Mass media and popular culture are greatly influenced by the organizations and people in power in the United States and beyond. While there are some laws against monopolization in place, there are no laws against a single organization becoming immensely wealthy and using that wealth to promote their media in a way that bulldozes over other smaller organizations or individuals. “We live in a world saturated with media. We see our reality through them. But these are not transparent opportunities. They involve the workings of power,” Stuart Hall – Race, Gender, Class in the Media said. It takes another level of reflection to realize that the reality one lives in is greatly curated by the media one consumes.

If one’s media consumption is primarily coming from one or a few sources, and if those sources are predominant because they are excessively wealthy, the media that one is consuming may be wrought with unspoken or ulterior motives. The ways that media is used to push narratives regarding frequently contested subjects like race, religion and sexuality are potentially dangerous to the beliefs and understanding of the world that individuals have, causing bigotry and hate. People must be able to critically think to be able to escape the mental traps that false information in media can be for those who are ignorant to greater understandings of society, culture, life and reality. 

The term media literacy, which was coined to further define critical thinking skills in regard to media, has only been talked about on a larger scale in the last fifty years and has only been largely taught since the 1990s. There have been living examples of the negative effects that media can have on different subjects throughout the centuries. At one point or another, the media has grossly degraded women, BIPOC people, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ people, just to name a few. Here in Humboldt County, there is plenty of people possessing these fanatical beliefs. In Ferndale, CA, there is a priest who has chosen hate and ignorance. In the Lost Coast Outpost, Pastor Tyrel Bramwell was quoted saying that “drag shows represent a ‘rejection of God’s order,’ namely that there are only two genders, male and female.” 

When there is hate being pushed as the narrative in these instances, there are going to be some who are ignorant enough to eat it up and take it upon themselves to do harm toward one or more of these communities. They may try to frame it as something good they are doing for the sake of someone else, when in fact they are likely being hateful and inappropriate. If you live in the illusion that racism, homophobia, or misogyny is dead and gone I am sorry to say that is incorrect and it is alive and well. That means the right to individual identity and respect must be continuously fought for with strength. 

The horrible truth is there are many people in this country and beyond who have one or more of these abhorrent traits and have no appropriate shame in rearing their bigotry-filled heads whenever they see fit. It is up to each person to stand up for people being themselves. “I’m a political drag queen. We all are. You have to be ready to protest the racism and the ignorance, and combat the legislation sometimes,” Fantasia said in Drag Queens Fight Back Against Armed Protestors. People should always be allowed to do whatever they want as long as they are not hurting anyone or anything. 

Unfortunately, some disagree about what is “not hurting anyone.” My greatest hope is that people feel empowered and motivated enough to educate themselves on topics that for some reason may make them uncomfortable and to have an open mind and a growth mindset. Everyone deserves to have the space to be themselves and not be categorized. Hate does nothing good for society and it is unfortunate that popular culture and mass media push subliminal messages that promote such discriminatory narratives. Sometimes these narratives are explicit as well, but it is much easier to sway a large number of individuals by sneaking such messaging into their daily media consumption in a way that makes them potentially think that they came to the idea all on their own than being blatantly prejudiced. 

Media literacy is my favorite thing because before media literacy was conceptualized people were vastly throwing back information they got from media like spiked Kool-Aid on a hot summer day. It may tantalize the senses with all the sugar and artificial flavor or in this case dramatic information, but either way, you may be feeling pleasure while in reality, you may be poisoning your mind with false information. “Whether you’re at work or school or just hanging out chances are you are almost always interacting with some sort of artifact of communication,” (Introduction to Media Literacy: Crash Course Media Literacy #1). 

The popular culture we are sold and made to believe in through societal standards can have devastating effects on one’s natural character. There are so many facets of popular culture that individuals may not even be aware of its effect on them in the moment. “Selling culture goes well beyond just food and clothing. Popular music and other forms of entertainment (video games, movies, etc.) are huge commercial entities marketing products well outside their places of origin,” (Dorrell). 

Really consider the quote above. Hierarchal diffusion causes popular culture to impact not just the culture it came from but many others. That means the same false news, false beauty standards, and false ideas of what is precious that are propagated by Western popular culture are spread across the globe. All of these ideals are based on trends that are most often large corporations’ proponents. If the entire world is made aware and made to believe in all of these Western ideals, many people may feel that they are falling short if they do not look a certain way, or do not have access to or cannot afford certain things that are in line with popular culture. 

After watching “Hundreds of iPhones Are in ‘Ted Lasso.’ They’re More Strategic Than You Think” by the WSJ, I was incredibly intrigued by the number of Apple products found in the show. What a great marketing scheme Apple has found. Someone within their organization came up with the terribly genius idea to not only make more money by creating movies and TV shows but to combine the illusory truth effect with the mere-exposure effect to get people to buy more Apple products. 

The illusory truth effect is a phenomenon that “is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure,” (Wikipedia). The mere-exposure effect is a “phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them,” (Wikipedia). Both of these phenomena play a huge part in popular culture and the success of branding. One can be unknowingly convinced of something completely false or dehumanizing simply because they are having it constantly jammed down their throats through many different mediums. 

Popular culture influenced me much more in my earlier days. I grew up in an era where the internet was still very much figuring itself out. Resources for finding community were limited and the images that dominated the screens were cis-gender white men and women. As for the women they were usually tall, blonde, and incredibly skinny. For me growing up as a melting pot with Latin, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European origins, there was not a single woman I can remember seeing who looked like me in the modeling industry, which is what young girls often epitomize as the standard of beauty. 

This affected me greatly and caused me to throw my culture away in public because of the intense desire to fit in and be accepted by my peers. I would bleach my hair and starve myself to alter my fit but naturally curvaceous frame body. Luckily this did not last very long, just a few years in middle school and early high school, but it makes me shudder with intensity when I look back on how less than I felt because of what mainstream media, or popular culture, was pushing. I was holding myself to an Aryan standard of beauty perpetuated by Nazism and continued by Western society, the same people who slaughtered my ancestors. 

Only in the last few years am I seeing women who look like me regularly represented in popular culture beyond just a few (incredible) icons. I shed tears for the young girls of my generation and generations past who hurt themselves to fit in with a society that did not love us for who we are. And just for those in the back, we (women) come in endless shapes, colors, and sizes and all of them are worthy and all of them are beautiful, and if someone ever tells you any different, kick them to the curb. 

The way I look at my phone is that it is a world within a world. It is no larger than a few inches yet can transport you like a portal. So let me take a step back. There are only so many hours in a day and I am already impeded by many daily responsibilities that take time away from handling the basics, being with family and friends, and taking in the vast physical world around me. It is easy to get lost in the world behind the screen and not be present in our lives in this physical world. I want to ensure the little free time I do have is given to myself and others in my life. 

I do not entirely keep myself from the alternate reality of “online,” but balance is incredibly important to me in all aspects of life. So much time can slip away spending it in virtual reality if one does not keep themselves in check. Regarding TikTok, I have heard friends tell me so many times that they spend hours a day on the app, that it keeps them up at night while they endlessly scroll, and that it is straight-up addictive. While I do enjoy some content that I see from that app specifically, I have chosen not to use it thus far, as I already feel consumed enough with the social media I already have. 

After watching the TikTok Boom documentary, I was surprised by the level of censorship that has been found with TikTok. It was said in the documentary that “it is becoming a world unto itself…” which intrigued me as I already felt that way. One thing I’ve heard about TikTok that I love, which the documentary reinforced, is how it can connect certain groups of people to others like them and provide that community, even if they don’t have it where they physically are. 

For myself, I am curious if I may be able to find a community that I never knew I could have. In the article Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022 it is stated that “higher shares of Black and Hispanic teens report using TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp compared with White teens,” which adds to my feeling that I could find community. Regarding concerns about underage over usage of the app, I appreciate that there are parental locks and time-constraint suggestions in place on the app, for example, “users under 13 that require parental permission to continue using the app after 60 minutes on TikTok in one day,” (Simone Popperl, 2023). 

One thing I have noticed from seeing TikTok videos that were reshared on Instagram or YouTube is that teachers seem to be open to participating in students’ videos on the app. In the article Is TikTok The Future Of Learning, it is stated that “TikTok is a powerful educational tool because it is both a learning platform and a social network.” That being said, if we apply Deidre Pike’s Media Literacy test, for the information gleaned from the app to be honest, the element of human integrity is still needed for it to be a learning tool.

Beyond honesty, the independence of TikTok is questionable, as it seems after watching the documentary that there is a great deal of censorship on the app. Regarding productiveness, I feel that the app could potentially pull an individual in both extremes. At the end of the day, social media can be used as a tool or as work in this day and age. In that way, it is very productive. However, if one is using social media and not learning anything, but rather putting off life and responsibilities to sit and scroll through pointless videos, that is arguably an immense waste of time. 

Some links to articles I like that relate to this topic:

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/16/1016854764/social-media-balance-relationship-boundaries

https://culture.org/social-media-detox-finding-balance-in-the-digital-age/