Reflection

Keeping this blog and learning about media literacy has not only made me a more aware consumer but it has done great things to me such as boost my self esteem. Before keeping this blog, I never knew how much the amount of media you consume a day affected your mental health. The more media you encounter the chances increase of you buying something that wasn't needed or even judging yourself since you don't look like that "perfect"model you see on Instagram. This soon becomes a problem when you constantly buy into trends since everyone has it or compare yourself to high standards you cannot reach without lots of money. Being aware with media consumption helps with avoiding these things. It makes you realize the technique advertisers use to make you feel inferior causing you to long to get your hands on a product. For example, I longed to get a new iPhone but I quickly realized that the updates were very minor and that Apple wanted you to feel like you needed a wide frame camera. During Black Friday I also resisted the urge to go shopping only because I knew that time pressure was a tactic that advertisers use to get consumers to spend. By knowing the implicit messages of a product I do consider myself to be more media literate.
My media consumption habits changed a lot this semester since I now limit the time I spend on social media to avoid the subliminal messages that are meant to harm people by telling them that they are inferior without the product. Overall, I believe that it is very important to have media literacy since lots of money will be spent without it. Like I said being an educated consumer is very important to avoid feeling inferior and to feel like you need a certain product in order to fit in or be accepted. In the end I got many things out of this blog. Some things that I got out of this blog are media literacy, the implicit messages that Instagram influencers use, and many more. Some other thoughts I have on media is that I think it's extremely evil to those that cannot afford an iPhone or the new trendy shoes. These things can be pretty pricey and the people who are well off can face some pretty difficult personal battles with pricey trendy products that everyone has.