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Have You Fallen for these 7 Negative Attitudes Pushed by the Media?

johnplaceonline.com — Like it or not, we live in a media driven world. We spend 11 hours a day bombarded by television, radio, Internet, and other forms of media, a non-stop onslaught on the psyche, an ever-churning series of images, sound bites, opinions, and advertisements, but precious little substance.

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  • pjs1840, on 10/10/2007, -2/+34Now that you mention it, why yes, I have fallen and I can't get up.
    • Inverse24, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Do you need help to get up?
      • yelofnivek, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0yeah could you lend me a hand? my back hurts and i don't want to strain it.
      • TVarmy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9He needs LifeAlert!
        • WolfDog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i'm guessing that would be a negative attitude - commercials.
  • joshshu, on 10/10/2007, -3/+12Even Internet is biased. There is a lot of information out there but many people cannot think logically. People just believe all that spam on the Google Ads.
  • AlphaEta, on 10/10/2007, -7/+5I'll let George Carlin speak for me:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTfcAyYGg
  • mikesty, on 10/10/2007, -11/+2"The average American is exposed to 247 commercials everyday"

    Did they pull that out of their ass? I think that number is a little high. If that's indeed correct, I feel happy knowing I'm exposed to zero. Then again, it isn't a big deal since I don't fall for the negative attitudes pushed by the media.

    For the record, I use AdBlock Plus :)
    • NicksVideo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I guess you never watch TV, read the newspaper/magazines or look at billboards either.
      • moocow1452, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
        Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.
      • mikesty, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I don't.
    • byrdgang, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Even if it is "accurate" in one sense or another, don't ever be too quick to believe in "The average American..." statistics. To begin with, the statistic often fails to mention which type of average (median, mode, mean, etc.) a particular study used. Furthermore, these studies may be riddled with more inaccuracies as well. For example, often, when these statistics are cited, they don't tell you when the s.tudy was conducted. Was it conducted in 1980 or last year? I am sure a lot has changed in marketing between 1980 and last year. That's why it's important to know all these details.

      A legitimate study will be straight-forward, unambiguous, and won't make an effort to deceive you. By the way, you may find interesting "How To Lie With Statistics" by Darrell Huff.
      • emjaymj, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Median and mode are not types of averages. Average is synonymous with mean. Anything else is incorrect usage.
    • TVarmy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2So, the median spot is about 30 seconds. There's longer ones, but let's assume it's that length for every commercial. For every 30 minutes of TV, there's 21 minutes of content and 9 minutes of ads. That's 18 ads per half our, or 36 ads per hour. That's a little more than 6 hours of TV a day. If the person works 9 to 5, wakes up at 6 AM, then that's just 3 hours of real life/hygiene/eating before going to bed at 11:00. Sad, no?
      • Skanadian, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4You're forgetting the subway, walking down the street, going into stores, schools, etc.
        • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1because there are no ads on the subway, in stores or seen on the streets or in schools.
    • IcyStorm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Maybe they think of commercials as all forms of advertising? Would seeing a brand name be considered advertising?

      I'm using a Samsung monitor right now; the Samsung logo is right there on the mid-bottom. Would this remind me to buy Samsung for its quality?
    • acdcfanbill, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1I dl tv shows and use adblock plus. I think I'm below the commercial per day average.
      • emjaymj, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Congrats. If everybody did what you did, there would be no tv shows to watch and very few websites to visit in the first place, considering that most TV shows and websites rely mainly on ads for revenue.

        Is it really all that hard to just ignore ads? I really don't understand the need for an extra piece of software to block them for you. For years my mind has been conditioned to subconsciously just skip over ads, and I think it would be more disruptive to my experience if I saw big patches of white space everywhere. I can understand the desire to block pop-ups, but it's completely unfair to the website owners who just ask you to load an image on the page in return for their content.

        It's much worse than stealing music. Not only are these websites asking for something essentially valueless to you, a lot of these websites are small and struggling outfits. Like I said, if everybody felt entitled to do the same thing you do, TV and most of the Internet as we know it, will be gone. So you're particularly narcissistic or just really dumb. Either you realized this fact and felt special and entitled to do so anyways, or you're just too stupid to think about how these things survive. They don't ask for a freaking dime right now. Keep it up, and all TV will be subscription-based like HBO, and most sites, including digg, will be switching to paid memberships.
    • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Not to mention all of the branding and ***** that's everywhere all around you constantly. If anything, i'd say that that number of ads is far too low. How many 'Nike' Shirts do you see in a day? Logos, slogans, catch prases... anything that has the name of the manufacturer on it in public display could technically be considered an ad. Even stuff you wouldn't normally consider an 'ad' really sort of is. Book publishers place their company logo on the books they sell. They do that so people will relate that really great book you just read to the publisher, and maybe the next time you're out buying a book it might affect your purchasing decision. Brand recognition is the Holy Grail in marketing, and odds are you are exposed to it far more often than you think. The monitor you are reading this on probably has teh name of the company and the logo emblazoned on it somewhere in plain sight. Why would you need that on your monitor? Perhaps if that monitor were to get stolen, broken or need to be replaced, you might remember how 'awesome' your monitor was and buy another from the same company. Every time you look at that logo, they are sticking their company name into your head. That is advertising.
    • DoobieWheel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So you never go outside at all?
  • davidhildreth, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5Have you listened to some random post on a silly website?
  • UtopiaInTheSky, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20No, but I have fallen for the "7 Negative Attitudes Pushed By Blog Articles".
  • crestfall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3number 3 is a tough one. I didn't used to be that way. Working.... working... working.Oh *****! Hot Internet Sluts!!!!
  • diggerman, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Wow! This article is so incredibly true. Makes me wonder what the world was like before TV.
    • DephexTwin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1People went to the movie theater.
  • dnields, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2I'm not a mindless sheep, so no I don't get caught up in or fall victim to every single thing I see or read. Its called having your own mind and opinion.
    • DephexTwin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Wow, that straw man didn't even know what hit him.
  • TVarmy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I'm victim to 3, 4, and 5. Consumerism is off and on for me.
    • texpundit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The only one I'm massively victim to is #7...but I was that way from birth. That's why my right leg is a mass of pins and screws from a motocross racing accident...amongst other moto, car, skateboarding, etc injuries.

      /me is a recovering adrenaline junkie
  • testbenchdude, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21Here's how I deal with the media:

    -I listen to local AM news. This rocks for traffic and weather and quick rundown of the local and national news. Half an hour and I got it all.
    -I have satellite radio. For those of you who don't, just imagine surfing radio channels and hearing nothing. but. music.
    -I record TV on my computer, then watch it back commercial free. Can't beat this.
    -I get international news from the BBC. Go ahead, tell me when you last heard the word "Darfur" on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc. That's right, you haven't.
    -If there's a breaking story, I'll read about it in the Wash Times, NY Times, CNN.com, Digg, Fark, Slashdot, etc. and THEN I'll form an opinion on the issue at hand.
    -I've installed Adblock. You'd be amazed at the amount of whitespace on CNN.com without all those ads and banners.
    -And when all else fails, I'll go offline, unplug, tune out and read a book. No commercials there!

    And that's how I stay sane. Side note, since I got satellite radio, traffic doesn't hardly bother me at all anymore! Also, watching Stewart and Colbert helps too, because it reminds me that there are others out there like me who "get it". Not many, but enough to make me feel a little better.
    • moocow1452, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I gotta bookmark this comment.
    • bubba9999, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Half an hour and you get it all? I seriously doubt it.
    • eleventh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4All good stuff except the assumption that the BBC is unbiased news. Just because it's foriegn and different doesn't mean it's better. I'm *not* advocating American media, just trying to look at things objectively.
    • NeueRegel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Seriously? Watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report because you "get it"? Clearly you don't. I like the show as much as the next guy (although Colbert Report I like the best) but they aren't news. It scares the hell out of me how many people use those shows as a news source.

      There is pretty much nothing in life, especially politics, that is black and white. You'd do well to remember that. Both the Democrats and Republicans feed you very filtered views of the issues. Try and play devil's advocate to get a better handle things.
  • patch6, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2I agree with 1-6, but 7's feel-good suggestion of ignoring danger due to the counterbalance of "positive forces" is negligent, and almost suggests that these factors are out of a person's control. Worrying about danger alone might not be meaningful, but addressing those concerns is.

    Ignoring a known threat might end up costing more than the time saved by not addressing it.
    • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2It's not really a suggestion to ignore danger, really, just a suggestion that one make an attempt to also pay attention to the goodness out there as well as the badness. So much of the stuff on news is negative, with death, violence and unspeakable crimes that it's easy to forget that there is as much - if not more - goodness out there. It's just a balance thing.
  • Malakym, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2"Poor Body Image: Never before in history have we been surrounded by so many examples of physical perfection, shaped by cosmetic surgeons, airbrushed by artists, and distributed by print and video. Remind yourself that fitness is more important than perfection. And while it’s true that Americans outside the media are fatter than ever, even physically fit individuals struggle with a poor body image. Yes, attractiveness is an advantage, but your value runs deeper than your appearance, and those actors don’t look half as good without make-up and lighting."

    Yet at the same time, the people who keep trying to put an end at these pressures to be thin turn around and say "Oh my god! Americans are getting fat!" and blame fast food.

    Make up your damn mind.
    • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The point is that people want to look beautiful / handsome and will go to great lengths in the attempt, when they should only be concerned about being healthy and being themselves. Being fat has less to do with what you are eating and more to do with how much you are eating, a lack of exercise and a lack of restraint. Being slightly overweight is one thing, being 400 Lbs and 5'8" is something else entirely, and those people are choosing to indulge their own desires and urges rather than attempt to stay healthy. Less an image issue, more a health issue.
  • xerexes1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Yes to all, but I can't lay the blame on the media. I blame human evolution and cultural determination.
  • unitheory, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1sad but true
  • noumuon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+011 hours a day?
  • Leomarth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That last one, "Danger Fixation", I see that often. I visit a parenting forum, and you'd think from the comments there that pedophiles are just about to jump out from behind every bush and trash can and hump every child to death in the next sixty seconds.

    Wait... here comes one now... it's the next commenter... ;p
  • ThomasOkken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"Bombarded by television", eh? Sounds like yet another moron who has forgotten that you can actually turn the damn thing off, and use your own imagination instead. Seriously, dude, just push that little red button, and enjoy the peace and quiet for a change.
  • glitch47, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2#8) The Media is evil and has an agenda

    The Media only "pushes" things that we want. We all SAY we were sick of Anna Nicole Smith stories, but guess what happened when CNN did an interview with Condoleezza Rice instead of Anna Nicole Smith coverage? They got the lowest ratings of any news show that night.

    Shows about danger and destruction are on the air because they're popular. If it's not popular guess what happens to it? They don't put it on the air. CSI is a perfect example of this. We're obsessed with a) gruesome crimes that are eventually b) solved by cops with great technology. Why? We want to see the crime but know we're safe at night. So they make a tons of shows and people watch them because they like it. It's not evil media, they don't have an agenda, and they're not "pushing" it on us.

    It's too easy to blame the "media" for our own faults and destructive habits.
  • Ghoztt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It is true that our western society has become very, very, very tuned in to negativity. Part of the reason why I've completely stopped watching TV and replaced it with books, youtube and *get this* exercise! Besides the Science and History channels on TV it's all absolute crap nowadays. Reality TV? Most people don't know what reality is anymore.
    • glitch47, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1
      I disagree. Certainly, there is a lot of crap, but there is a lot of great stuff if you take the time to find it. The Wire, The Office, Mad Men, Curb Your Enthusiasm, all great shows that can enrich a well balanced life.

  • Ludnix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why did this article feel like a motivational speech?
  • SquigglyP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This is EXACTLY the type of well thought out and well written blog material that 99% of the bloggers out there utterly fail to demonstrate. An interesting list and arguments. There could probably be a few more additions, music being notably absent, and with much of the content on the radio waves and store shelves lately being so steeped in apathy, self indulgence and anger, I think at least "Self Indulgence" or "Self Importance" would fit in (and it's pretty apparent on the net and elsewhere as well... hell, look at the massive number of Blogs out there...). I very rarely bookmark blogs, but this one i'll have to take a further look into. Keep up the good work.
  • caponumen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2A very good article.
    Objective thinking is a discipline that must be learned then continually honed and reevaluated on a daily basis.
    Humans are not objective thinkers by nature and are prone to emotional and biased assumptions on most everything.

    I find irrational fears are the hardest to over come, one trick I find helpful is to research the odds of an event happening to a single individual. I find that most things that seem scary have very low odds of occurrence.
  • Yage2006, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Just stop watching the damn news :(
    That will put those ***** in there place.

    • vSuperLuminal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I agree. Having absolutely no idea what is going on in the world around us will show 'em! /sarcasm

      Not picking on you Yage2006. I actually understand your sentiment.
      I'm just trying to make a point. I had a conversation with a friend very recently who had declared that he is "off" of the news and that he had been for several months. He then proceeded to debate me about the current presidential race. Needless to say, not only was his information very outdated, but he looked ridiculous. Sort of like showing up to the proverbial gunfight with a wet noodle.
      Stay informed. Don't look ridiculous.
  • havesometea, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I steadfastly reject all of these...oh look boobies!
  • CrAkaRJax, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Hypocrite.
  • xiaoliu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Found the short film Evidence which the writer mentioned at the end of the article.
    http://digg.com/videos/educational/Evidence_The_pervasive_nature_of_Technology
    and another link about the film
    http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/films/evidence.php
  • jedikv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think digg can fit in categories 4-7
  • parasitewasp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1how about this one digg, like looking in a mirror,

    4. Destructive Communication: Electronic media brims with insults and anger. On message boards, gentle persuasion has collapsed beneath the weight of incivility. In real life, victory is seldom obtained with witty one-liners or rude put-downs. Hone those communication skills. Learn to Persuade without offending. Connect.
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