Reacting to Class Presentations

In my Media Law and Literacy class we had presentations where each person's goal was to educate the class on a certain topic. Categories of these topics were awareness, mediasphere, theories, and policies. One of the topics that wasn't the one I chose but still stood out to me was Five Eyes. This topic was under the awareness category. "The Five Eyes brings the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand into the world’s most complete and comprehensive intelligence alliance." source

These are all English speaking countries, which is one of the reasons they banded together. In the presentation my classmate mentioned that the Five Eyes alliance keeps an eye on activities . The purpose is to maintain safety within the countries by monitoring activities to prevent cyber attacks and other issues. Even so, the fact that the government is watching all the activity of it's citizens so closely may be scary to some, but in a way it is necessary.

All the topics in the presentations were quite interesting. I also thought the one about Spiral of Silence theory was intriguing. The topic I chose was Echo Chambers which you can find on this blog in a previous post.

Odd or Oddly Satisfying? My Take on ASMR Videos.

Need an aid to help you fall asleep? Or maybe you just want to reduce stress. In my opinion some ASMR videos will help with that. So what is an ASMR video? According Dictionary.com, ASMR stands for Autonomous sensory meridian response and it is a calming, pleasurable feeling often accompanied by a tingling sensation. Many people feel this way while watching an ASMR video.  ASMR videos have grown very popular in 2018 and '19. They can be seen on social media sites such as YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.

As far as the "tingling sensation" that people claim to experience is concerned, I don't believe I have had that experience, although ASMR does help me to relax and I watch a lot of it daily. Here is a quote on some statistics regarding the tingling sensation, "Published in the journal PLOS One, the research looked at feelings in over 1,000 people — 813 of whom self-identified as having ASMR -- after they viewed triggering content. Those with ASMR reported significantly more calmness and excitement, as well as lower levels of stress and sadness than participants who say they don't experience ASMR." Source

There are a wide variety of ASMR videos. Some in my opinion are in fact satisfying while others I find to be quite strange and annoying. There are videos that include but aren't limited to: people eating into a microphone, tapping on objects, cutting/shaving soap, playing with slime, and crumbling powdery substances like cornstarch or baking soda. ASMR can be created by almost anything! I've even seen videos of objects being crushed by a truck's tire.  

Personally I find it enjoyable to watch gym chalk, and powdery substances molded into shapes, be crumbled in the palm of someone's hand and fall onto a paper or plastic surface. This is hands down my favorite type of ASMR videos. The powdery and crunchy sounds are pleasing to the ear. I would even consider making this myself. However, I myself cannot stand listening to people smack on food. I find those ASMR videos to be unsettling. Even so, to each his or her own. I've met some people who think the whole idea of ASMR is strange itself. 

Below is an ASMR video by one of my favorite ASMR accounts Kate.Comet.Crunch. How does it make you feel?

Reflecting on Media Law and Literacy Class.

I enjoyed this class because I like to speak my mind on various subjects. It also has helped me to learn about what is happening in the news. I try to watch the news and read articles when I can, but this class helped me take an even deeper look at current events. I also learned a lot about things that I have never even though of before. There were many controversial topics that were discussed in class which I found to be very interesting. As someone who spends a lot of time looking at conspiracy theories on YouTube, it was fun for me to find out a little more about the government and what happens behind the scenes.

I haven't had much history with blogging. Back in middle school my mom introduced me to a website called 750 words. It is similar to a journal and I was encouraged to write 750 words everyday about anything I wanted to.  Back then I would write about my experiences in middle school about my friends and people who were more like bullies to me. I would also come up with characters and write stories. It was a lot of fun. I also had a Tumblr back in my freshman and sophomore year in high school.

On my blog I would write about whatever interest me. Sometimes I found it to be challenging to find something interesting to write about. One of my best blog post is the one where I reported on diversity at High Point University, the school that I attend. I also wrote about Echo Chambers in the media. A somewhat odd post I made was one on ASMR videos.