Blog Reveal - Semester Wrap Up

Since the blogging phenomenon began in 1999, people worldwide have been able to share their stories and opinions online for anyone to see.  Although this idea started out as just a personal way of sharing opinions with family and friends, websites such as Facebook and Twitter have taken over the internet based off this idea.  Any person is now able to share their ideas, whether it is to a small amount of people or a large accumulated audience composed of millions of viewers.  

In the beginning of the semester, I found it hard to figure out what to write about for my blog.  What would people want to see? Is this interesting enough? Do I have enough to say on this topic?

But after a while, I realized that all those questions didn’t really matter - this blogging experience was for me.  I needed to find what interested me, and shape my own opinion through my own research and reactions. 

After working on this blog for a whole semester, and finally finding my own voice through it, I believe that blogging can act as a source of empowerment. I was able to share my own experiences and opinions, without having to feel judgement from anyone. I was able to find what I liked to research and write about. After midterms, when the blog posts were more guided, I believe I was able to touch on topics I would not have thought about before the class.  Throughout the class, I was able to learn  and explore parts of the First Amendment and parts of U.S. history that I have never touched on before in a class. 

Overall, I was hesitant at first about trying to keep up with a blog, as I have struggled with it in other classes because I wasn’t able to find a purpose for it.  After taking this class, I have a newfound respect for blogging.  If I were to give advice to the next class, I would say be patient. You’ll find your purpose for blogging, whether that be to educated yourself on new topics or finding a safe place to talk about your opinions.  This blog experience may seem hard and annoying at first, but forcing yourself through the beginning will help you enjoy it by the end. 

Group Presentation Reaction

This week, our Media Law and Literacy class had the responsibility of conducting group presentations surrounded around 4 different topics: Awareness, Mediasphere, Theories, and Policy.  As previously stated in one of my last posts, my group had the topic of policy.

After watching all of the great presentations, the one that stayed with me the most was the group that presented on theories.  Not only did this group have a cohesive and interesting presentation, but I also learned a lot that I had never known before from their presentation.  

One topic that stood out to me the most was the theory of the spiral of silence, which basically says that people tend to not voice their opinion if it does not agree with the majority.  I had never known before this class that there was an actual name for this phenomenon, but I definitely had experienced it myself before.  I believe that this theory affects almost every single person at one point in their life.  No one wants to be the odd person out, so voicing an opinion that is opposite of the majority goes against our natural instinct to do what everyone else does.  It is hard to speak your truth, but sometimes it is necessary because other people may actually agree, but are in the same position of being too afraid to speak out.  It only ever takes one person to be comfortable enough to speak out for others to follow.