COMM 322 Final Project: Social Media's Effect on Parasocial Relationships

The Power of Twitter

Although we talked about social media quite a few weeks ago, I think this past weekend has brought up a great opportunity to discuss the power of Twitter. This past Friday, as I'm sure you are all aware, there was a situation on campus involving a potential gunman in the Rec Center. Once notified of the situation, the university began sending out notifications through e-mail, texts, on their website, and finally through social media such as Twitter. The notifications continued to be sent out throughout the night until the search of the large building was complete. Even though the university sent out updates, my friends and I had realized that the first notification of the situation was actually sent out on Twitter by a student NOT the university. I think that it is extremely fascinating how fast information can fly when social media is involved. In this situation, people that have a Twitter were notified of the situation on campus and it was spread quickly through re-tweeting the information or posting new statuses. Many pictures of the area on campus along with pictures from inside the Rec Center were shared through Twitter as well. RTV6 Staff  stated "Ball State students on Twitter were tweeting photos of campus police with rifles securing the recreation building, and police cars blocking off roads in the area." These photos and the information shared on Twitter was able to give other students information about the area and what was going on. Although the sharing of information and photos on Twitter was pretty helpful, there is always the chance of miscommunication with false information. Just as we often see with the media, there was quite a bit of misinformation going around on Twitter, along with through the media. Most of us got the updates from Ball State saying "The previous statement of an explosion are inaccurate" or "The previous statement from the media stating there is a hostage situation is inaccurate." A lot of the "rumors" that were going around were created either by the media or from people on Twitter not really knowing what was going on. Unfortunately, this type of miscommunication is common in almost any situation like this. Just like any other topic, there are positive and a negative side. For a situation like this, the positives are that information is spread quickly and effectively. The negative is that there will almost definitely be misinformation with the situation.

When Princess Culture Meets "Reality TV"

The only thing worse than the Princess Culture is when the Princess Culture meets Reality TV. Although there are already shows that present these two topics together like Toddlers and Tiaras, there is an even better example of these portrayals. Saturday Night Live did a performance on the show a couple years ago named "The Real Housewives of Disney". In this video they have combined what we have talked about with the Princess Culture and Reality TV into one extremely accurate portrayal of these two topics. Even though this video is not real, it shows the most extreme version of both of these popular culture issues. Here is the video from SNL.

In the video, they portray these "housewives" as uptight, entitled, and downright selfish, grown up princesses. We can then assume that they were a part and still are a part of the Princess Culture and that is why they act the way that they act. The women in the "Real Housewives" shows on television have a lot of the same personalities and characteristics as the princess culture as well. They all feel entitled whether it is because of money or the social class in their society. This would obviously be the negative part of Princess Culture which was focused on in class. There is an entire positive side of the princess culture as well. The entire video focuses on the negative aspects of both of these "cultures" and plays off of the other Real Housewives shows. It really shows how ridiculous these things are but also how engrossed we are by these television shows. It is really just making fun of the whole system and how it works. 

Gender Roles and Sexuality

Over the past couple weeks, the subject of homosexuality has been brought up in almost every one of my classes. This has been kinda neat because every class has brought a different perspective or subject about homosexuality. In this class we have mainly talked about gendernormative attitudes and portrayals in media. This gendernormative approach basically means that being heterosexual is "normal" . An example of this gendernormative perspective would be in the T.V. show Full House. In an episode, Michelle Tanner is playing with her two friends who are boys and they don't allow her to be superheroes with them and tell her she can be the superhero's mom. In this same episode, she proceeds to ask what the difference between boy and girls are and is given a false definition. She decides that it would be more fun to be a boy so she dresses like a boy to fit in with her friends that are boy. These gendernormative attitudes and lessons taught in this show are very typical for shows directed towards heterosexuals.

With this said, gay couples have become more prominent in television shows and movies in recent years. This is most likely because it is beginning to become accepted, especially in those states that allow homosexuals to get married. Illinois is the newest state to push through the law enabling homosexual couples to become legally married. Even though gay couples or people are featured in television shows or movies it is still "normal" to be heterosexual. Some examples of modern shows with gay couples or individuals presented in them are: Grey's Anatomy, Modern Family, Teen Wolf, and Glee. People still don't know how to react when showed gay couples on television or even in real life. There is a YouTube site in which they have kids react to certain subjects in the news or issues among our country. The video below is the video of children reacting to homosexual couples. (P.S. Sorry it's so long)

Not So Traditional Branding

    According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, branding is defined as "the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand". Even before we watched the Macklemore videos that we watched in class while talking about branding, I had realized that he has been using his music as branding. He does not use traditional branding though. He doesn't exactly have a product that he is trying to sell. He uses his ideas and also the ideas of so many others in this country as his "branding". For example, his song “Same Love" preaches the views of same sex marriage in our country.  

    This is a high risk topic for him to be sharing so publicly, or at least some people think of it like this. I personally think that it is fantastic that he is getting his opinion out there and really starting to make people think about this issue in our country. I think that he is starting a sort of revolution with these types of messages in his music. I feel that as a musician, he has the power to get a message out because music reaches everyone no matter what. It doesn't matter if it is not the kind of music a certain person listens to. People do not always have control over who or what they hear in their every day lives. Music has a strong influence on the people listening to it, especially for our generation now. We are a generation that is focused on technology and with that, music as well. You can’t have music without technology and technology is beginning to rule our world.

Words With Friends?

     Alright, so I know that I'm a little late with this one but this is the first time I've actually had time to sit down and write. I want to talk about how technology and social media effect our interpersonal relationships. It is amazing how our phones can completely captivate our attention for hours on end. The apps, texts, emails, videos, whatever it is, seems to be able to hold our focus for much longer than a face-to-face conversation ever does. Our interpersonal skills are becoming scarce among this generation. Kids don't know how to hold a conversation with adults anymore or are too busy with their phones, iPods, or tablets to even care to respond to those around them. This is going to cause a huge tare in how things work in our world. As a society, we are communication driven. We don't know what someone wants unless they tell us and conflict is always addressed head on in our society. Without these interpersonal skills to resolve problems in our everyday lives, the world that we know will crumble under the technological world we are trying to build.
     My example of a lack of interpersonal communication is my family. Over Christmas this year, both of my grandmas had come down to Zionsville to visit the family and spend the holiday with us. They had both just recently gotten smart phones and my sisters and I were teaching them how to use them. At this time, one of my most used apps on my iPhone was "Words With Friends." Both of my grandmas love scrabble and so I thought it would be nice for them to be able to play it on their new phones. We introduced the app to them and they loved it. To make a long story short, on the last day of their trip, my entire family (Mom, Dad, both Grandmas, my two little sisters and myself) were all sitting in the same room, completely silent all playing Words With Friends with each other... Now if this isn't a great example of what technology has done to our lives, I don't know what is. I looked up at this time and realized how absolutely ridiculous we all seemed. I think this is the first time I ever truly realized the effects of technology and social media on our every day lives.
     After being in this class for about a month, I have really tried to limit my use of social media. Like other students have said, I try to not take my phone out at bus stops or when walking somewhere alone but it has become second nature to me and I can't help but do it sometimes. I have to truly think about not using my phone in these situations. As the days go on though, I have realized that I have, in fact, begun to limit the amount of time I am on social media and my phone. I have noticed that when I go on Twitter, it has been several hours (anywhere between 5-8) since I last refreshed my Twitter page. I would say this is a huge improvement on my part. I have realized that I depended on my phone quite a bit in the past and I have begun to turn that trend around. I don't need my phone as much as I thought I did, but I still hate not having it on me. It is my security blanket. I definitely agree with the statement that as a generation, we have a close tie to technology and almost don't know what to do when we are without it.