Media's Negative Impact

Media has a great impact on culture and behavior. As I was visiting my grandmother’s house a few days back, I came to a realization of the influence of media on our culture on the young generation. The generation has majorly changed over the past ten years. I realized that media shaped the way they act, move and think. How so? Back in our childhood days, part of our tradition and culture was to play in the playground with our brothers and sisters or our neighbors. Our entertainment was never really indoors, and not much technology is involved in our free time. However, these days, we see children playing around with their new technologies such as iPads, iphones, Galaxy S3

. These material culture items got me thinking, has the tradition changed? Do these technologies avoid children to move around and to socialize with others. Another point that crossed my mind is that these new fancy technologies also made the children of this generation anti social. It limited their communications with others.Back in the days, children interacted with other children and played physical games such as football and basketball. On the other hand, children’s games these days are just on a technological device. In a sociological perspective, non-material culture is being affected in terms of behavior and language of this young generation. I realized my younger brother’s behavior and language changed since he started playing the wrestling games online. He became more violent, and so was his language. Some people say that media is a mirror of our culture, but however I do not believe so. It has added competition and pressure to girls especially. They would watch these advertisements and would starve themselves in order to look skinny. Media does not always have to be positive to our culture. It can negatively influence generations into behaving in a certain way. However, it can be debated that we are socially constructed into this living. Media and technology has become almost everything. It made things easier to a certain extent, but also allowed people to be anti social.

House Wives embrace change in their norms

In society today House Wives have been incorporating a relatively long list of characteristics of deviance. Their social status was defined as time came closer to the 21st century. This could be an uprising crisis because not only are women leading the media world, but they might end up being the head of the house. The video below will clearly show how Women could be close to the Social Media and the end of Gender. It is a Ted Talk that brightened my perspective on what women are capable of doing in the future.

Now that we saw how media is almost taken over by women, there is a connection I made with women who were house wives in history and were forced into a lot of labor because those were the norms set by people, and how the house wives of today, who are also working members are driving the social media.
Before Looking at the change in the norms of modern House wives, the history of the norms identified for the house wives are also important. Housework in America during the nineteenth century  was a range of harsh physical labor. To prepare a mean was difficult because it was time and energy consuming, since cooking was performed on a wood or coal burning stove.There were no thermostats to regulate the stove's temperature, which made the women keep a close eye on the fire all day an change the fuel accordingly. She would have to know how to cook unprocessed food like cleaning and killing a live bird/ chicken, green coffee had to be roasted before pounding, and cleaning all the mess the coal and smoke created from the cooking and light was tedious. Only, well-to-do families could afford cleaners, and cooks by paying them a few dollars. 

Although, time has brought us to a new standstill, House wives do not bother collecting coal or wood for fire in order to cook, they have the availability to electric or gas stoves, which works with just a click of a switch. 

Based on some research done on the Feminists' history of housewives, I found out that "Dr Bourke analysed the attitudes of about 5,000 women from 1860 to 1930 when, for the first time in Britain, it became the norm for women to be housewives. Previously most women had worked in factories, shops and farms". This is astounding but there is a reason why women accepted this norm.The change in the occupation, which was to move into the house was imposed on them against their will. As the wages got higher and men could afford it, the wives and daughters were forced to leave their jobs so that the men could make the family depend on him economically. This change came at a time when job opportunities were growing for women and the wages for women were rising faster than men.

Many posters were passed around to make more women embrace the idea of being a house wife, rather than an employed worker, as you can see below.

 Even quotes identify that the male figure and female figure grew very different from each other. This could even define the sociological perspective of such a rapid change.

“Any change in the nature of male and female roles thus automatically affects the home, the economy, the school, and perhaps above all, the definition of who we are as human beings.”
……William Chafe, A History of Our Time (224)

Government and business leaders created campaigns that convinced women that they should give their men their jobs because the men need it more than them since the war is over.  "Television and radio ads told women that they would be much happier if they went back home and had children and gave men their jobs back" were words taken from Chafe's point of view. 

Nevertheless, media has played its role in making a brand new perspective on what norms housewives today should look upon and almost abide by. The media that I am reffering to is the daily English series called Desperate Housewives. 

 
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama mystery series created by Marc Cherry. In brief it basically depicts six housewives who have been introduced to secrets that could corrupt their current relationships because it deals with affairs with other men, and it shows how some of the wives commit to their duties, and others are engrossed in their husbands money or generally in money, shopping, beauty, and the least care for their children. It shows acts where housewives engage in deviant behaviors that either hidden or exposed to the society in embarrassing ways. it creates a warning sign for people to be aware of their neighbors and keeping their enemies closer than their friends. This is one reason why House wives tend to be more lazy in their house work in the 21st century because they are inspired by television series. Even Indian television serials show two types of Housewives, one that is loyal and the other is a heavy headed house wife who tries to prove that she is better than the other. The name of the show is called Saath Nibhana Saathiya.

These shows effects the way housewives think and act. Technology is another cause to their introduction to more deviant behaviors. Some of the deviant behaviors could be shopping all day, instead of doing house work, lazing around and watching T.V most of their time or taking up a well paid job because women have realized that they are equal to men and can work as much, and doing tasks that do not relate to their norms in their social status. The norms are set by media and partly history. The organism that usually controls or judges the behavior of the house wives norms are the family members and for the most part their Mother in Laws and Husbands.
As this is a deviance, there are certain consequences to it, such as Sanctions defined by sociology. A sanction is an authoritative permission or approval for an action that is separated into four distinct categories. A formal Positive way, where the house wife is rewarded for being a good wife, though less used in cases for an house wife because a formal positive way looks at giving medals, or diplomas  or certificates. In this case, people do not usually give wives medals for being great wives. There is the formal negative way, where a person could receive a death sentence or punishments based on laws, in which case it would not be the case of a house wife to receive such sanctions unless they committed murder or other drastic crimes. Wives could get an informal positive sanction like a smile, hug, kiss or some extra love from her family members. Or, they could get informal negative sanctions where they are withdrawn from affection, isolated or even worst, physically abused which is a domestic violence.

In my experience, I see this as a relatively high crisis in my current life style. Having a maid in the house to do most of the work like cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, etc are so vital to keep a family going on with no stress or tiredness. In the culture I am living in today, a well-to-do family have several maids to run the behind-the-scenes work at home. There is one driver or more, three or more maids in one house and a separate gardener, and maybe a special Nani for each of the children in the house. It is not a huge culture shock for me because I have lived in Qatar my entire life and I proceed with some how a similar lifestyle. if people can afford to have a maid or cleaner, they certainly embrace the opportunity to make their work load less tiresome, giving them more time to relax more and have the chance to be a working member in the family.

Technological Future

"In 2010, Qatar had the world's highest GDP per capita, while the economy grew by 19.40%, the fastest in the world. The main drivers for this rapid growth are attributed to ongoing increases in production and exports of liquefied natural gas, oil, petrochemicals and related industries. Qatar has the second-highest human development in the Arab World after the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, Qatar was the United States’ fifth-largest export market in the Middle East, trailing behind the U.A.E., Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt." (“Qatar: history,” par.3)
As the quotation above shows, my country, Qatar, is improving and becoming globally known. In addition, there are some changes in the way of work. Efficiency is dominant as a priority of work places. Automation, instead of human hands, becomes more reliable and desirable. Progress in society demands a respectful job. Also, societies that use new technologies have more educated workers, so there are no places for little, unprofessional jobs. The machines that replace the simple and easy kind of work that humans do save time and money, and this is happening more often because of economic interests. ATM machines and vending machines are the easiest and fastest for me to buy from, but sometimes I feel sorry for people who lose their work because of this. Now banks are hiring fewer numbers of people than they used to because of the spread of ATM machines that make it easier and faster rather going to stand in a long line and waiting for your turn. I also noticed that there are some coffee shops in Qatar that demand you to serve yourself.

There are two sides of replacing human workers with technology, which are the negative and positive sides of this phenomenon. The negative side is that workers lose their jobs. And the positive side is that they will go back to schools and get better jobs, and human trafficking will stop. On the other hand, society will begin to start a self-service mentality that is part of McDonaldization, and we will become unpaid employees. Consumer workers will service themselves and benefit the economy by freeing up more money for highly skilled jobs. Thus, both consumers and the economy benefit.

Source: “Qatar: history.” Wikipedia. 15 Nov. 2011 (latest update). Web. 14 Nov 2011.

McDonaldization in Your Homes!

As soon as you walk into someone’s house you could automatically get a sense of the culture. Some houses even have a particular smell that could identify where the residents are from. Walking into my friend’s house I mindlessly recognized the scent I smell in all Sudanese houses I enter. This is actually the scent of some products they use in the house that are shipped in to Qatar from Sudan. The next thing I notice is the color and brightness of the house. It’s usually white and more blunt than my house for example, which gives their space a more temporary feel. A lot of the Sudanese houses I’ve been to use white lights, in contrast to mine, where we have warmer lighting.



You get a sense that the Sudanese residents don’t really consider this house in Qatar their home. Whereas for Palestinians, who constantly struggle to live in a subculture, try to make these houses their homes. When I say subculture, I mean a smaller culture within another culture that Palestinian usually live in. Palestinians use warmer colors, a lot of carpets and really design their houses in a way to make it feel like a home to them. In my home, and a lot of Palestinian homes I’ve visited, we try to add a lot of Palestinian elements to the house as a reminder of that place we “belong to,” even if we didn’t buy these objects from Palestine.




Sudanese usually have a lot of African and tribal objects around their “temporary” house that are bought back from home, to remind them of that place that they will eventually go back to, their real home.






However, the households did have some things in common. To begin with, there was a feel of alienation, which could be defined as a state-of-being where human life is dominated by the forces of its own inventions. The houses were machine-dominated. The families weren’t connecting in conversation, but most of the family members were watching TV. While the teenagers or working children were on their laptops, connected to the Internet. Some of the younger children were playing video games.




When the mother or housemaid cooked or even made tea, they would use a kettle, microwave, gas-run oven and so on. Everyone in the house was using a machine. Some of the siblings even communicated through the use of their cell phones, instead of verbal communication. So, even if the culture is different or the dialect they use is different, whether you’re Sudanese or Palestinian you are influenced by this idea of “McDonaldization.” In sociology, McDonaldization is a process where society is increasingly run like a fast-food restaurant. This means that we’re all being influenced by the idea of rationalization and even households could be modernized some way or another. This definitely can’t sound very literal, where a household could never really be a McDonald’s. However, all homes try to be as efficient, predictable and controlled as possible. They have a set of rules to be followed, try to be as efficient as possible with time, money etc. and predictable with honesty and the open relationship everyone has with one another. With time, the children in the house and the parents start demanding more. Here, control and calculation come in, where they need to monitor the amount of things they buy and consume.

The Many Sides To Facebook

Back in 2004, a Harvard University student had an idea that would revolutionize the world in less than a decade and introduced the global population to another form of socialization. Facebook was originated with the intention of connecting college kids online so that they are in constant contact with one another. But what was meant to be a small website turned into an online phenomenon that helped kick start the social media frenzy we live in today.

Facebook still serves its initial purpose of connecting people online whether they’re right around the corner or halfway across the world. Sharing photos, videos, articles, statuses and so much more. Soon enough people of all ages created accounts and joined the hype as society projects the idea of Facebook as one of the “must-haves” in life.

Facebook does all sorts of good. From reconnecting family members and friends to being a great engine for social and political change in the Middle East by initializing the Arab revolutions. It’s accessible to anyone at any time with no restrictions and that type of freedom appeals to the public, but unfortunately that freedom could come with serious consequences. These include concerns such as cyber bullying, online predators, lack of face-to-face interaction and the fact that Facebook can be extremely distracting.

Cyber bullying is one of the very serious issues that is regularly overlooked by society, the fact that it happens online makes it seem less serious than real life bullying. Mainly affecting teenagers, Facebook has been known to cause drama among peers and make it very easy for someone to be targeted. This can be extremely emotionally traumatizing for anyone who experiences cyber bullying, as they feel trapped since all of it is happening right under the noses of the public.

Lack of face-to-face interaction has also become a habit among the younger generation today. Basically thinking ‘why leave my house to see my friends when I can talk to them from the comfort of my own home?’ In turn, people stay indoors the majority of the time, which could also lead to improper use of that time. For students in particular, myself included, Facebook is a major tool for procrastination that can distract you from doing homework, running errands, etc...

I would be the first to admit that social networking changed the way people perceive life as a whole, the world is becoming smaller day by day thanks to the technology available but all its advantages tend to overshadow its disadvantages which should be reflected seriously by everyone before giving into peer pressure and immediately creating an account just because everybody else has one.

A New Social Wave

Walking in the halls of the Academic Bridge Programs, all I notice is pairs of eyes staring on tiny devices in their hands. What I witness is the new teenage culture that lies in the hand of virtual chatting and new ways of living, literally. Anyone these days can develop a social life with popularity thanks to a small device. The first step is affording it and its service; that itself sets new grounds to a person and their ability to fit themselves in the “cool hood” with a small device. This device is called BlackBerry. It spread like a raging fire throughout Qatar and the Middle East. Why? It’s simply because it gives a person the ability to carry around their instant messaging programs, search engines and other multimedia programs.

The real issue here is the product consumption; this device is becoming obsessive with most teenagers. In Qatar, BlackBerry spread through word-of-mouth. I remember when I first saw an ad for BlackBerry; it wasn’t really appealing to me. My sister bought a BlackBerry device and I told her it would suck. Then I notice some students in my school using it. They seemed to absent from this world. I thought it was just a phase until one of my close friends got one and I barely heard from him anymore. Even when we go out, he never seems to hear me or feel his environment. He just walks with his eyes attached to that tiny screen. It didn’t take long before I decide that I needed to get one too. (Picture on the right: BlackBerry in school environment.)

It’s most useful when I want to Google something quick, or sign on MSN for a long time and chat. I am not addicted to it myself, however many of the people around me are. My school environment is one example of this addiction. The BlackBerry is everywhere and out-thrown the iPhone; it would make me feel like an alien if I didn’t have a one. The video below is a series of mini-interviews with some of the students who do own this device. You can tell that some are heavily attached to this latest manifestation of social life.

Early Adopters: Geeky or Savvy?

My earlier blog about consumerism and materialism reflects the effect of the culture industry in designing products that make us consume more and more, transforming us into mindless consumers of popular culture and cultural products produced by culture industries...



However there is another dimension of consumerism that I would like to explore further. I know a special kind of consumer, the person you usually find first in line to purchase the new phone, the new ipod, the new laptop, the new “gadget” and the latest technology or model of whatever it is the culture industry is selling us.
Meg is a Texas student in the petroleum engineering major. He is also what Grazian refers to as an “early adopter”, an early consumer of a given company product or technology. As far as early adopters are concerned, he is definitely a record breaker. I’ve known him for 3 years, and whenever I buy something new, he always has something newer. He always makes what I own look out of date. My phone is always at least three generations behind his, and my other entertainment gadgets like my ipod are definitely not the “best” option according to him.



If you aren’t an early adopter, I’m sure you know one. Yes I’m talking about the person who can’t wait to show you their new special edition ipod, their new laptop with new features, their new camera, and their new high-tech gadget that can do something so cool – way cooler than what you already own. If the new products are not yet available in stores for you to line up in a cue, he would be the first to purchase it online before it is available for sale locally.



Early adopters are not just geeky consumers as many may think. Their influence on brand success, and impact on society and the consumerist culture can be significant. Potential consumers often seek early adopters’ advice, as they are way ahead in terms of expertise and knowledge on the particular product or innovation. Early adopters would have had more time being acquainted with the product than potential adopters and so would have acquired better understanding of its functions, uses and features. It is then likely that I ask my friend Meg whether I should purchase a certain piece of technology or gadget. Knowing that he would already have that particular item or replaced it about three times he would be a good source for advice and information. Even though I might look up a lot of reviews and information online, the “word-of-mouth” aspect of the interaction theory could be more effective in terms of convincing me to buy a given product. As this analysis on early adopters states, early adopters may “serve as a role model for many other members of a social system”. Early adopters then become somewhat respected by their peers and exemplify a way of using and purchasing products introduced by companies.



When I ask Meg for advice on a given gadget or piece of technology, his role is then to lower my uncertainty of purchasing it and to provide me with a vicarious hands-on experience through his own. His experience may not always be the best. Early adopters can face downfalls, but these negative experiences can serve the benefit of others.



Meg is not an online review or brochure, but someone who is not just trying to sell me a product. Hence, it is only natural that his peers and myself look to him for advice on new products. The effect a “Meg” would bring on any given society is more or less equal. We look to these early adopters for hopes of a successful purchase. It is always rewarding when you invest in something that proves to be suitable and worthwhile. So can early adopters transform us into savvy consumers?