Texting

I was talking with a coworker the other day and he was shocked to find out that I don't have texting. I have never had texting in the entire 7 or so years I have had my cell phone. I definitely have had my moment's of begging with my parent's to let me get texting. But now I am used to it, and content to wait another year until my husband and I get on the same plan. Actually, (this might sound weird) but I will be proud to admit that I survived all of high school and college without it! I know it can be really annoying for people to get a hold of me, but I always warn them when I give out my number- "Don't be surprised when I never respond to your text" But most of the time they forget :)

Is there anyone else out there who doesn't have texting? 

Do you think texting is a necessity to succeed in this media/technology saturated world? 

Poking Fun at Facebook

After our discussion about Facebook I kept thinking about this hilarious Youtube video. I haven't watched it since it was first posted in 2009 and I had to laugh at how "dated" some of the things were- like the top friends list, flair and bumper stickers. 

Enjoy! 

Halloween

I have been thinking a lot this past week about Halloween and how the media influences this holiday. Gone are the days of dressing up as witches, ghosts or pumpkins! Now many people are choosing their costumes from characters from popular tv shows or movies. 

For example:  

My husband and I dressed up as Shawn and Juliet from one of our favorite shows, Psych.

And my good friend was Flo from the popular Progressive commercials. 

How was your Halloween costume influenced by the media?

A Positive Media Message About the Election

I will be quite honest and say that I hate this "Election Season"! There is just so much negativity in the media and I can't watch it for very long without it putting me in a bad mood. However, a friend of mine posted this clip on Facebook and I was impressed with the positive tone of this discussion. Watching it feels like a nice breath of fresh air. I like that they are commenting on positive characteristics of Romney instead of belittling the candidates, like is often done. 

Enjoy and don't forget to get out and vote on November 6th! 

Motherhood

My group decided to promote motherhood for our family ad assignment. I believe that the role of motherhood, as outlined in the Family Proclamation, is deteriorating. Too many women in our society are putting off their responsibility to be mothers. They desire successful careers and want to experience the world before being "tied down" by children. I will be quite frank and say that I believe this is selfish, and not in line with the desires of our Heavenly Father. Granted there is a wide spectrum of views on this topic. Some might consider me selfish since I am waiting until I have graduated to have kids. The important things is that you have a desire to be a mother of Heavenly Father's children. And if, for some reason, you are not able to bear your own children you, as a woman of God, can be an example of righteousness to other children. This is the message that we hoped to promote through our advertisement. 

ENJOY! 

The Thin-Ideal

I really enjoyed our class discussion this past week on gender in the media, and specifically this idea of a "thin-ideal". Throughout the class period I kept thinking about this show I got started watching over the summer, Drop Dead Diva. It is all about Deb, an aspiring model that dies in a car accident and then has the chance to come back to earth, but ends up in the body of an over-weight, intelligent lawyer, Jane. I used to be a little embarrassed for watching such a girly show that on the surface seems very superficial. However, the more I watched it the more I was able to recognize the deeper messages and I was able to see the main character develop as she finds her inner-beauty and realizes that it is okay to have a different body type. This show goes against the norm in the media that beauty is defined by your weight. After our discussion and watching Miss Representation it makes sense to me why Lifetime, a network specifically for women, would air a show like this. They are trying to promote ideals that are not popular in the media. The idea that you do not have to be thin to be beautiful. It is the kind of person you are, the things you stand for, and the people you help that make you beautiful.

Dating

My best-friend from high school attends a small private university in Southern California called California Lutheran University (CLU), where she is an editor for the school paper. The other day on Facebook she posted a link to an article that a mutual friend had written on their website. After reading the article I was exploring the site and can across this fascinating article on dating. It made me laugh that we are not the only University that publishes articles on dating. However, this one takes an entirely different approach to dating than we do here at BYU. It got me thinking about how culture and location influence the content of our media.

Take a look at the article HERE. (don't worry it's short)

How do you feel about the article? Do you agree? Or do you prefer how our BYU newspaper portrays dating?