Hey guys! So lately it seems I have been
walking into countless examples of how the media affects our culture today and
what this means for the younger generations. One circumstance happened last
week while I was babysitting two girls; the older one is 14 years old, and the
younger one is 10.
First
off, I would like to note -- since when do 14 year olds dress the way they
do??? She was dressed in more-up-to-date fashion than I was, and in a very
adult way… (Embarrassing for me… but I swear, I’m over it...). Anyway, she had
her fashion down… the multiple, dangly bracelets, the cool white, jean shorts,
the belt, she had the layering element down, and she had on these “summery
hues,” if you will… an array of whites, oranges, and shades of red. Meanwhile,
I was wearing a yoga top from Lulu Lemon with some shorts, and I was flattered
when she complimented my top and mentioned she would want one because it looks
comfortable. But before I could get too jazzed about it, she added, ‘does it
come in any other colors? Green is so
last year’.
Oh,
great.
What I am trying to get at with this example is
what McLuhan suggested about the increasing differences between generations; how
‘space binding media’ influences an overwhelming pace of change by allowing
ideas to be shared from distant parts of the world. By allowing such a flow of
ideas, “updates” to many topics such as food, music, and fashion are rapidly
produced and available to everyone who is connected. Now I know that this girl
is not exactly a full generation below me, but you can see how already, the
increased usage of media is affecting the lifestyles, ideas, and thinking of
younger kids. McLuhan further suggests, that specifically, “space binding media
creates a bigger gap between ‘today’ and yesterday’.” I never dressed that way,
or so flawlessly, when I was little, and maybe I was out of fashion(?), but I
seriously think that the bombardment of media and new technology, like ipads,
and smart phones, is influencing our culture’s way of thinking, and their
evaluation of people and situations that they encounter in life.
Hello Mary! This is Kaylee, from Comm 12.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I want to say that I feel the same way about teenagers! When I was 14, I had a few trendy clothes, but never anything like the outfit that you described on that girl. So don't worry! I don't that most girls dressed that way when we were kids (or maybe we were both just nerds!).
I think a lot of what is changing young girls now stems from what they watch on TV and social media. Every time I see a snippet of a show on Disney channel or Nickelodeon or MTV, the young actresses on the show always look so well put together! Their clothes are of the latest fashion and their hair is always phenomenal. If I was a young girl, I think I would also want to try and imitate that. And really, isn't that kind of what we do now as women? We see our friends on Facebook, super models on TV, actresses in our favorite movies appear in magazines, and we want to look like them. It just seems that now this is happening at a younger age.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that teenagers are dressing way above their age range these days. I think this has a lot to do with the idolization of celebrities that media has forced on us. People like Miley Cyrus tell us that its cool to try and dress old and grow up fast when the truth is children should enjoy their childhood. By the way my sister works at Forever 21 and she says her customers are getting younger and the clothes are smaller so im sure she will get a kick out of this Blog.
I agree with the points you raised about how media is influencing the way people act, dress, and behave but I also think there are other factors at play. For instance, when children are growing up (keyword = up) they are always waiting to be older, to be given more responsibility, and to be more respected. There is a certain degree of wanting to be seem and look older. With the way media presents men and women today, this manifests itself into children attempting to grow up and appear older than they actually are. There is not as much of a positive emphasis placed on the adolescence experience in our culture, making most young people want to be older. Since media is almost impossible to avoid, younger and younger generations are being exposed to material that is intended for older audiences, which is in turn changing the way these generations learn, grow, and develop. If younger generations spend their entire lives exposed to new technology, this will undoubtedly change the way they grow and progress, making a bigger gap between the generations of "today" and "yesterday" as McLuhan suggests.
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