Ethan Pham's Media Blogs

Throughout this quarter, I have become hyper aware of my media usage and the effect it has on my life. Although I do not like to admit it to myself, I probably spend and upwards of 4 to 5 hours on my phone each day.  Yet, even though I know I am wasting away so much of my life on media, I still cannot stop.  I think that my reliance on media for connection with my peers has consumed part of my social life because I communicate digitally through Snapchat instead of actually talking with them.  Instead of picking up a book like I used, I spend my time re-watching the entirety of the Office for the 5 th time. Although I haven’t changed my media usage over the course of my media blogs, I can recognize certain tactics that advertisers use to persuade me to buy their products.  For example, whenever I see a sponsored Instagram advertisement for FashionNova, I am able to identify all of the appeals and techniques that they are using, such as “testimonial appeal” and the “need for sex.”  I

           As a child, my favorite show was Phineas and Ferb.  From memorizing all of their theme song to watching in amazement as the constructed a roller coaster into the sky, this show played a large role in the development of my imagination and creativity.  Every character holds a special place in my heart, especially Perry the platypus, who managed to thwart Dr. Doofenschmirtz evil plots.  Each engaging episode filled my young mind with new thoughts, ideas, and contraptions, causing me to want to become an architect when I grew up.            Each character taught me certain stereotypes about people that I held with my peers.  Many of the characters fit certain stereotypes, such as a personality matching how they look.  For example, there was Buford, who was the fat, white tough guy - or Ballet, who was the nerdy, scrawny Indian kid who was smart.  These characterizations that I learned from media translated into how I saw kids at school and in my surroundings.  Whenever I saw pe