1. How would you describe your own television viewing habits – which typology typically describes your television viewing habits? How does the “typology” meet a particular need of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?
On a typical day, I don't usually watch a lot of television. But when I do, I watch it with friends. My roommates and I will put on a show (usually an anime) and watch it while we all work on homework. With my boyfriend, we watch different Star Wars shows (like The Mandalorian or Book of Boba Fett) and his favorite, Letterkenny.
The typology, or "a classification scheme
that attempts to sort a
large number of specific
instances into a more
manageable set of
categories," I would use to describe my television viewing habits is passing time and companionship (Griffin, p. 350). When my roommates and I put on a show, we are using it mostly as a distraction or background noise while we complete homework; hence, passing time. But, we are are also using it for companionship because we are all together while we watch. My boyfriend and I use television as companionship, because we primarily watch these shows together.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a set of needs crucial to a person's well being, going from psychological needs, safety needs, love/belonging needs, esteem needs, and finally self-actualization needs. Passing time meets the safety needs of the hierarchy because it means I am safe enough to sit and allow the time to pass while I watch a show. Companionship meets the love/belonging needs because I am using television to connect with my partner or with my friends, giving me feelings of love/belonging.
3. Agenda-setting theory states that the media establish the importance of some issues more effectively than others. Why is this the case? Conversely, is there a national or local issue that concerns you that has not been emphasized by the media? How does their neglect make you feel?
Agenda-setting theory is that a theory that explains how the media shapes what is important in society by what is important to them (Griffin, p. 368). This is the case because we as a society will only see what our media is showing us, unless we attempt to seek it out elsewhere, from different media. For example, there is one international issue that concerns me, but that I rarely, if ever, see it on any US media.
The China Uyghur Muslims have been undergoing hardship, as the Chinese government have been placing them into "re-education camps." There have been people who said that they are going through torture, sexual violence, and even forced sterilization, effectively becoming a genocide of sorts. You can read more about the situation here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037
The neglect in the media makes me angry - this is an important issue that needs to be addressed and talked about and stopped, and the media not mentioning it at all effectively makes it invisible, or something that isn't happening, in the minds of people who absorb only US-based media.
4. Discuss the concept of framing in terms of “recreating one’s self.” In what ways have you tried to reframe
yourself and how did your exposure to media (think in terms of cultivation theory) influence the self you
recreated? Use an example to answer this question.
Framing is "to select
some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described" (Entman, p. 52). If we look at framing in terms of "recreating one's self," we would look at ourselves and select the best parts of ourselves to communicate and display to others.
As a human, I have certainly reframed myself to fit what I have seen in the media. When I was in middle school, I framed a sense of style that I thought was cool, and which I had seen on television (think Hannah Montana or iCarly. The style was not great at all.). Seeing the characters wear different clothes with funky patterns or way too many layers was influenced the self I recreated - because that was my main perception of the world at the time. It didn't really help that, at the time, I went to a school with a strict dress code, so I did not know what clothing styles were actually "in" at the time. I based my perception of style on what TV shows I watched and engaged in.
Example of the outfits I took inspiration from (from TV show Hannah Montana)
Works Cited:
Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2019). Chapter 7: Expectancy Violations Theory and Chapter 8: Social Penetration Theory. In A first look at communication theory (10th ed., pp. 79–95). essay, McGraw-Hill Education.
Hi Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading you blog post. Similar to you I also use television to meet the companionship typology (Griffin we al., 2019), typically for me it’s a way of connecting with my family, as we have limited time to spend together. As you can probably agree, watching a show with someone is a way to connect with someone close to you in a very relaxing way. Going onto your next question, I think your response was really great, because the issue you talked about, I haven’t heard anything about recently, despite that being some relatively big news. I understand your anger and honestly feel angered myself to know that such atrocities are currently happening to people as we speak, but because the media hasn’t deemed it important enough to discuss, no one knows about it. Finally in you last question, I really enjoyed your post. I feel as though that the experience you described was something a lot of girls went through in their elementary and middle school years. We all saw these outfits being worn by these characters, and despite them being kinda awful now looking back on them, we all wanted to dress that way, and most of us did. I think this is a great example of how we reframe ourselves based on what we see in the media. Overall this was a great post and I really enjoyed reading it.
Hello Sophie!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I found it very funny that I used the same example of watching TV pretty much only with my friends. It is wild how TV brings so many people close together and causes bonds to form. I definitely agree with the typologies you used and I offer that another typology you could have used to describe your TV watching is social interaction. Your experience reminded me of social interaction because of that aspect of a bond that was created through consuming the media with your friends and boyfriend (Griffin et al., 2019). I too find it very troubling that the media does not choose to emphasize the issues of the "Re-education" camps in China. The media's agenda so strongly shapes peoples reality that with the neglect of this issue, people probably don't even know it is going on. :( Lastly I loved your example of reframing yourself to fit Hannah Montana when you were younger because I did the exact same thing! Sneakers with the skirt and all lol! Great job on your post.