purpose may be? Media undeniably influences our view of the world around us and what we find meaning in. Because of its control over what we view, how often we view it, and often our level of connection to the digital world, it makes a framework that invariably effects our thoughts and evaluation of things around us. It shapes our drives, tells us what we want and need, and shows us how we can obtain those things that will and do create meaning in our lives. Now, the question is if the meaning projected onto us is productive, positive, significant, what level of individuality and agency remains with it, and what we can do. In this article, "media" is referring to mass and collective online communication in the forms of TV, news media, and online sources, but primarily social media.
I find that I often become distracted by media, both by urges to be on my phone on snapchat and instagram, and thoughts and feelings of jealousy, wishing, judgment, and so on that come from messages fed to me by the media. I find myself caring more about what other people are doing with their time than what I could be doing at that moment. I find myself wondering if I am good enough for someone based on things they post about themselves or people they are connected to instead of actually basing my views off of someone from my interactions with them, and working towards bettering myself independent of others progress or "status." I find myself wanting to be something or wanting something that is counterproductive to an eternal and vital goal and purpose that will shape who I am and will become in the future. There are already high levels of distraction and pressure in high school to focus and centre our activities and meaning of life on things with little to no significance or meaning that do not bring lasting happiness, satisfaction, or purpose. (Events/activities such as these are fun and healthy, however, when it comes to the point where it is the central meaning of life, it is obviously unhealthy.)
I saw a quote the other day that says,"Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." Media makes us believe that we will find ourselves in it; find a group of people that we can connect to. Fandom accounts we can follow, celebrities that we can find parts of ourselves in and follow, find trends we fit in with, and find meaning in what others have put online. I believe that media also wants to divert our attention from the fact that we create ourselves, that we have significant influence over who we will and can become. They want us to believe that there are moulds and groups that exist that we must find ourselves in, not that we can create our own. Meaning, according to media, comes from finding a group or trend we can identify with, it comes from finding pieces of other people that we can put into a tangible post and profile and account for others to find, follow, like and comment. It takes meaning away from creating intangible, emotional, and human character and purpose. It distracts us from doing things that we cannot see on an Instagram account or someones snapchat story. Now all of this is rather dramatic and not worded in the best possible way. Like basically everyone, I'm still figuring things out. But I have noticed the negative impact that media has on my quest to figure things out and find meaning in my actions and interactions. I do not want media to form my meaning, and I want to change it.
A common purpose in life is to find, perfect and follow our meaning in life. Everyone has an impact that they will make on something or someone on this earth, and we constantly strive to determine what that will be. Does media help us determine this meaning and work towards a goal, does it not affect anything, or is it counterproductive to what our goals and purpose may be? Media undeniably influences our view of the world around us and what we find meaning in. Because of its control over what we view, how often we view it, and often our level of connection to the digital world, it makes a framework that invariably effects our thoughts and evaluation of things around us. It shapes our drives, tells us what we want and need, and shows us how we can obtain those things that will and do create meaning in our lives. Now, the question is if the meaning projected onto us is productive, positive, significant, what level of individuality and agency remains with it, and what we can do. In this article, "media" is referring to mass and collective online communication in the forms of TV, news media, and online sources, but primarily social media.
I find that I often become distracted by media, both by urges to be on my phone on snapchat and instagram, and thoughts and feelings of jealousy, wishing, judgment, and so on that come from messages fed to me by the media. I find myself caring more about what other people are doing with their time than what I could be doing at that moment. I find myself wondering if I am good enough for someone based on things they post about themselves or people they are connected to instead of actually basing my views off of someone from my interactions with them, and working towards bettering myself independent of others progress or "status." I find myself wanting to be something or wanting something that is counterproductive to an eternal and vital goal and purpose that will shape who I am and will become in the future. There are already high levels of distraction and pressure in high school to focus and centre our activities and meaning of life on things with little to no significance or meaning that do not bring lasting happiness, satisfaction, or purpose. (Events/activities such as these are fun and healthy, however, when it comes to the point where it is the central meaning of life, it is obviously unhealthy.)
I saw a quote the other day that says,"Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." Media makes us believe that we will find ourselves in it; find a group of people that we can connect to. Fandom accounts we can follow, celebrities that we can find parts of ourselves in and follow, find trends we fit in with, and find meaning in what others have put online. I believe that media also wants to divert our attention from the fact that we create ourselves, that we have significant influence over who we will and can become. They want us to believe that there are moulds and groups that exist that we must find ourselves in, not that we can create our own. Meaning, according to media, comes from finding a group or trend we can identify with, it comes from finding pieces of other people that we can put into a tangible post and profile and account for others to find, follow, like and comment. It takes meaning away from creating intangible, emotional, and human character and purpose. It distracts us from doing things that we cannot see on an Instagram account or someones snapchat story. Now all of this is rather dramatic and not worded in the best possible way. Like basically everyone, I'm still figuring things out. But I have noticed the negative impact that media has on my quest to figure things out and find meaning in my actions and interactions. I do not want media to form my meaning, and I want to change it.
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