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Media Blog Reflection

Overall, keeping this media blog has greatly changed the way I look at the media I consume. When I began this unit, I did not really pay attention to the types of ads I got and the various messages in the media I consumed. Instead, I focused mainly on the surface-level concepts and values it provided me with. However, using the techniques I learned in class, I am now able to analyze the messages I am recieving on a deeper level. For instance, before this unit, when I saw an ad for a product I had previously been interested in, I treated it like it was just a funny coincidence and ignored it. However, now, when I see ads like that, I stop to think about what data companies might have about me that shows them my interests, and whether I really want to purchase everything that I am being advertised. Also, after this unit, I have overall bought less than I typically would, since it showed me how advertising targets our cognitive dissonance to be so effective. Because of this information, I stop before I buy a product and consider deeply whether or not I actually want it, which helps combat these techniques. 
The primary reason it is so important to be an educated consumer with media literacy in our current world is that the consumers hold the power to control the messages that companies send and the actions they take. In a capitalist society, companies’ biggest goal is to fulfill the desires and needs of the consumers, but because of the methods of persuasion they attempt to use, they are able to control the consumers’ desires. Therefore, the consumers have little to no impact on what they are being sold. However, when consumers are educated on how to analyze and break down the media they encounter, they are able to break through the methods that media and advertising use to persuade them. Therefore, their real opinions will have a true impact on the types of products being sold to them. In addition, when the people have media literacy, they will be able to break through bias in the news more easily, and will have a greater grasp on the facts. As a result, they will be more informed about the events of the world from a neutral perspective, which will help them determine their own opinions. As a whole, media literacy allows the opinions of consumers to matter more than the opinions of corporations and the media.

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