Do media cause individuals to develop negative body images?

Through entertainment the perfect image is portrayed by everyday models that represent the ideal image of a human being. But reality shows that not everybody meets those standards and for that reason, many people are looked at differently. Like the yes argument supports, fast is something to fear, and thats something that haunts many Americans today. Body images are looked upon as only the physical appearance and many people forget about the health issues the come along with having a fit body. The idea behind a fit body is no longer for health reasons but more for personal reasons like appearance and self confidence or for athletic purposes. 

There is a major difference between the ideal images of the male and female body. But according to fashion magazines the slimmer body is ideal for women. That includes those with round bodies large frames or curvy bodies, the ideal image is very slim. this affects many women today as they pursue this image and dont consider the health issues behind it. Bulimic or anorexic females put their life in danger and their bodies into so much to endure as they lack in many things that the body requires to function properly. But this image has been looked at as beauty in the last decade more than anything. The slimmer body for women has changed drastically over the years, thicker women used to be considered the most beautiful before and more economically stable as the larger frame represented more wealth, as they could afford more food and gain more weight than women with less.

I believe the overall view of the bodies should be looked at in the eyes of a medical or professional to determine the health and not the ideal image. you can be thin or thick but as long as your body is healthy, that should be enough for the average American. unfortunately we deal with this struggle that we have dealt with for many years now.

RA #3

Julio Aguilera

November 11, 2010

Professor Andrews

                                                              

                  Love-line segments on the radio corrupting today’s youth

Are the love line segments of a radio station corrupting or educating

today’s youth? In some radio stations there are segments in which the radio

station takes anonymous phone calls and talk about their personal love life

concerning sex and other topics, that may be considered or intended for and

adult audience. Some of the topics are obviously inappropriate for kids to listen

to, although the segments are aired typically from 10-12pm its within reach of the

wrong ears. This rises a question if shows like these educate or corrupt the

youth.

Conducting the survey allowed me to get to know the youth of today a little

better.  After obtaining enough information from a different variety of ages I can

now compare and contrast my results to find out what is goes through the mind

of the youth. This survey helped me determine what exactly is going through the

mind of my audience while listening to these type of radio talk shows. And

actually most of the listeners are entertained by the stories some callers have. I

learned that many listeners can in some way relate to some calls and like to

obtain information about their concerns, regarding their personal life. This study

helped me observe the issue from different points of view, from the youngest

listeners to young adults, and even the parental perspective. My audience was

very well spread as I asked my 18 year old sister to ask 20 of her peers to take a

quick 4 question survey, and I also asked 20 peers myself to answer the same 4

questions obtaining equally accurate information in various age groups. The

following survey with printed results will provide accurate information from 2

different college campus across California. Followed by the overall reaction on

the results along with 2 parental perspectives on the talk radio segment.

           

           

           

                                                                                   

                          Are the Love-line segments of a radio station

                            corrupting or educating today’s youth?

1.              Identify age group

A.  under 18- 4

              B.  under 20-22

C.   under 21-7

D.   over 21- 7

2.             Do you listen to Love-line?

A.    YES -26

B.    NO -14

3.            Reason why you listen to Love-line?

A.    Funny  12

B.    Educational  6

C.    Interesting  8

D.    Not-applicable  14

4.            Do you think Love-line is corrupting or educating today’s youth?

A.    corrupts  24

B.    educates  10

C.    Not-applicable  6

                                              Survey collected information from

20 Notre Dame de Namur University students- Belmont, CA

20 Rio Hondo College students- Whittier, CA

            After receiving my feedback I encountered the truth from a small group of

college students of various age groups and very different locations.  I discovered

that the majority f the audience finds the show funny, that being the primary

reason of interest. Followed by the interesting topics and conversations, and

lastly the 3^rd group said the educational level was the reason why they listen to

love-line. The majority of my audience, believe that although the show can be

funny, educational, and interesting it corrupts today’s youth.

            The parental view was somewhat different than that of the younger group,

the parents have heard of such show on radio stations, although they don’t thinks

its very comical, they do think its interesting with very little educational purposes.

They think no one under the age of 18 should be allowed to listen to this type of

show, the language used is very explicit. One parent thought that non adult

listeners can be tempted to try to attempt something talked on the show out of

curiosity. Another parent thought the hours of 10-12 pm are too early for the

show to be aired, and perhaps after midnight would be a better time for adult

listeners.

            Overall I agree with both the students and the parents, in saying yes, the

show is funny, somewhat interesting and educational, but its within the reach of

the wrong ears, and perhaps being aired at a later time would benefit all. I think

this show is intended for the young adult seeking a half hour of simple fun with no

intentions to get anything out of it, but entertainment.  I would encourage

listeners 18 and under to avoid such shows, until the mind is more developed

and can take a more adult like conversation. 

Video games encourage violent behavior

With the modern video game technology, and state of the art graphics it appears that our entertainment has been very influential with video games. games such as grand theft auto where you are encouraged to complete missions that involve burglary, murder, rape, running away from the cops, and simply rampaging has been one of play station top game for a very long time. this type of game encourages violent behavior  because it mentally prepares and corrupts the mind of the player. the practice of unnecessary violence influences the actions of avid game players.
On the contrary some may argue that a corrupted mind exist within the individual, video games or no video games. That a bad kid will remain bad if he is involved in video games with improper activity. it appears that more and more games are released with severe violence and available for kids to play. the parental control sometimes is out of reach, or unapproachable because some parents would rather have their kids safe at home on their living room as opposed to be out on the streets.
There are also some games that do not encourage violent behavior, but to the generation of most video game players mystery and problem story mode is not a hit. ratings for sports games and adventure games are a lot lower than those games involving weapons. The typical super mario games and other adventure games, tetris, pacman, are all a thing of the past and 9 out of 10 kids would rather play a bloody game with realistic graphics. maybe a new development of games such as wii sports that requires the players to interact more simulated being outside playing is by far the best alternative to video games involving violent behavior.

Reading analysis #2

Julio Aguilera

RA #2

Professor Andrews

October 26, 2010

                                                     Election Awareness

After conducting a survey intended for 50 NDNU undergrad and grad

students I came to a conclusion that the media provides enough information out

there to make internet users aware of the current election in the state of

California. As an avid internet user I am aware of what is going on nationally and

globally, but this survey helps me better understand the interest in my peers on

the election from a different point of view. After only receiving 42 responses

through text I went ahead and used that information to analyze the true purpose

for internet use around people my age.  

I discovered that must of the students find some time away from their

studies and extra curricular activities to surf the web. By using the results from

the survey by the largest margin I can comfortably say that the majority of my

target audience were between the age of 22-25, the highest result for hours

spent on the internet daily were less than 3, the majority of the audience was

aware of the election with 29 knowing its next month, and a remarkable number

of 39 were aware of the proposition 19 being on the ballot. The numbers show

me that although websites such as Facebook may be somewhat distracting to

students, it’s still a method for media, and something must be working to allow

college students to be aware of their own states election. I believe some home

pages such as Yahoo!, AOL, or even YouTube do a very good job and keeping

their websites fresh to all current media available, and sometimes that quick

glimpse at a news article is enough to make students aware.

            In relation to younger students I feel like the need to be self-aware is

necessary for the older student, as many try to inform themselves of the current

activities around them. I see that the need to be aware of the election for the

student is more acceptable in the older student, perhaps as a conversational

topic. Or simply to know what is going on in their state, the correlation between

the age groups was different and leads me to conclude that the results are the

way they are because people chose to be informed, and not because they

accidently find out.

Car Bomber in NY Gets Sentenced to Life

Very surprised to see that many of the different perspectives still share a similar idea with the terrorist attack in New York City. After reading many different articles on the life sentence of Faisal Shazad, the bomber who threatened the life of many bystanders in Time Square, they all share a similar idea in saying he is a guilty man and is well deserving of his life sentence. I first saw the news on yahoo news while checking my email, but after beggining the assignment i started noticing it was all  over the world news. I also noticed how important it is to other nations, what happens in our country affects the world. But i was pleased to read very similar stories throughout the different nation, and not a news story that is changed based on a different perspective. To be honest this article is a bit scary due to the fact that we know that there are still terrorist out there that absolutely hate our country. And are committed to losing their life in the name of Allah. As Shazad said, if i had 1000 lives i would die all 1000 of Allah. stating how the war between Islam and the US has just begun, and warns us of future attacks of terrorism. Another fact is proof that our national security still has flaws, as a terrorist bomber had been on board of a plane headed to pakistan, after he was on the no-fly list, yet managed to b on the plane, although he was stopped minutes before the plane took off.
This attack would have been much more intense if the plot had actually gone through, but fortunately the bomb was not activated correctly. this attack is just a warning and according to the terrorist who plotted the event, this is just the begining. Overall this news article was successfully delivered in my opinion, as the key point were mentioned in every different one, maybe some articles were longer than others, but i think this was one of the only differences.

Can Media Regain Public Trust

Media plays a critical role in the development of a certain attitude towards the government. Unfortunately not many reporters are free to say what is on their mind, and instead say and report what is expected from them as a reporter. Studies show that people don't entirely believe what is said on TV or internet, and newspaper yet they still watch and read news. social media has been influenced power due to governments point of view. When watching the news on TV a reporter MUST tell the news as the agency expects him to report it and any other way can jeopardize his or her job. Professionalism is required but the way news are reported is heavily influenced by the head of the department. Media can still regain the trust from the public by delivering the truth as they see it. and being themselves, the reporter that is more natural and convincing will gain the trust of the public a lot easier than those who follow and report news very scriptive. Another reason why people start losing trust in the media is because many different methods of news reporting start using humor in the news when its only used to entertain as oppose to proving credible news. Which should be the only reason why they report. If someone wanted to be entertain they would watch a show on TV. this and other reasons explains why the public slowly loses trust in media.

Will evolving forms of journalism be an improvement

When evolving into a different type of communication many conflicts come upon. for example a different method of informing the people,  such as the evolution of news broadcasting. Over time people have been used to informing news in a story style. informing everything line by line, in the same routine. but recently new broadcasting has evolved into a conversational style, were there is communication amongst the news anchors. This  style is a lot easier to follow if you are watching the news from begging to end, but the old style being straight to the point is easy to catch on from any point, as it constantly starts and ends as the different topics arise. I believe this new evolving method is much better although I do agree that the point of view of the news provider is mostly reflected on their opinion. The person trying to retain the news can be easily influenced by the different sources. And this is the main concern by people against this method, it allows the source to be very influential to the people due to a more conversational way of telling news.