The Evolution of Communication!

Over the years communication has evolved and progressed in many ways. Every technology has been outdone by something new and better. It began with oral communication, and then progressed to writing messages in letters. From there, we went on to telegrams, newspapers, the radio and the telephone. As the years went on, the internet came into the picture, along with the invention of cellphones. We now have numerous ways of communicating with each other without even having to get out of our seats or even being in person; it’s all done through the various means of technology.

Our generation today, is very dependent on the use of cellphones. Almost everywhere I go, I see people either talking on the phone, texting or BBM-ing! I have even seen children as young as 8 or 9 holding around their very own cellphone. I was shocked to hear that my little cousin, who recently turned 10, received the new 9900 BlackBerry Bold for her birthday. I was actually more jealous of her than anything else because I, a 16-year-old, high school student still do not have a cellphone! I know, my life is sounding pretty sad right about now. In my opinion, there is no need for a cellphone for people under the age of 14. Cellphones are a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends. They are also a good way of quickly contacting anyone from almost anywhere. Cellphones appeal more to teenagers because of texting. Texting is an easy way of having conversations with each other without actually having to be in person and also a great way of staying connected. Texting even has its own language attached to it. Instead of having to type out a whole paragraph, you can easily shorten it with crazy acronyms and different emoticons. For example, lol: laughing out loud, brb: be right back, atm:  at the moment, omw: on my way, STHUG: shut the hell up guy, and even, habaeiwsotcwtat!- holding a banana and eating it while sitting on the couch watching television and tweeting! Okay, I made the last one up, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be long until we are all using it.  

In addition to cellphones, the internet also plays a big role in the evolution of communication. Browsing the web allows people to quickly keep in touch with family, friends, and even people they don’t even necessarily know. With the internet comes numerous social networking websites such as, Facebook, MySpace, and the more recent ones, Google Plus, and Twitter. Using these websites can easily get you information about anyone and anything. You can also easily “Google” something and find various websites to give you all the information. These social networking websites are a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends, meeting new people, keeping up-to-date and even becoming famous. Youtube and Tumblr are a great of getting yourself out there and being noticed. The internet has almost no restrictions, not even distance. You can keep in touch with people over seas and maybe even from a different planet! Okay, maybe not a different planet, but when everyone has to move to Mars, I’m pretty sure I’ll still be tweeting about the red sidewalks. However, there is a negative to these websites. These website are an easy way of giving bullies a sense of power over their target. Since these people are hiding behind a computer screen, it makes it easier to type out hurtful and harmful things about a certain person. Another down side to the internet is that students can easily cheat on certain assignments by plagiarising someone else’s work. There are many things the internet has given us and I’m actually pretty excited to see what new innovations are to come.

To sum it all up, commination has come a long way since my mom and dad were teenagers. It really makes me wonder how they got through high school without the use of Google! It’s great to see that there really are no limitations to keep in contact with almost everyone from all over the world.  J

TRENDZ!

     There are a lot of trends that most of us participate in and are effected by. A few weeks ago, Mr. Powles gave each student in my media class a survey on trends. The survey was to see how each and everyone in the class was affected by trends. After Mr. Powles compiled the results, he showed us what he found through a power point the next day. After the power point was presented, we came to the conclusion that everyone in the class follows at least one trend whether they knew it or not. I follow a couple of trends myself. Out of the 46 Mr. Powles listed, I follow 18, which is about 39%. Some of the trends I follow include Ugg boots, Nike, Drake, Lil Wayne, Skinny jeans, Track pants, Cardigans, Yoga Pants, Ripped jeans, Convers, High Top Shoes, Rap-music, Abercrombie & Fitch and Love Pink clothing. In my opinion, in order for someone to be considered “trendy” you simply have to follow at least 5 or 6 trends. By doing this, it shows that you are well aware of what is considered trendy and that you like to participate in what the latest trends are.     

     The most important trend that I follow and hold onto tightly is listening to Drake. He is one of my favourite artists and I simply love each and every one of his songs. I even have almost two whole walls completely covered by Drake posters, magazine covers, and pictures. I even own every single one of his albums and mix-tapes! I can honestly say that once you get me started on talking about Drake, it’s really hard for me to stop. At times, my sister and brother and even some of my friends get annoyed of me contently singing Drake songs, and refusing to sing any other. However, regardless of what some people say about Drake and my obsession with him, he actually means a lot to me. His songs have so much more than just a good beat or bass. To me, they actually have meaning and are so relatable. That’s one of the reasons why I love him so much!  On the other hand, a trend that I could easily let go of would be Convers because I don’t really wear them at all anymore. I actually only own one pair of shoes from there. I wasn’t even the one who bought them; my sister did for me as a Christmas present. I of course was really happy for a new pair of shoes, but I couldn’t really wear them a lot because of all the snow. Then as the spring and summer came around, I found myself buying different types of shoes like flats and high tops. So I actually never really wore them as much as I thought I would have.

     The people that influence my sense of style and tatse would be my older sister and cousin, my best friend, and of course my favourite celebrities. The main person that influences my style more than anyone else would be my older sister, Sonya. She probably influenced me the most because as I was growing up, I constantly insisted on doing everything exactly like her. She was actually the one who first introduced me to Drake, and now I’m even more obsessed with him than her. Also, some of my favorite celebrities such as Megan Fox, Lucy Hale, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, and many more all influence my style. I see them on different TV shows and events, and I really like to see what they are wearing because it gives me ideas to incorporate into my own outfits.

     In conclusion, everyone follows at least one trend whether they know it or not. Trends are all around us and are simply a part of our society. Even though many people follow trends, it doesn't mean you have to allow trends to take over your own decision. As long as you do whatever it is that YOU want to do, then there really isn't anything wrong with following or not following trends.

Advertisements!

     Hello and welcome to my media studies blog. My first blog entry is all about advertisements. I will be talking to you about what advertisements are, where you can find them and how i feel about them. 
     First off, what are advertisements? Advertisements are a form of communication to promote or sell a product to an audience (viewers, readers or listeners). Advertisements are most commonly used to persuade the targeted audience to take interest in, and or buy the certain product or service. These advertisements are usually paid for by sponsors and or the makers of the product. These advertisements are viewed in various ways. some of the ways they are viewed is through the television, the radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor ads, direct mail, and even some websites. In our everyday life, we come in contact with many different kinds of advertisements.
     In my opinion, i think most advertisements are very informative and helpful. Some ads can actually help you in making a decision on what to or not to buy. I use advertisements to help me in making decisions about certain products and services. For example, i needed a new laptop. I looked through various flyers and based my decision on what was best for me. 
     Advertisements can help you make you make very important decisions. Even though, some advertisements can be annoying, most can be very time saving. Therefore, in my opinion, without advertisements, our everyday life would be very different.