Influence of Multimedia on Millennials

By Frank Manriquez

Whether we believe it or not, social media, music, and movies have all had a lasting influence. For instance, I saw a video on Twitter that was titled, “The father, the son, and the holy Tebow.” As most people know, Tim Tebow, who is a devout Christian, often times gets mocked for his beliefs. We see the media frequently  create this picture that Christians are naive and narrow minded dummys. In turn, this has a positive or negative influence on many people. Some may see it and be frustrated, while others might not even know Tebow and because of this, they think he is some kook! In this blog we will see how the media as a whole has affected  millennials.  

Social Media:

It is a powerful source, with a lot of force behind it. People are able to voice their own opinions, disagreements, and beliefs. First, let's take Twitter for an example of the influence it may have. When one makes a profile on Twitter, they are able to follow whoever they want, and have whoever they want follow them back. So a newsfeed could only consist of celebrities, or just political news feeds, or even religious accounts or people. Therefore one could have a biased opinion, or be influenced by other media sources within their news feed. On the other hand you have Facebook, which nowadays mostly  consists of viral videos and shared posts by thousands. For the most part, the posts shared are one sided and most viewers, unless they took the time to research, would only believe the content at face value. Therefore, these posts influence their opinions and or views on the subject. Lastly, Instagram! Let’s face it, it is a huge influence on millennials today, especially on young women and how instagram portrays what a female body is “supposed to look like.” It’s terrible and not realistic in any way!! I covered the negative influences social media might have, but it’s not all bad. Social media could be used as an important tool to receive and see news at the tip of our fingers. We could see something and it could impact us to want to change our eating habits, beliefs, or even our lifestyle.

Music:

It plays a vital role on our generation today. We have access to various sources such as Spotify and Apple music, which allows users to stream any and all music immediately. Millions of millennials listen to all styles of music which have a lasting influence on them. For example, many hip-hop artists rap about sex, drugs, and alcohol in their lyrics. They also degrade women and feel the need to flaunt their money, making it seem like these materialistic possessions are the most important assets in life. We the listeners may not feel like it influences our lives, but it does. The way sex is portrayed and spoke about in music is a complete distortion of what it really is and it also takes away the value of how it’s supposed to be.

Movies:

Let’s go rob a building, flip a car, or even get the cutest girl in school! No...no that’s just what they do in movies. But for real, why do movies make it seem so easy to do these things? Regardless if movies are over the top or not, they are extremely influential. This could be a good thing and a bad thing too. Movies can help someone muster up some courage to talk to their crush, or could help someone find their way to jail after drifting their car down mainstreet!

Although the media can be very influential in a negative way, it also can have a positive influence on some as well. I myself think that the media itself is a great tool, it is just used in the wrong way. This in turn, creates this negative influence on many young adults. Through what goes into our eyes on social media, what we hear in music lyrics, and how we feel about movies, they all paint a picture of what kind of person we are. People may not believe that the media influences their lives, I disagree. How we speak publicly says a lot, what we listen to says a lot, and what we watch says a lot. As Christians, we have to be careful what goes into our eyes and ears and let God be the powerful influence that directs our lives.

GIF or JIF

By Noah Norred

It’s pronounced JIF. NO ITS PRONOUNCED GIFNOITSPRONOUNCEDJIFTNOITSPRON- chill out people. There is a raging war of keyboard warriors fighting online whether or not they can change people from pronouncing GIF to JIF. If you are anything close to as cool and internet savvy as I, you will know what the whole debate is about. First question: why do I care? You don’t. Close the laptop.

Okay you do care. Y’all will be delighted to know that there is a history behind this stupid debate. Sadly it does not involve pulling hair and gnashing of teeth, but something even more exhilarating! It’s called talking lameeee. But surprisingly if you don't fall asleep reading through it and pay attention, I’ll explain to you why it’s much more than just a debate over pronouncing an acronym, and why it shows more character of your opponent than you think.

Alright, so how did this cluster of madness start? This began with the actual creator of the Graphics Interchange Format (Steve Wilhite), coming out and telling people that it’s pronounced “JIF” and not “GIF” at The Webby Awards (ensue shock and riots in the streets). People started to immediately pour out the constant reasons why “GIF” (with the hard “G”) would be proper pronunciation. They used the whole Jif peanut butter argument; the fact that the Webster Dictionary accepts both pronunciations and that by giving you a gift I am not going to say “here is your jift.” That’s weird dude.

But I, being the nice guy I am, have some ammo for Wilhite argument. First, there are examples in the world where the “G” at the beginning of a word is pronounced like a “J”, such as “Giant” and “Giraffe.” The grammatical exception usually comes from the origins of where on the globe the word originated. But second, the creator himself also said that “JIF“ with a soft “G” sound is the correct pronunciation of the word. This brings in the whole idea of judging someone’s character by whether or not they use “JIF” or “GIF”.

The people that received the first waves of Graphics Interchange Format images on their computer monitors saw the file as a “.gif” file. The vast majority of people who will read this post will be Americans who, using basic (and correct) ‘Merican grammar, will see this and pronounce it as “GIF” as we usually do not see a G on an unfamiliar word and pronounce it like a J. Fast forward a couple decades and today we have been saying “GIF” this whole freakin time, just for Steve Wilhite in 2013 to say that it’s pronounced with a J.  *TRIGGERED*

Now it’s a whole new battle: Creator vs. consumers. Daddy vs. rebellious kids. Government vs. the people. One could make the assumption that whatever pronunciation they select is what they depend on. Do they trust superiors/government? Or do they take the voice of the people more seriously?

Dude. You can even ask a girl you are taking out to coffee this question and learn a lot from that one question. “Do you pronounce GIF with a G or a J?” She/He says “JIF”, then you know that person pays attention, but is mostly a “yes” man or woman to authorities and anyone holding an award. That person is  influenced by people with more than $1 million in their pocket. That person is okay if you are just “feeling the water,” but not a keeper. Mostly because you don’t have a million dollars.

If, however, the person pronounces it with a G, that person is a people person. They have their head on straight and have been informed throughout history and their lifespan. They fact check and pay more attention to the voice of the masses and are open minded. This person is sane.

They say “What’s a GIF?” Just leave dude. Just get out. That’s just sad.

Tru.

Simon Sinek's Millennials Analysis

By Presence Massie

The Millennial Manifesto from two weeks ago was based on Simon Sinek’s theories concerning our generation. He argues for four characteristics which play major factors in some of the issues we face:

1. Parenting
2. Technology
3. Patience
4. Environment

His talk is insightful yet, as with any theories regarding a whole generation, filled with generalizations. This does not mean however, that it is without value.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MC2X-LRbkE

What No One has Realized about Millennials: We are Adults

By Haley Aguirre

If you are reading this, thank you! Below I have provided a well-researched list of four qualities in millennials that no one seems to notice (hint: they are mostly good). This is not bragging about how great our generation is, that will come in a later post so be on the LOOKOUT; rather it is a serious discussion on legit life problems we deal with as young adults and the skills we utilize to get through it all.

First for the problems,

The struggle to establish ourselves is real, mostly because we are poor. Older millennials actually do have jobs and are starting families already, but the youngest of millennials (currently between age 18 and 22) are in the midst of college. That technically makes us grown ups, which means there is pressure to get our own life going. A simple expectation for our age, right? Wrong. Getting our own life implies embarking on a career, buying a house, starting a family, and building up our own assets. According to Student Loan Hero, “The average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt.” If we enter our first chance at independence with debt up to our elbows, then NO, establishing ourselves is not a simple task. It was never easy to begin with, but there is something different going on here. Catherine Rampell from the Washington Post dives into the issue a little deeper. She finds that homeownership among 35 year olds and younger is at 34.1%, “And for the first time since 1880, a greater share of this age group is bunking up with Mom and Dad,” instead of other living arrangements.

This is kind of a crazy situation...so what do we do? Take the qualities no one has noticed we have, and use them to our advantage.

Ironically, we have it good. Okay, maybe this one is already known, but the effects are not. First I will put it all out there blatantly. Millennials are privileged. They are most likely to grow up well nourished, educated, somewhat wealthy, and they can, “Enjoy freedoms that their predecessors could have barely imagined,” (The Economist). With the exception of poverty, most young adults today have experienced a good, comfortable life. That is why adulthood is so shocking, yet so great at the same time. We are privileged to have the resources that allow us to be successful. A great pedestal of advantage has formed under our feet, and I believe we can leap off this pedestal into the world of responsibility. Sounds better than the usual smack-talk about being lazy, right?

We are the most educated generation for our age. It makes sense. The norm for a typical millennial is to graduate high school, then go to college. The first eighteen years of life are basically training us for post-secondary education, and establishing eligibility for getting accepted into major universities. While research is beginning to show that college is not the best route for everyone, we cannot help the fact that a mass number of today’s young adult population already have at least a bachelor’s degree and will certainly use this knowledge in the field. Pew Research Center compares the education levels of four generations of young adults in this basic diagram:

We read! Yes, print books included. All that education is a result from hours upon hours and pages upon pages of reading. Somehow though, we find even more books to read for our leisure. Ok, maybe not everyone is a book worm, but on average millennials access print and digital reading material more often than older generations did at our age. Neil Howe even wrote a Forbes article titled, "Millennials: A Generation of Page Turners," and basically dismantled popular beliefs that said otherwise. To be clear, digital material includes eBooks and apps such as Hooked which put novels in the form of text messages. Test out this habit for yourself: How many of these books have you read? Was it for school or fun? Hmm. That should come in handy sometime in life.

So there you have it. The next phase for this entire generation is to start their own life, which looks like an impossible feat. But with our steady backgrounds, well-educated minds, history of reading, (and the good things that will be listed in an article to come) we are bound to turn out just fine. There is every reason to have faith in ourselves as we take on new responsibilities and learn to survive the “real world.”

It is funny, all this talk about millennials in comparison to older generations makes me wonder… what about the younger generations?

I’ll leave that up to you.

The Millennial Manifesto; An Aim for Authenticity

By Presence Massie

The history of all hitherto existing millennials is the history of inauthenticity.

I, _____________, did nothing to deserve this. I was dealt these cards. I will, however, aim to rise above my social conditions.

I, a millennial, admit I was raised to be entitled, self-interested, and impatient.

Firstly, I recognize I am a product of the generation who raised me. As a result of their parenting strategies, I was unrealistically told I could become that which I had dreamed. The tyranny of the “I can achieve anything I set my mind to” ideology was fed to me endlessly by my parent(s) so much so that sitting with failure was not a viable option. It was impossible for me to fail. The counterfeit trophies and medals, which I won for losing games and competitions, were designed to lure me from defeat. This is why I am entitled. I was convinced I was deserving of anything I desired while failure was veiled by rewards.

It is the great beast of my age, however, where my battle is truly waging: on the plains of technology. There is no one individual to blame for this. History followed this path. Having been raised in the Digital Revolution’s full swing, social media and other forms of communication such as texting, have completely altered my reality. Authentic relationships are increasingly difficult for me to build and maintain. My perceptions of others are formed through their filtered, edited lives on social media. The abundance of internet and communicative technology at a young age provided my brain with dopamine as I coped with  the stresses of adolescence. Now I fall prey to the unexplainable pleasures of facebook responses and text tones in place of quality time with living, breathing individuals. I mindlessly scroll through my phone in moments of boredom rather than speaking to the person by my side. Deep, meaningful-relationships are increasingly elusive. Inauthenticity runs and roams unfettered and I recognize this.

Thirdly, as a product of instant gratification following the digital age, I recognize I have developed a character of impatience. Microwaves, fast food restaurants, and high speed internet of 300 Mbit/s are all too.slow.for.me. Instead of waiting week by week for a tv show to air, I binge-watch another on Hulu. Rather than sitting in a movie theater simultaneously laughing and crying with complete strangers as we are affected by the same film, I lay in my bed, in my dark room, by myself, watching Netflix. This is my happy place and I abhor it.

Furthermore, my impatience causes me to be lazy and ultimately give in to my social anxiety by escaping human interaction. Instead of going to a store, I purchase items on Amazon with a mouse-click and am likewise able to avoid uncomfortable small talk with the cashier.

____

I, a millennial, recognize I am entitled, self-interested, and impatient. In spite of the social conditions into which I was born and the lies with which I was instilled, in my search for authenticity, I will commit myself to the realization that life is to be lived through arduous and onerous work, the pursuit of genuine relationships, and the practice of long-suffering in my day to day life.

I will ardently strive to remove hindrances which keep me from pursuing deep, meaningful relationships and living authentically.

I, _____________, choose authenticity.

***One great step I can take is ridding my life of the temptations aroused by my smartphone. I can purchase a flip phone instead. Here are ten reasons to convince me:

http://beingmillennials.blogspot.com/2017/02/making-flip.html




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