Social Networking Pros and Cons

Social Networking has only been around for about 10 years but it has already had very real and profound effects on society. One of the positive effects that it has had on society is the political upheaval that it has help bring. In 2010, a political movement began in the Middle East which has come to be known as the Arab Spring. Many protests were held and some countries were even able to overthrow their governments. None of this would have been possible without social networking, as it provided a free way for people to come together and arrange these protests.
While it can be good, social networking also has it's downsides. According to procon.org, social networking sites can lead to more stress and relationship problems offline. I can think of multiple reasons as to why this would be true. The first reason being that people's lives can be taken over by social media. Some people spend hours a day on these sites which undoubtedly fractures real life relationships. Another reason is that attention can be too easy to achieve on social media. If a romantic relationship isn't going well, you're just a couple of clicks away from connecting with someone who can give you positive attention. This wasn't the case before social media came along and it can make relationships much harder to attain.

Celebrity Life

Celebrities lives are much different than an average person's life. One of the main reasons for this is that celebrities must maintain an image that holds them to a standard that the average person doesn't know. Take Taylor Swift going to the gym for example. When a normal person goes to the gym, they most likely leave with the same clothes on, and only sometimes do they shower. When Taylor Swift goes to the gym, she probably rents out the whole gym, and then showers, has her makeup done, and changes into new clothes following her workout. Being a celebrity who is constantly dealing with media and paparazzi attention, Swift can't afford to leave the gym looking sweaty and, in a way, normal. Celebrities can't really afford to look normal because fans don't think of them that way. Celebrities deal with much more social pressure than the average person.

Social Currency in Pop Culture

The first popular icon in pop culture is special because he has come to popularity using all three types of social currency. His name is Steph Curry. One obvious social currency that he could be classified as representing is how remarkable he is. He's doing things that the NBA has never seen before. He made over 400 3-pointers this season. The previous NBA record before this season was 286- set by him last season. Another obvious one is that he has gained fame through a game, which is basketball. I would also argue that he makes you feel like an insider. When you watch his games, you make sure that you won't miss anything extraordinary, because he is very capable of doing that on a nightly basis. When you pay attention to him, you get insider access to his family, including his daughter Riley, who has become very popular.
Being a fan of the Walking Dead, I think that it covers the categories of remarkable and insider. It is a truly remarkable show, which has seen an incredible amount of both plot and character development. Whether it be their realization that the real enemy is the living and not the dead, or the way the group has gone from trying to be the good guys to becoming cold blooded killers, this show has changed a lot from the first season. It has the feeling of being an insider as a fan, because I can talk to anyone from my friends to my coworkers, and even occasionally strangers about an episode the night before.
Sometimes in pop culture, it's possible for something to not be remarkable in any way, yet it still can become popular. A perfect example of this is the show Keeping Up With the Kardashians. They came to fame through a porn video made by Kim, something which takes no talent. The one social currency that they do cover however, is that they can make people feel like insiders. Many women, and occasionally men keep up with their day to day lives and find entertainment in talking about it. That insider feeling might just be what's kept the Kardashians popular for all these years.

Tattoo Culture

Americans tend to take different views of tattoos depending on the type of person the tattoo covers. When the tattoo is on a celebrity or a person of note, people consider the tattoo and in many cases, desirable. 70% of NBA players have tattoos. 55% of NFL players have tattoos. Countless celebrities have tattoos. Only roughly 15% of Americans as a whole have tattoos. This reflects the viewpoint that society has of tattoos on the average Joe. Many businesses frown upon having tattoos and many people still have a problem with tattoos. It is much more complicated for an average person to get a tattoo than it is when a celebrity does.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation Theory is basically the idea that humans begin to believe social norms in society on television and the actions of people on television reflect that of reality. Many times television and reality do not go hand in hand. The best example that the John Oliver video on torture showed of Cultivation Theory is that humans tend to believe terror can be necessary and effective when many times this is not true. In the video, they state that 57% of Americans believe torture can prevent terror attacks. Real examples suggest that may not be true. Out of all of the terrorists that were tortured in Guantanamo Bay following the 9/11 attacks, only two gave any information up, one being pointless information, and the other being a complete lie. Many times in television shows and in video games, torture can be an effective tool in acquiring information. This has lead people to believe that torture works in real life. Though people believe it may work, this very well may not be true.

Video Game Motivations

Jane used games as stress relief. At one point she considered suicide when she was recovering from a concussion. She says she was recovering from a concussion. She says that creating "Jane the Concussion Slayer" was a great way to help cope with the symptoms of her ailment. Other people even said it helped them cope with the pain.
In her game "Superbetter", Jane uses goals, challenges and rewards to motivate people. She has people do these activities, with the reward of 7.5 extra minutes to live. Another reward that people get is the bonus resilience points given in the game. The resilience categories are physical, mental, emotional and social. She says that if you do this you can add 10 extra years to your life.

Football High

Sports are one thing in life that can give you the greatest feeling of pride and the worst feeling of failure. Sink a hole in one and you'll remember the glory of that moment for the rest of your life. Miss an easy shot to win the game, and you'll also remember that for the rest of your life, but for a different reason. Sometimes athletes can become a little too wrapped up in these sensations. One example is the athlete who suffered the heat stroke. He suffered a potentially life threatening injury, and was back out on the field 6 months later because his team was a state championship contender. This is a perfect example of BIRGing. He probably shouldn't have been out there, but was because the team was successful.
Another example is Kiehl Frazier. Everyone wanted to have a piece of him. He was being recruited by the best schools in the country and his parents even hired a sports promoter to further his career. The documentary put a big focus on him because they obviously thought he was going places too.
Everyone was BIRGing Kiehl and this probably put a lot of pressure on him. As we know now, he never lived up to these expectations, and now has little to no chance to ever make money playing football.
Though the video spends a large portion focusing on Trinity's success, it does spend a little bit of time talking about the 80-26 beating they took from a team from texas. They only spend about 5 minutes talking about this however, because failure is a less attractive outcome. No one wants to watch a documentary on a team that goes 1-8 on the season. This is a good example of CORFing. They cut out the negatives and emphasize the positives in an attempt to make the story better.

Sexual Objectification in Advertisements

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This first ad seems to perfectly fit the bill of sexual objectification. This woman has her mouth open, with the "Super Seven Incher" on the way into her mouth. This ad is as close to selling oral sex as it legally can be. First off, the sandwich is obviously supposed to be representing the male genitalia. She looks surprised to see it coming towards her mouth. Another sexual reference is in the name. "Super Seven Incher" is an obvious reference towards penis length.

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This ad is almost comical. Some ads that use sex to sell at least do something to incorporate a meaning to the sexual reference. In this ad, they literally just put gum in front of a woman's behind and say "look we have gum!" She's also pulling her underwear down because apparently gum makes her want to get naked(?) They pretty much just use this woman's body so that you are kind of forced to look at their gum.

Duke Porn Star

Everyone does it differently. Some people get help from their parents. Some people get help from the government. A lot of people do it on their own. Of course what I'm talking about, is paying for college tuition. It must be paid for someway and there's many different ways of going about it. One Duke student happens to do it just a little bit different than everyone else. She makes money doing porn.
My favorite of the segments discussing this students actions was The View. They actually had the student on the show to give her own story about how this has affected her personal life. She says that she does it because there's no way she could've paid for Duke without doing this and it works well because she's a very sexual person. The hosts on the show are surprised that she was introduced to pornography so young, and they express their condolences for how this has affected her personal life, with some people going to extremes like sending this girl death threats.
The CNN video focuses a lot on her take and how it has changed her life. They discuss how she does it as a job for enjoyment and two guests on the show talk about how brave she is and give her some praise for becoming halfway famous doing something she loves. In her note she says that she gets empowerment from it because she can control the situation and her sexuality, but they point out the fact that she hasn't even told her parents about it.

Sports in America

America's obsession with sports is funny because, I would be willing to bet that no one would've ever expected them to become this big. Originally, sports were meant to be something that people did for entertainment and exercise. Now, in 2016, sports has become a multi-billion dollar industry. But as money for the sport has increased, the focus of the sports has shifted away from the athletes to the fans. You could argue that nothing is marketed more in America than sports. This can take a toll on athletes, as it's easier than ever for fans to directly harass athletes via social media. Sports has become such a big market that it now has submarkets that are becoming million dollar industries, one for example being fantasy football. I played in 3 leagues last year and spent more money on it than I probably should've. I won that money back, but that's not the point. The point is that sports has become a force that is as close as they come to unstoppable.
One thing that the sports in America deserves credit for is the new age of player safety developments. Particularly in the NFL, studies have begun to show that ramming your head into other objects over and over again is not good for your health (shocker). The NFL has made strides recently regarding player safety, trying to eliminate hits above the shoulders and below the knees from the game. These were needed, as severe lower leg and knee injuries, along with concussions had been rising steadily in recent years.

Say Yes to the Dress and Lavish Weddings

This episode of Say Yes to the Dress and the article on lavish weddings shows that the way people think about weddings haven't really changed all that much since the early 1900's. Ever since weddings became a lavish event, the traditions in them haven't changed very much. In the reading, it points out that if you want, you can spend an unnecessary amount of money, and have a replica of Cinderella's wedding in Cinderella's castle at Disney world. Considering this, it shouldn't surprise anybody that on Say Yes to the Dress, they made a remark that 50% of brides want to be a princess. Or that Crystal wanted a "princess glam" dress. Or that Deborah wanted to look like Princess Di. Women grow up to want to be princesses and that probably will never change.
Another trend that may never change is the tradition of the white wedding dress. Queen Victoria wore a white dress in her wedding in the early 1800's, and ever since then it's been a tradition. Kelly from Say Yes to the Dress attempted to break that tradition, and ran into some conflict. When she found a black dress that she really liked, her mother really did not like it. When they found a white dress that fit her well, her mother, as well as her friends said that that was a much better look. Anything other than white at a wedding is almost cultural taboo.