We Have The Power (Blog 2) By Troy R

We Have The Power

The internet can be a scary place if you don't know how to use it, but if you know how to use it, it can be very beneficial since we have the power on the internet rather than being controlled by it.

Sharing Knowledge

We use the internet on a daily basis to help get a better understanding for things we do or wish to know.  How often do you open your phone and search on google for a fun fact that you wish to know? Probably pretty often. An example for how we use the internet to gain knowledge is when Donald Trump was elected in the US 2016 election, there was a large portion of Americans searching on google "How to move to Canada". Sobeit that this information isn't always valid, you can usually find the correct answer by visiting multiple sites. Using the internet to gather this knowledge is a lot easier and quicker to collect rather than going to a library and searching for books or asking someone.  Lastly some people use the internet to share their struggles in life since it's a lot easier to talk online rather than face to face about significant problems. It is also easier to get feedback on these issues. Bullying is a hot topic for this and there are people you can chat with and they can share what they know with you whether they are halfway across the globe, they'll try and help you and hope that their knowledge can push you through these tough times.

Staying Up To Date

How many people do you know use the internet to stay up to date via the internet whether it is chatting to friends or family who are far away from you or reading virtual news?  Practically everyone is exposed to these and they use them beneficially. As simple as it may be, we have the power to use the internet to help us out. Saying "Happy Birthday" on the internet is unquestionably convenient. When you wake up in the morning it is a lot easier to look at the news on the internet because the most relevant or interesting stuff comes up. That's a whole lot easier than flipping through each and every page of your newspaper or watching through countless minutes of irrelevant news. As well as this you can share special moments instantaneously to your friends and family. Say you take a lovely picture with your family in Hawaii, I'm sure your relatives and even close friends would love to see a picture of this and possibly look back on this moment since the internet can be easily organized.

Potential Jobs Or Hobbies

      Some people spend countless hours on the internet for their jobs and or hobbies which can be beneficial to themselves or to others.  For those people who make cash on the internet, they truly know how to use the internet to their advantage. Typically if you use the internet for your job you'll probably like it whether you're an entertainer or a website creator. I mean who wouldn't want to make money while sitting in the comfort of their home? Occasionally we use the internet to have fun. Millions of people everyday use the internet to play games and pass the time which is a great example of why we use the internet. There is virtually a game for everyone out there whether it's a game with a storyline or a competitive game to play and connect with your friends. Without the internet we would lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and Justin Trudeau cannot create that many jobs :P.

Overall, the internet is one of the best advancements in human history and gives us the capability to control it to strongly support all of us. 

Manipulated Media (Blog 1) By Troy R

Manipulated Media

"All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values" - Marshall McLuhan. 

Today in our society, many media organizations change the "truth" of a story to persuade the viewers standing on topics. This quote by Marshall McLuhan states that media interprets the stories and retells them but with a twist that is not always  one hundred percent true somewhat relating to propaganda since they tell the audience to give them a specific view on a topic. 

Media Changes The Story...

Media has affected many people views on topics in the past and in modern day society, some examples of this are the presidential debate where the media is siding with a specific candidate (Hillary Clinton) and persuading the audience (specifically Americans) her greatness. Another example of this propaganda is the situation in Africa. They manipulate the audience and try to show that the African people need our help which is good however they produced a stereotype that all Africans are living this way so people in rich countries feel guilty. The last point I will make is that media determines what to put in and what to leave out, it is common in everyday life to read some bended information produced by the media. As a student school is a prime example of this, they give us textbooks with information that the government put in to give us an opinion. Odds are they left a bunch of information out because they did not want us to step out of line with another opinion that they did not support.

Why The Media Persuades Us...

The media persuades us to get what they want. Whether it be a specific president, money or anything else they add their own personal twist so we envy the thing they're trying to promote. Most of the time they are greedy and do not do it for the people, but for the individuals at the top which brings me to my next point, our media now-a-days is controlled by a small percent of people. These people are rich for a reason and they often share the same opinion since they are living the same lifestyles. They persuade us (the people) to benefit them even more because at the end of the day if they can make a quick buck adding to their millions, they're going to do it.

How Media Persuades Us...

Media spreads the artificial perceptions by using many different methods. Depending on what audience they want to affect, they use different methods such as now-a-days they spread propaganda to children with anything that will keep their focus and interest such as television or some books. As for adults of this era, they are easily persuaded by the news whether it be written or on television. Furthermore adults get most of their opinion from these sources and half of the time the media changes the stories or over-exaggerates them. A personal experience of them using this is in the Trump versus Hillary debates they produced a list of how many times the candidates lied, they showed that Hillary beat Trump in a landslide and now my mother keeps saying that Hillary is the better candidate because of this point that has been repeated numerous times to brainwash the people that Hillary will be a better president. They do not talk as much about some of the beneficial points both candidates made but instead about who lied more.

Media Is Manipulated

No matter what we do, media will always be there and be spreading their artificial perceptions and arbitrary values on topics to all of the people around the world.  Marshall McLuhan exposes the media with his quote about how media can and will twist the stories to get what they want.