Intro: Who do you think you are? by Bridget Benitez

Bridget Benitez

Intro: Who do you think you are?

What is your role in media consumption, critique and/or media making. How much of who you are is measured against media examples and images? How much of our common experience involves shared mass media images, events and stories? Use several media examples to illustrate your description of your relationship to media.
Can you think of ways that the media covers activists, acts of resistance and protest? How do you feel about this relationship? Use examples to illustrate your answers. Your blog post must be at least 4 paragraphs and you must include at least one link and one image.

About Me: My name is Bridget Benitez, I lived in Jersey City my whole life. I am a part time student in NJCU and full time employee at JCMC. I am an animal lover - my favorite living beings are dogs, cats, pandas, elephants and many more. My major is Biology - I was influenced by my employment to go into the medical field. I like shopping, painting, photography, dancing, music and much more. We are all here because we have a purpose -  I know my destiny is to make a difference in the world but I am too young and can't seem to figure it out yet.  

Media has evolved greatly throughout the years and has always played a major role in our society. Media can be looked as a positive or negative influence. Newspaper, book, radio stations, podcasts, videos, social media - it was all designed to help us be more aware in what is going on in different parts of the world (local, national or global). As Americans we have the freedom to see what is going on around the world, not everyone has that advantage such as North Korea. Technology has become part of our community - we are more connected than before. I personally use media every single day for entertainment, information, communication, research and personally. 

Selena Gomez and The Weekend New Romance

From my perspective, social media is a good way to communicate and it's a knowledgeable tool, however, people have been using it to their advantage to use media for bullying. This is the major disadvantage about social media - I thought people were very judgmental before, now everyone is judging you if you are on social media. Social Media in general - there are a lot of hateful people out there. People like celebrities who are constantly being watched by paparazzi do get a lot of negative comments. For example, recently paparazzi took pictures of the famous could couple - The Weekend (Abel Tesfay) and Selena Gomez - we don't know if they are reading these comments and rumors and even care. Since those pictures appeared; rumors have appeared along with it. Saying that Justin Bieber (Selena's Ex) is doing whatever he can to get her back, The Weekend is just using Selena to get his Victoria Secret ex back, stupid rumors - that aren't hurtful to us personally but it could either be entertain to read or just annoying. I personally don't care, if they are happy great! I liked them both - they deserve to be happy. If they were just hanging out and caught up on the moment and aren't really dating, great! At least they had fun and were able to enjoy the night. Whenever I have time, I do read the comment people post under these articles - and I could tell you this much - there are so many disrespectful and rude people. There are girls threatening Selena or vise versa guys threatening The Weekend just for a pictures paparazzi took. It's not only celebrities but average people. They post a selfie before you know it, it's either bad or good - you could be the next celebrity walking the red carpet or you could the next meme. It could go either way.  

Our lives are now more publicized because of technology and social media. There are people who would never imagine themselves being famous are now famous because of a video or picture they've posted, a good example is Alex from Target. A regular teenager working in Target gets his picture taken as he was scanning some products - which lead him to be a celebrity on YouTube. Before Vine was removed - there people like King Bach, Brittany Furlan, Logan Paul, and many more who became famous because of us the audience. Many more celebrities like Justin Bieber, Carley Rae Jepsen, Cody Simpson and many more are famous because of social media. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat has given us the audience the power to comment and give our point of view. We have been given this power to make people famous because of social media. These celebrities wouldn't be where they are because of our power! It's great that people can be easily recognized for their talents. The reason I mention this about normal people becoming celebrities is because you never know when you could be the next one becoming famous because of a picture or video you've posted for the public to see.   

A Dogs Purpose Leaked Video

Years ago, if tragedy occurred across the state or even the world, it would take hours or even days to receive these updates - today, we are notified within seconds and could watch it live in our smart phones or tablets. It's amazing how we could watch everything live in our portable devices. A good example is the leak video of the dog actor who was forced into the water during the filming of A Dog's Purpose; majority of the audience is very upset and everyone is putting their opinions on the web. This is tragic because we have all this advance technology - they could of virtually made that scene - the audience is very upset off this incident. Maybe film crews would do this to other animals back in day, but that is animal cruelty - we are in the 21st century - things like this should not be happening anymore. Thanks to PETA justice will be served - not only are the crew members of the production are being taken to court - animal lovers will be boycotting the movie by not watching the movie and signing a petition so it isn't played in theaters. I personally love PETA - it's a great organization that fights for animals rights. I am an animal lover - I support this organization - I support animal rights but I am not vegan. However, hopefully in the future I can contribute to the animal society by becoming a veterinarian and make have affordable health care for pet owners.      

Social Media became popular when I was probably in the 5th grade - MySpace it was a big deal - if you had it, you were popular - if you didn't, you were consider a nerd. I made a MySpace by the end of 6th grade and Facebook came out - created an account for that too. So I've been using social media for majority of my life - it's the worst addiction - I can control it, I could go with days, weeks and even months without. Now Facebook posts News Feeds base on your likes. That is why every time I read an article or watch a clip it's based on my interests and it very satisfying. I do comment on the negativity but I prefer giving compliments to family and friends - celebrity rumors it could depend. All I know is that I have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and a Google account - I do like sharing my moments with family and friend, I do like sharing my point of views publicly. 

It's amazing how media has evolved throughout the years. When you have family living on the other side of the country - back in the day it would take days for them to receive a letter from you - now it's just a click away. We are updated constantly about what is occurring around the world within seconds. All our questions could be answered in the palm of our hands. Nothing is the same - we have evolved. Life isn't the same either - nothing will ever be the same. I've noticed that my childhood is totally different from my younger sister's childhood. The positive things about media - its a great research tool, good for long distance communications, informative, entertainment and much more. The negative things about media - there is a lot of bullying in social media, there are rumors and false information in the web.