How has social media helped evolve the role of the audience in commercial advertisement? Is this a negative thing?

As the social media evolved throughout the years, its range of target audiences has extended by far and now is able to directly address different genders with specific targeted information. There have been ways created in order to discover the most products or other things that are appropriate for gender ethnicity and age. One could be any person out of the blue, and still find one’s self addressed in those advertisements. The use of characters value has a negative effect on genders such as women being objectified and degraded and men being stereotyped and given sky high expectations. Those set boundaries for the youth viewing those advertisements on regular bases. Also another aspect would be how consumers as a youth these days subconsciously advertise products that they have "liked ages ago" but are still contributing to the betterment of the business market.

Pop Culture

Fun – We Are Young

“We Are Young” is a song recorded by the American band Fun, released on September 20, 2011. The song made a breakthrough at the time, being the most downloaded song in several countries. The song emerges around the idea “Young” which is entitled within “We Are Young”.

The song starts by the lead singer talking about drug abuse, by explaining that his friends are in the bathroom of the bar, getting higher than the empire state. That further emphasizes how much they abused the usage of drugs, which lead for them to get “higher than the empire state”. The name of the song attracts hip hop listeners, who are mainly teenagers (the young age group). The song advertises the usage of drugs and sends messages; the listener will accept the message without realizing it. “Higher than the empire state” does not sound that bad; therefore as a result young listeners might start to resort to drugs when facing difficulties in their lives. That is because the usage of drugs was introduced in a fun manner, rather than being introduced as an issue that most societies from all around the world face.

The music video shows violence, by presenting a calm mood at the beginning of the video, then later on escalating into a tenser mood. Many say that the song refers to a conflict that happened between a couple, as a result she left him for a guy wearing glasses “My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses asking ’bout a scar”. The second part the expresses the scar, it can have different meanings, but the meaning that is being understood is that, she talks to the guy in glasses about emotional scars left by her previous partner.

This shows that songs can alter how teenagers think, since all the statements that have been stated earlier have not been intended by the band itself. The singer has been confronted later on, by a feminist, and she argued and asked why he would talk about emotional abuse. He confessed by saying that his song actually carried the idea of domestic abuse.

 

How Seriously Should We Take Standardized Tests?

In most cases, students who failed their final high-school tests are referred to as 'underachievers' or 'unsuccessful' people. Have you ever thought why they failed? Ever wondered what their dream was/is? Or why a class full of individuals, is tested by the same manner?

What if I tell you that the cashier standing over there, was primarily an outstanding student in Arts class. Of course most people will disagree, believing that a 'smart' student should be achieving high grades in all subjects. The reason behind his failure, is because simply his abilities in understanding math equations were not as superior as that student sitting at the front of the class.

There was a kid finishing parents meeting with a vital discussion with his mother. Saying, why should he study subjects that he will never use in his life, or might not even enjoy. The mother would look back at her child blanked eyed, think for a second and then lie. Subsequently she would reply by claiming that, fine jobs require good degrees, and these subject will help him get a good degree. Afterwards relating how she never had these opportunities when she was younger. But she is unaware of the fact that society's needs have changed since she was last sixteen.  Gripping her son more firmly  and ignores him on the way home. She ignores him not because what her son implied makes no sense, but because she doesn't know any better herself. Although over her whole adulthood, she never used Pythagoras's theorem, and still unaware of the value of x.

How many times did students memorize formulas, equations and facts that they would no longer remember after submitting their task. How many times did students memorize something 10 minutes after the teacher said 'stop writing', then receiving their grades 1 month later, figuring out that they were one mark short from the top grade. Well, does that mean that memorizing 10 minutes earlier, would make an individual more qualified for a certain job.

Test us with tests but the finals are never final, because they never really prepare us for the real test which is survival. Have you ever noticed that one student, who fails his math's tests, but when introduced to a scientific report, he comes to life as he aims for the top grade.

The intend of this post, is not to produce audience that will disapprove the ideas of exams. However it is to shake those who judge students based on their academic abilities, and to conceal the misunderstandings that 'drop-outs' have to hear, from those who consider themselves as smart, educated and well-established people. Achieving high grades is something to be proud of, but failing that one subject that does not feel your drive is not the end of the world. Let's not let exam results decide our fate. 

"Texting is good for the English language"   - David Crystal

RATIONALE

I have chosen to write a newspaper editorial in order to target as many audience as possible. Also because it will allow me to convey all my learning outcomes in the best manner possible. Since I will be able to argue and state my opinion, and that would be most efficient if it is to be written as a newspaper article. The editorial will be written by me, where i am to argue on the behalf of every student or teenager that feels misunderstood. My editorial will be targeting parents and teachers that disapprove of the excessive usage of texting, leading to my goal which is stating this generation's opinion, in addition to persuading teachers and parents. The purpose will be to argue against the ideologies of how texting does not necessarily have to have a negative effect on language. The article be implying the various advantages that  texting has to offer on the behalf of language.  While at the same time debating and denying the misconceptions on how useless technology can be. The article will be set in the mean time, where various cultures are not fully aware of how important texting is. The piece of writing will be debating against the social perspectives against texting,  which are stating and believing that it affects language.

            Technology over the many years, has included modifications and upgrades of tools used by humans. Everything around us has its own advantages and disadvantages, technology can be used to favor a certain community, whereas is can also generate devastating events that occur worldwide. Texting is the form of sending messages electronically, exchanging conversations and transferring ideas between two or more people at a time. Texting like anything else has advantages and disadvantage. Advantages can include a student asking about school work, people giving advices and may as well embrace business reasons. On the other hand the disadvantages are severely damaging when used incorrectly, which consists of bullying harassment and persecution.

            Texting, which is considered to be the most efficient way of communication between teenagers, is being presumed as a scapegoat for having a harshly negative effect on  an individual's language. "Texting is good for the English language" states the theory of David Crystal, a British linguist, on texting. You usually take notice of teachers or grownups assuming that texting influences the language used by the uprising generation consisting of students and teenagers.

Arguments that are universally enhanced then enforced by teachers:

·         "Texting is done by kids only"

·         "Kids fill their messages with abbreviations (leading to entirely abbreviated conversations)"

·         "The abbreviations are invented by the kids"

·         "Kids don't know how to spell anymore due to these abbreviations"

·         "Students start suing these abbreviations in their essays, resulting in rearing a generation of kids who are going to be partially illiterate"

In reality the above statements are not entirely accurate, seeing that the statements were frequently abducted by teachers. David Crystal suggested reasons to prove that they are nothing but myths, through presenting ways by which texting has enriched the English language. 

·         Only 10 percent of the words used are abbreviated, which means that the other 90 percent includes words that are written in standard spelled English, therefore kids are not misspelling most of the time.

·         Kids did not come up with "abbreviations". Looking back to 100 years ago, people used "C" for see, "U" for you and "l8r" for later. These abbreviations were used a long time before texting started to spread.

·         People think it's cool to leave some letters out, which means that they knew that the letters were there in the first place.

"The more you text, the better your literacy scores" Crystal added, "The earlier you get your mobile phone, the better your literacy scores". The best way to improve language is by reading and writing using that language. As I have mentioned before, texting is the form of sending messages and receiving them (conversations). As texting is being carried out by teenagers, it is highly likely for them to be improving their own language, by reading and writing the texts. The aim is to  make students read and write plenty of language pieces in order to improve their language, texting is the solution as it motivates them into doing so. "The more you read, the more you write, the better" David Crystal concluded.

According to a study done by California State University, texting can improve the writing skills of students in writing assessments or even informal essays. Open-minded teachers say that it is reasonable to incorporate the language of texting, in informal essays that students conduct. 

If a student stores a form of hatred towards reading and writing, then he might as well pay no attention to a wide range of tasks that require him using his reading and writing skills; resulting in getting bad grades and subsequently hating the study of language. However when it comes to texting, the student might gain knowledge and feel motivated towards writing. throughout this incident, teenagers will start to "overcome their awkwardness and develop their social communication skills".^[[1]]

Crystal conveys and promotes a study that concludes the idea of texting being a tool to help improve "the ability to summarize and express oneself concisely" in writing or formulating a piece of work. Moreover, David explains how . Moreover, David formulates his ideas that texting helps improve an people's diplomatic skills, that is due to the fact that a person can have additional time to formulate and express his own feelings, ideas and thought more carefully.^[[2]]

A foreign teacher specified in language at St. Mary's Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Terry Wood explain how she notices a vivid decline in her students' work, blaming it on texting and social websites. "They do not capitalize words or use punctuation anymore," She informed, adding, "Even in E-mails to teachers or [on] writing assignments, any word longer than one syllable is now abbreviated to one."^[[3]] In fact the entire idea of texting does not involve inquisitive actions that would cause a negative effect on language.

Texting is a form of writing and that is a fact. Any form of writing is good for language, meaning that texting cannot be considered to be harsh as teachers and grown-ups think it is. However if students get attached to texting, they would start enjoying it, subsequently leading them to get attached to writing in general. That can result in the students enjoying to write formal pieces of work,  as Derek Anderson, who is known for being a composition and literature teacher, explains, “Any writing is good writing, as long as you get your point across”. ^[[4]]

            To sum up this editorial, I would hope if it would be read by the majority of grown-ups or teachers who come across and believe in such misconceptions. Also for students who feel as if they are being misunderstood, just always know and be sure that it is not you or this generation, it is the "old-school" teachers who think otherwise.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crystal, David. “Texting.” ELT Journal 62.1 (2008): 77–83. Wilson Web. 8 Nov. 2009.                                         

Crystal, David. Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

US News. U.S News & World Report, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

Walsh, James. “Txt Msgs Creep in2 class; Some Say That’s gr8.” Star Tribune 23 Oct. 2007: n. pag. Academic.                                                                                                                                                               Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2009.

                 

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[1] Crystal, David. Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

[2] Crystal, David. “Texting.” ELT Journal 62.1 (2008): 77–83. Wilson Web. 8 Nov. 2009.                                        

[3] US News. U.S News & World Report, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

[4] Walsh, James. “Txt Msgs Creep in2 class; Some Say That’s gr8.” Star Tribune 23 Oct. 2007: n. pag. Academic

Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2009.