Rewrite #2 - Media Ethics: Use of Dark Media.

 BusinessInsider.com estimates the daily average amount of time we spend with media is 13 hours and 21 minutes. how much of that time do you think we spend in a web of Dark Media?  Unfortunately, this estimate is not that easy to calculate.

 the media  can be described as lots of this, an ideal way to stay informed, a great source of community, a. beneficial way to connect. But, beneficial to who? Dark Patterns, as described in the "How Dark Patterns trick you online video, are features of interface design crafted to trick users into doing things they might not want to do, but which benefit the business in question." Businesses have forced themselves in almost every aspect of digital media.  While watching a YouTube video, while surfing the web or mindlessly scrolling through Instagram we are faced with ads all fighting for a space in our heads. With "only the fittest will survive" ideology, companies use dirty tricks to "force" or manipulate us into things we might not agree with or want.

control button

We see an example of this in the Cambridge Analytica Sandal Video. This video sums up the conspiracy that the company was working with Facebook to promote and help Trumps presidential campaign. But how? Allegedly, Facebook gave its users data over to the data marketing firm, by which the firm was able to fill the Facebook users feed with focused propaganda in hopes of behavioral manipulation. While of course this is Illegal and both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, denied all claims, it is quite a scary idea that me , you or anyone for that matter could possibly be or have been conditioned to think a certain way on a topic. A similar use of Propaganda is discussed in the "How one Man manipulated all of America" video.

sharing data

The person referred to as "One Man" is Edward Bernays. In 1929 New York, the times were simply described as "More fish in our sea, but so much harder to stand out" so people like Edward were paid by big companies to help their products sell. Edward describes propaganda in one of his books as" The mechanism by which ideas are disseminated on a large scale is propaganda, in a broad sense of an organized effort to spread a particular belief or doctrine." the video also discussed the idea  that a product could become a movement when it represents something greater than its self. Edward had 4 simple steps.

1. Create Symbols

2. Appeal to unconscious desires

3. Normalize Behaviors

4. (Take up) Mental Space 

As a consumer this is is something I try to look out for, but this is especially hard when your favorite influencers, that you feel like you can trust, are all raving about a product you absolutely must buy. The felling of wanting to fit in is quite overbearing, but when do we draw a line? When is it too late? We need to remind ourselves most of these celebrity's and influencers get  these products for free or/and get paid to promote them. would they actually use there own money on the product? I think the only way to stop ourselves from buying into unnecessary trends is to sit and honestly ask our selves. Do I like it or is it just another trend.

Check out my sources here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-adults-will-consume-almost-as-much-media-in-2021-2021-6?r=US&IR=T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkrdLI6e6M&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q91nvbJSmS4&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj_UWbifM2U&t=668s