Reflections on How and Why We Love Media
from moment to moment a new beggining
from frame to frame a new vision
from brush to brush a new painting
and the world itself is almost fainting
every moment in itself is so much
breathing and exailing what is eternal
the infinite of one second in my hand i can touch
I deem you the creme of the crop
the answer to my brooding stream of consciousness
I salute you… meme
Student ID: 13575198
my relationship with the media and technology in general has always been a bit fluctuating, because on the one hand I think that media and technologies in general are truly the future, both as regards the circulation of information that can be done freely by anyone, but also as mentioned in Marc Zuckerberg’s text, through the foundation of real digital infrastructures, which would completely revolutionize, to cite an example, the concept of public administration.
On the other hand, however, the media influence our everyday life much more than we think, they also force us to expose all our data on servers, as well as filtering and tracing pretty much all the all the actions we do in the platforms, as mentioned in the last lectures all our researches are received, analysed and interpreted in order to be able to show us ads that correspond to our tastes or to something we need; moreover over the years a real supremacy of some media platforms has been established over the others, the two most striking examples of this phenomenon are certainly Google and Facebook, this has led to a homologation of the contents as well as to a further homologation of the average user of the internet, which was forced to use only that certain social network and only in that specific way.
concluding I find that in order to be able to effectively exploit the functional type of media platforms, it would be necessary to raise awareness of the potential that these tools can offer nowadays, furthermore, in order to have a system based only on media platforms, it would be necessary to inculcate a real digital culture.
student number:13611852
As a young child, I spent the majority of my days completely separated from digital media. My fathers reluctance to expose me to digital media at such a young age provided me with a childhood that I remember to have always been peaceful and enjoyable, especially given the bohemian/surfers lifestyle my parents led. However, as I transitioned into what I suppose could be considered as a more “traditional” upbringing in the city, where I attended a public school with kids who had been using digital media on a daily basis since they were toddlers, I began to think of my disassociation to digital media as more of a curse than a blessing.
All the music my parents played for me came from cassettes or vinyl records, we read books for entertainment and kept up with pop culture through magazines, and the rare movie nights we had were all watched on vhs tapes my dad had collected throughout the years. Given my parents’ desire to raise my brother and I on the same mediums they grew up with, I came to realize that I was far behind my peers at school when it came to latest trends, video games, film icons…etc. For the longest time I felt incredibly alienated from the rest of the children at school, I loved reading The Surfer’s Journal, and listening to bands from the 90’s such as Mojave 3, Sonic youth, and Elliot Smith and struggled to find anybody my age who I could relate to and share my passions with.
At the age of 7 my family moved to Amsterdam, and due to the lack of swell and surf culture in the Netherlands I began to take an interest in the next best thing, skateboarding. As soon as I’d get out of school I’d rush home to grab my board and spend the hours leading up to dinner practising the basics in front of my front door. At the beginning of every month I would rush to the skateshop to buy the newest edition of Thrasher magazine and I’d spend the next four weeks reading it front to back, tearing out pages to put up on my wall, dreaming of someday finding my place in the heart of skate culture. As a French speaking young boy I found it intimidating and difficult to insert myself into the dutch skate scene and make friends who shared my passion for skateboarding, so I hardly ever skated anywhere other than in front of my house where I had created my own little skatepark. The curb was my ledge, the speed bump a couple meters down the road was my ramp (which felt so big to me at the time), and the two steps leading into the entrance of our home was my stair set. That area in front of my home had become my favorite place in the world, and I eventually came to know it like the back of my hand. I was aware of every crack and bump in the road and saw them as extra obstacles in my little “skatepark”. Despite loving this space I had created for myself more than anything, It began to feel increasingly lonely as I grew up.
For my 10th birthday I was given my first Iphone and everything began to change. I wasted no time in downloading social media and entertainment apps such as Instagram and youtube, and it brought me extreme joy to finally be able to follow and watch my favorite skaters skate rather than imagine it through a picture. I was discovering twice as much about skate culture due to my new ability to learn about international skate scenes, and about my Idols other creative endeavours through their self promotion on social media platforms, thus inspiring me to dig deeper into different musical styles, fashion design, photography, film…etc, all while still coming to terms with the fact that I was able to access it all with a simple click of a button. This enormous wave of information had hit me like a truck and sent me straight to cloud 9, which I have since never come down from. In other words, my newly acquired access to a plethora of digital media platforms had unlocked the world for me, and anything and everything now felt possible. It bridged the gap between me and the world I had felt distanced from for so long.
The most important thing digital media did for me is that it allowed me to find others my age who shared the same passions, and made it possible for me to connect with them online, and eventually meet them in person. Media helped me find my tribe, and figure out who I am and where I belong… and that is precisely why I love media.
Student ID: 13811371
Media is like a relationship, you can’t have the best of both worlds. You can either perceive a relationship to be good or bad. However, sometimes it’s just a scramble of both and you’re not sure how you feel. Things can either be filled with content or they can not. There will be a constant battle of finding the perfect balance. Ultimately, it’s a love-hate relationship.
10 reasons why I love media:
10 reasons why I hate media:
Media has been in my life since the second I was born. I do not know a life without media. We are surrounded by media every second of the day. Media isn’t just social media apps, it’s everywhere and we can’t really escape it. Media is a wonderful thing but like everything, there’s always a negative aspect. I always try to view it as living in the in-between. You get to decide how you want to view media and how it affects you.
Student number: 13140345
My family lives around the world. I only see them every now and then but thankfully every morning I wake up I am able to send a good morning text and wish them a great day. Media truly keeps me sane because it allows me to keep in touch with my family.
I remember being little and my dad going away for work trips. Phone calls were expensive if you were out of the country and so keeping in touch was not easy. I got to say hi and ask how he was but that was it. Missing someone was different then.
Now that FaceTime and Google Duo are such a big part of our lives missing your family is not that bad. It almost feels like you are with them when you can see their face in HD and hear their voice like they would be in the same room with you.
I often think how life would be if these things did not exist. How could I go without texting my sister that lives in Dubai asking which shirt I should buy for the party. Or calling my brother that lives in Finland asking how do I fix my TV.
Realizing how much I take different media for granted is crazy. If one day everything were to just shut down I truly do not know what I would do. My life is how it is because of media. Being able to stay in contact with family and friends even if we live in different countries is truly the best thing ever.
Student ID: 13959557
The reason why I love my media is because they help me with everything every day. Medias have helped me keep in touch with friends and family that are in a different country. Although there is a lot of fake news going around, I have gained a large amount of knowledge, it also gives me the opportunity to look at news that are less biased than mainstream medias. For example I knew about George Floyd’s death because of Instagram, I was also able to see different videos from different angles because of Instagram, mainstream media usually didn’t show more than one video. I love my media because it helps me set goals for myself (of course achievable), for example seeing all those rich people makes me want to live the same lifestyle, so I set myself some goals in order to slowly get closer to the lifestyle I want to live. As I just mentioned, social medias only show us the bright side of our idols’ lifestyle which can be nice when we want to escape from reality, but sadly can also quickly turn into something bad, such as raising social standards. A good example would be the Kardashian family, now a large number of women (mostly teens) think that having their body shape is the new social standard and hope to have the same result, but without doing surgery (which is clearly impossible). Unfortunately, not achieving their goal will make them unsecure. Social medias also give us the opportunity to see things that we might never see in real life such as animals or landscapes.
Student no. 13659928
I love media because it gives me the opportunity to connect with people from far away.
What is it to you? People ask me
I DO not know it is confusing
Maybe it’s wrong maybe it’s right
Am I in control or am I losing the fight
I have it on me late at night
Or in the morning at breakfast
I HATE it
I LOVE it
I NEED it
I don’t
And now I lost it
Wait where did it go?
I look for it high
I look for it low
My media Oh Media
Do not leave me alone
In the dark I am cold
A light comes from afar, full of warmth
Is that what I think it is
Surely not…
It is back to me
My savior from afar
It looks down on me and picks me up
We are eye to eye
We are one
What is it to you? People ask me
It is MY media, is that not enough.
Student Number: 13614398
Name: Yasseen Ramadan
I love my Media because I feel that it keeps me in touch with contemporary culture – but also allows me to access culture that is not contemporary to my time. As a music lover I love to listen to all kinds of music. My media in the case of music has become so intimate to me, that I have a few albums that I very so often come back to and enjoy to guide me through the day, hype me up or comfort me in certain situations. I like to think that Media is the one thing that is going to leave our signature on earth; this can be projected on us as individuals or the whole human race. This is why I love my Media.
Student ID: 13184008
The first time I realized my love for the media was when I was eleven or twelve years old. My parents had a Sony Camcorder and they used to record me on tape with it since I was little. Of course, because I was so young, I had no recollection of that happening. We had bought a new television and we were going to project the tape videos to the screen for the first time via cable, which at the time was a huge technological advance. The possibility of recording a moment forever, watching it again years later, and being able to relive it, albeit with a hope, had a profound effect on me. From that moment on, I started to think that perhaps it would be more important to record that moment rather than living in it. I thought that it would prevent me from forgetting those memories it in the future because I was so afraid of amnesia. The reason why I was so afraid is because I was aware that everything was developing very quickly, just as time passed very quickly. Therefore, I also am angry with the media for the same reason because everything is losing its originality. While I could easily watch cassette tapes before, over time I had to convert those tapes to CD and CDs to USB. Now I’m trying to keep the recordings on the USB alive and the fact that it’s an endless loop is driving me crazy.
Student ID: 13536524
Why I Heart My Media 