This class has changed my perspective on the world around me. Because of this class, I am now often filled with questions as I experience media. How does the TV I watch reinforce negative stereotypes? How does the music I listen to exclude certain groups? Why is it that I don’t relate to certain genres of different media? These are all questions I have started considering because this class has exposed me to the many inequalities present in our society.
Thinking about how media both reflects upon and has the power to change society began with our first unit. In talking about video games, a type of media I am very unfamiliar with, I began to think about how the same themes we were discussing were present in the music I listened to. I’ve always noticed that different types of music were made by specific groups of people. Some examples are indie rock is predominately white, metal is almost exclusively white males, and blues is predominately black males. Now, I’ve been begin to question how different cultures and other factors lend themselves to these divisions in music.
During this class, I have also become educated on the unseen labor present in my everyday life. One example of this is learning about the terrible working conditions of the people responsible for assembling our mobile devices. The preventative measures Foxconn took to stop the workers from attempting suicide really stuck out to me. How tough are working conditions and how hard is that company being pushed that such a measure is necessary? We learned about the terrible conditions there; that was easy to view in pictures and videos. However, we hardly touched on the greater social problem that a company’s easiest option is to treat their workers so poorly. Learning about these conditions has caused me to think more carefully about the implications of my purchases on society.
In the third unit, we discussed Twitter, which I think will always cause me some confusion. I have learned how Twitter has allowed many issues to be brought to the world’s attention. One of the most notable examples of this was the Ferguson hashtag. When this hashtag trended, people everywhere were able to see the events and hear the stories occurring in Ferguson. As a result, a discussion was started across the United States on the conditions faced by people of color in this country.
However, I still struggle to understand the culture of Twitter feminism and its purpose. It seems to me that the purpose is to raise awareness of issues that are happening. What about solutions? Wouldn’t it be useful for people to discuss how to solve problems, or live in spite of opposition? It seems to me that a lot of the focus of Twitter feminism is on pointing out where feminists went wrong, instead of pointing out how they are causing change. All of this is made worse by the lack of respect people have for other opinions. While Twitter may be useful in that it gives everyone a voice, I question whether it actually helps different people understand each other better, or if it only divides people along their views.
In the final unit, we discussed how technology affects different groups of people. This has made me think a lot about design, and how products might be hard for certain people to use. One of the classic examples of this is airbags in cars, and how an airbag deploying can kill people who are small than the designers originally planned for. What other things in my life do I use easily that might exclude other types of users? How could things be designed better, so they are more accessible to more people? On the other hand, when can it be useful to exclude certain groups? One example of this is child safety locks, which prevent unsupervised children from coming into contact with dangerous things.
For me, the overall theme of this class was taking a closer look at the world. Because of this class, I have begun to question many parts of my life that I had never considered before.