Throughout my high school and college education thus far, I have had many classes that make me think deeply about certain assignments or subjects. But none of these have ever made me realize something about my own life that I had never realized or notice before. During the course of this class, I have become aware of all of the media that surrounds us. It is everywhere… literally, everywhere. You can’t really even walk down the street without seeing someone on their cell phone, laptop, or iPod. Over the years its been a gradual phenomenon that has brought us to now, where we can actually be our own media. We have gained so much control over it that we can be the controller (kinect, epidermal electronics, etc.). Even though we have gained control in some ways of our media, media still has such a grasp on us. We are so “addicted” that in studies of people who abstain from their technologies, the subjects experience withdrawal symptoms. From learning all of this in T101, I have accepted that technology is an inescapable part of life that is here to stay. It will only become more and more invasive and personal until every detail of our lives are readily available for others to see. It is up to us, now that we are aware, to make the choice to ride along with the information movement or to shield what we share online.
-Meghan Burke
meeburke@indiana.edu
Why I Heart My Media 