Blog 11

I felt that I learned a lot from Group 2's presentation. They were given the Mediasphere to research and present. All of these topics immediately pertain to the media that I keep up with and they all influence my daily life. The media sphere has had an impact on everyone's lives and people have become dependent on it. Whether it's from daily news and information, or simply just entertainment, most people are impacted by it. 

    Two terms/concepts that Group 2 taught about were Whistle Blowers and Influencers. Whistle Blowers have a large impact on the media and news outlets often depend on them for original sources and stories. Whistle blowers are categorized as people who are a part of an organization who spread information that they found out from this organization. One famous whistle blower mentioned in this presentation was Edward Snowden. He was a former NSA contractor who leaked classified documents and revealed the existence of global surveillance programs. These were highly classified documents that were leaked and he is now known as one of the most notable whistle blowers in current American History. 

The presentation discussed the effects of Whistleblowers on American society with both good and bad implications. On one hand, they provide Americans with information about their own safety that the government isn't telling us. However, they also release information that the government may have been keeping for a reason. This causes national security threats because even though everyday American people know this information, people who may be threats to society now also know this classified information and may use it in dangerous ways. I found it interesting so see one person's affect on the rest of society by simply exposing information. It also makes you wonder how much the government hides though sometimes it may be more beneficial to simply just wonder.  

Another term in this presentation that I learned more about was Influencers. I consider myself to be familiar with pop culture especially the age of influencers and how they've taken over the mediasphere, but I found out that there was still a lot that I didn't realize about them. The term influencer has impacted everyone's lives and everyone tries to become one. It is seen as the easiest and quickest way to fame in today's world and everyone chases this. However, influencers create a false narrative of being the "perfect people" though they are far from it. They show models of who people want to become and who they believe you have to become to be famous. This creates a large divide between reality and what is for show. They are also under a lot of pressure to be this perfect person and a lot of times a small slip up can take away any and all fame they may have. I learned from group 2, about the negative aspects of being an influencer and what it means to be a "bad" influencer. These people will spread misinformation to get people hooked or to manipulate their viewers to keep them watching. A lot of times they will also speak inauthentically and build up this fake narrative of who people want to become. This fake narrative is simply unachievable because it's created simply for show and is fully fake. It is dangerous because of the extents people feel they need to go to achieve this.