response 3

Brandin Reggio

Response 3

            I chose to monitor my use of media on this past Saturday and Sunday. I selected these two days in particular because I did not have work or school on Saturday and I have more time for media related activities. The technique in which I used to record and monitor my media intact could be called characterized as observation. As discussed in chapter two, observation is a key component in sociological research. So, on Saturday and Sunday I went on my computer and checked and updated my Facebook. I also replied to my Kean e-mails. The use of technology has greatly increased as a norm for American and world culture, and they have certainly become a norm for me. I constantly hear stories told to me by my dad about when he was a kid and no one used to be on cellphones or Ipads. There were also no computers in individual houses. He would tell me that everything was face to face and when he was a kid he was always out playing at the park. Now, he said, everyone is on their phone twenty four seven and they are constantly updating their facebook status every hour on the hour. To even do anything for school you have to do it online! For example, every assignment for this class has to be posted on three different websites. However, 30 years ago this was not the case. This fact is one way that our culture has evolved and how the norm of “face to face contact” was replaced by “internet and computer contact”. I believe that is socialization at its core, because our society over a gradual period of time deemed this behavior as acceptable.  I must say that computer use is the biggest way that I was socialized over the past two years. I was never a “big computer person” and never even had an e-mail up until senior year of high school. Now, all I do is go on the computer. I believe that is exactly what socialization is.

            Another media outlet that I used was the television. The wide usage of television has definitely been around for longer than the computer. Yet, the frequency of which it is being used has gone up. I am basing these statements on what I have heard from older members of my family and friends. It almost seems as if people do not even leave their home anymore. When I was a young boy, I used to go to blockbuster and rent movies. But now a lot of blockbusters are going out of business. All you have to do to rent a movie is order it online and it is mailed straight to your house through Netflix. I, taking the role of a sociologist, see that again human to human contact has been given up as a norm for computers and television. Another norm that has changed is the content that is being watched. On Saturday night, I watched HBO re-runs of Boardwalk Empire, one of my favorite shows along with True Blood. Both of these shows are filled with violence, nudity, sexual content, and offensive language. However, this has become the norm for much of America’s television. I am not saying that there was not offensive material on television thirty years ago, but from the information that I have been given, it was not at the extent it is now. To be perfectly honest, the crude and vulgar material does not even bother me because I have been socialized to believe that it is entertaining. Coming from the culture that I am, my very conservative Portuguese Catholic grandmother showed me that these types of things are not norms to her generation. But as different as our entertainment norms are, I still live in the same world and home as her. This, as a sociologist, leads me to believe that culture is ever changing and evolving. C Wright Mills stated that the society around us has an immediate effect on us. And, this can be seen through the fact that each generation has different norms even though they are living in the same world. This is an example of sub-culture.

            On Sunday, I had work. I work at the deli department in Stop and Shop, so one may not think I am exposed to media here. Working for a big company like Stop and Shop, I see bureaucracy at its worst, and sometimes I understand where Karl Marx was coming from.  On the ride to work, I listened to music like I always do. I listened to songs from The Carter 4, which is Lil Wayne’s new cd. Again, just like television, the music is full of violence and sex. But, because it is the norm to me, it does not bother me. I do not really even listen to the messages sent out; it is more like mindless music with clever verses. If I were to put this music on in an Amish community, I bet you their “ears would bleed”. Or, better yet, if I was to put this on around my grandmother, she would grab her rosary beads and start praying. I feel as if I have been socialized into thinking that sex and violence are entertaining, I have been desensitized by media and the world around me. There is not much media at work around me, except the intercom blasting advertising products to buy at the store. This constant advertising of these products tries to show us that we “need” them to better our lives. I cannot flip through the channels on my television without seeing ten commercials for “this amazing product” or “that special thing”. And, it is another part of our culture telling us to be consumers and buy these things. This is a part of our Capitalist world’s socialization program.

            Throughout this whole social experiment, I came to one solid conclusion. This is that socialization is all around us and it is ever growing and changing. Today’s norms may be tomorrow’s awkward occurrences. Culture is not “set in stone” and just because your parents acted a certain way does not mean you will too. Nevertheless, I do believe that it is intelligent to keep in mind that there is much to be learned from the past. As a sociologist, a student, and a member of a society, my deduction is that media has immensely affected my life and the way I have lived it.