Social Media Impact on Society Discussion

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Topic: Week 10 Discussion – Discussion Group 2
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This is a graded discussion: 5 points possible
due Mar 10
Week 10 Discussion – Discussion Group 2
8 8
From SOC SCI 172AW LEC B: A…
Please remember that there are a couple of steps to the discussion. The first step is your
response, the next is responding to another student. This allows you to see another student’s
perspective, which is extremely helpful for considering angles to a topic/discussion that you
may have missed.
You initial post is due by the end of the day on Thursday, but your response is due by the end
of the day on Friday!
Part One: Applying Concepts
In about 200 words, discuss the content from week 9 and week 10. First, for you personally,
what is the most interesting potential thing that media does in society? What makes it
interesting? Second, considering the potential influences and effects of media, discuss
representation and some of the issues related to it. Finally, please reflect generally on your
impressions of the media and popular culture content. As part of this reflection, and recalling
our conversation about popular culture as a site for (re)producing social norms, why is this clip
from The Office funny?
Part Two: Reflecting on Your Paper
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In a response of at least 100 words, please consider the notes for yourself from the paper
check up video in your Week 9 Navigation. What does each section of your paper look like
now? How do you think you might improve your paper between now and your peer review draft
due next week? Please discuss your plan and address some of the questions posed to you for
each section of the paper. You may want to consider the page on Additional Editing
Considerations in your answer. Having completed your rough draft, what did you choose to
focus on as your topic/themes? Also, take a look at the paper check up to see what you might
need to edit. What do you think you have done well? What do you think you can improve
before you submit your final paper?
Part Three: Parting Thoughts
This portion of your discussion is mostly useful for me for planning purposes. You can be as
detailed as you would like, but I would like some information about how the class went for you
overall. I hope that you enjoyed the class, but if you did not, that is okay! If that is the case,
though, I am sorry.
1. What was a topic that was particularly interesting to you in this class? Why?
2. Was anything surprising?
3. Was there a topic that was especially useful in terms of writing your paper? How?
4. Was there anything in this course that was/is/will be helpful in any of your other classes or
future endeavors? What? Why?
Part Four
Remember to respond to another student!
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Emilee Yaein Kim (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/323255)
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Wednesday
Part one:
Personally, the most interesting potential thing that the media does is how much influence
they have over movements and news. They are able to support and put certain movements
in the spotlight such as the Black Lives Matter movement. However, they are also able to
drown out the coverage and posts about movements to make it seem irrelevant and
invalidate it. Another consideration that I find interesting is that the media is a great source
to stay updated on events and movements (obviously considering the fact that not all of
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Topic: Week 10 Discussion – Discussion Group 2
them are credible) but, as mentioned in lecture, it might be too much information. This can
lead to the audience and people burning out from all of the information, becoming
desensitized to new information that may be shocking. So, while it can be helpful, it can
also be harmful if not careful. Regarding representation in the media, there are many pros
and cons, especially considering its influence on society. If people of color, LGBTQ+, or any
other minority group is misrepresented in the media, it can cause much harm to the
community. For example in some video games, there are characters that are African
American, however they are portrayed through stereotypes, reinforcing those racial
stereotypes. The media can influence one’s understanding. While proper media
representation can provide opportunities for society to understand others better, it can also
reinforce ignorance and harmful mindsets if not careful. To be reminded of, and to learn
more of, the influence of media and popular culture is always interesting to me. The impact
and influence it has, on not only society but myself as well, feels almost like a reality check.
The clip from the office is funny because it is a reference to Hannibal Lecter and a fanbase
of it that would understand the reference (even if one is not part of the fandom it is a
famous reference). In addition, it is not a behavior that would be “normal” in society during
CPR training. So the shock factor along with the feeling of another popular culture being
referenced is what makes it funny.
Part two:
The portions of the sections seem decent so far, I just need to add onto the literature
review section to make it longer and add more sources. Each section seems decent so far,
I just need to edit them. I will be adding a cover page to start. In the abstract I will be
revising my writing so that it flows better. I will revise my introduction so that the themes are
clear. The literature review section is the portion that I have more work to do compared to
the others. I will have to find more sources and incorporate them into my paper. The
conclusion seems to be finished but, I will still go over it. For my topics and themes, I
decided it was best to focus on Gender. The themes being: gender norms and expression,
gender representation in media, and gender inequality. I think my abstract and conclusion
is pretty well done. I need to improve the paragraphs flowing and my literature review
section of the paper.
Part three:
1. The topic that was interesting to me was regarding the literature reviews. In many
research papers that I have written thus far, the literature review was one of the shorter
portions as methods, discussions, and results took up the majority of the paper.
2. Nothing was too surprising. If I had to choose, I’d say the literature review portion again.
I was only used to writing shorter literature review sections so it was really insightful to
learn how to write longer ones. I definitely learned a lot.
3. Not to sound repetitive, but the literature review section along with the abstract portion
probably helped me the most in writing my paper. The abstract section I learned a lot
about what is needed, the structure, and how to make it flow. Up until this course, the
abstract was a very iffy area for me and always felt like a mess that I somehow had to
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put together. This course helped me understand the structure and necessities in it to
guide me in future papers.
4. I would say everything (especially the literature review and abstract portions). This
course has taught me proper structure and guidance on each section. What is needed,
what is unnecessary, and how to make everything flow together. It has helped me
organize my thoughts better and go into papers with less anxiety.
5. Thank you for everything Professor Tomlinson. This course has helped me with the
structure and organization of my papers. I am leaving with much more confidence and
less anxiety for future papers. It was an absolute joy to be in your course.
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Carrie Cheng (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/250944)
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Wednesday
Hi Emilee, I agree that the media has a huge power over how the news and
movements are represented, and this power allows them to spread ideas and convey
messages. I think the way that the media represent the events could shape how the
public view other groups in the society since those descriptions contain interpretations
towards different population in the society. This could cause biases and stereotypes as
well as inequalities. Thus, the media could reinforce those biases. I like your themes in
your paper, and I think you have done a great job on thinking about the next steps and
possible improvements of your draft!
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Carrie Cheng (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/250944)
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Wednesday
Part One
I think the most interesting potential thing that the media does in society is spreading ideas.
For example, by describing events and perspectives through a certain way, the media is
implicitly outputting its standpoints to the public. I think it is interesting because sometimes
those ideas spread are actually hidden in the messages and descriptions accessible by the
public, but sometimes the public are not aware of them. However, I think this might cause
some discriminations and biases since some of the representations and descriptions
shown by the media are partisan and sometimes influenced by political preferences. For
instance, some portraits of females and the minority population by the media are not
necessarily true for every individual, but the public would have a negative impression of
those groups through obtaining the information from the media, which could cause
stereotypes and inequalities. On one hand, the media serves as a platform for ideas and
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beliefs to spread, but it also acts as an interaction of ideas. Thus, the media assists the
influence of popular culture, but at the same time it also helps form the standards of
popular culture as it conveys meanings and creates symbolic messages. Since the media
could reinforce how and what people should follow through repeating those ideas, social
norms could be reproduced. In the Funny Office clip, we see that people would follow how
they were taught and produce social norms.
Part Two
My paper right now includes introduction, literature review, conclusion, and references, and
within the literature review section, I have titles for each topic. First, I plan to include more
sources in order to better support my argument because that would allow me to provide
more evidence and make the flow of my paper more smooth. Second, I plan to revise the
introduction to make it more clear about the impact and themes of my paper according to
one of the suggestions from peer review, so I could allow the readers to have an overview
of topics through reading my introduction. The themes of my paper include inequalities,
cultural norms, and media mass consumption. I think I have done well on combining
information and evidence from my references. I still need to improve the structure of my
paper to make it more clear on my topics.
Part Three
1. What was a topic that was particularly interesting to you in this class? Why?
The topic of American Dream was most interesting because it allowed me to think about
whether it was achievable and what it really meant.
2. Was anything surprising?
Yes. Some of the statistics shown in class were surprising to me.
3. Was there a topic that was especially useful in terms of writing your paper? How?
The topics of popular culture and inequalities are very helpful to my paper because they
allow me to understand the role of the media in American culture, which is related to one of
the topics of my final paper.
4. Was there anything in this course that was/is/will be helpful in any of your other classes
or future endeavors? What? Why?
Yes. I think learning about how to search for information and related sources is very useful
in my future studies since this skill is important for any kind of learning.
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(http
Kanbra J. Aguayo (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/312756)
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Wednesday
Hello Carrie,
I think that in your first response that your point about how the media is able to
spread messages is a very important point. It is not difficult for someone who is not as
observant of the depictions that the media makes to absorb assumptions and
stereotypes than someone who actively looks for the messages. This could be
potentially dangerous as it could really sway and alter the way people perceive things
and or other people. It could also, however, be a helpful tool to teach a wide range of
people about new things and spread knowledge. It all depends on how it is used.
For your second response, it sounds like you have a solid plan for what you plan
to edit, and I am sure that your paper will turn out well written.
For your third response, it looks like you’ve answered all the questions in a clear
and concise way.
Overall, job well done!
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(https://
Kanbra J. Aguayo (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/312756)

Wednesday
Part One: Applying Concepts
In about 200 words, discuss the content from week 9 and week 10. First, for you
personally, what is the most interesting potential thing that media does in society? What
makes it interesting? Second, considering the potential influences and effects of media,
discuss representation and some of the issues related to it. Finally, please reflect generally
on your impressions of the media and popular culture content. As part of this reflection, and
recalling our conversation about popular culture as a site for (re)producing social norms,
why is this clip from The Office funny?
For me personally, the most interesting potential thing that the media does in
society is influence the way people think of things and perceive symbols. For
example, because of the film “Finding Nemo”, people now perceive clown-fish in
particular along with some of the other coral-reef dwelling marine creatures
differently from other marine life that was not pictured in the film. What makes
this interesting is the way in which meaning can be created but also taken away
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from cultural symbols. For instance, the hibiscus flower on its own would just be
a flower, however it has been given the cultural connotations that when
displayed would generate comments that connect the flower to the pacific and to
tropical islands. When considering the potential influences and effects of media,
representation has a number of potential issues related to it. To simplify the
issue, it comes down to the negative uses of stereotypes and the harmful use of
character tropes as a poor means to push the narrative along. Speaking
generally, I think that the media is a very powerful force in culture that is able to
alter people’s perceptions. This leaves me with the impression that it is also a
very dangerous force should it lean one way or the other about particular topics.
The clip from ‘The Office’ is funny because it uses social norms as a means to
convey the chaos of the characters. This is done by having the characters either
abide by or break the norms to create comedic tones in the story’s setting.
Part Two: Reflecting on Your Paper
In a response of at least 100 words, please consider the notes for yourself from the paper
check up video in your Week 9 Navigation
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/42114/pages/week-9-navigation) . What does each
section of your paper look like now? How do you think you might improve your paper
between now and your peer review draft due next week? Please discuss your plan and
address some of the questions posed to you for each section of the paper. You may want
to consider the page on Additional Editing Considerations
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/42114/pages/additional-editing-considerations) in your
answer. Having completed your rough draft, what did you choose to focus on as your
topic/themes? Also, take a look at the paper check up to see what you might need to edit.
What do you think you have done well? What do you think you can improve before you
submit your final paper?
After considering the notes for myself from the paper check-up video in the
Week 9 Navigation, each section of my paper is now more focused. There is a
greater sense of clarity and cohesiveness from one section to the next after
editing the paper in-accordance to the check-up video points. I think that
between now and my next peer review draft due next week, I will continue to edit
my paper and try to refine and polish it so that the introduction is more detailed,
the literature review is more concise, and the conclusion more reflective of the
implications of the academic papers findings from a big picture perspective. The
most edits will naturally be to the literature review where a more detailed
analysis of findings will be needed, but also more transitions that help to explain
the connection between the different ideas. This will help with the edits that I
need to make in my conclusion to make the ideas all gel together for a more
clear ending that ties all the loose ends together. I also need to make sure that I
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include more basic definitions in my introduction to help set the scene in a way
that is more understandable for the reader to better understand the literature
review portion. After completing my rough draft, the topics/themes that I have
decided to focus on are on gender depictions in the media and the influences on
the audience, effects on the audience, and how things have changed over time.
I think I have done a good job on setting the pace of the explanation, though I do
think that I can improve on how detailed my explanations are.
Part Three: Parting Thoughts
This portion of your discussion is mostly useful for me for planning purposes. You can be
as detailed as you would like, but I would like some information about how the class went
for you overall. I hope that you enjoyed the class, but if you did not, that is okay! If that is
the case, though, I am sorry.
1. What was a topic that was particularly interesting to you in this class? Why?
2. Was anything surprising?
3. Was there a topic that was especially useful in terms of writing your paper? How?
4. Was there anything in this course that was/is/will be helpful in any of your other classes
or future endeavors? What? Why?
1) I think that all the topics were interesting. There was no particular topic that
stood out more than the others for me.
2) There were few surprises, though the one lecture that had touched on just
how big the gap in medical treatment was a bit of a surprise for sure.
3) For the topic of my paper, I found the lectures on gender, and the lectures for
weeks 9 and 10 to be of the most use for me.
4) I think the attention to detail that this class taught will be helpful for me for
other classes, because I will make less silly mistakes before I submit my work.
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Kiesha Xiao (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/257475)
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Thursday
Hello Kanbra Aguayo,
You stated that the media does influence the way people think about everything and I
certainly agree with that because the media in a way can be a controlling item that
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gives out what they want people to see in our society. It is interesting how you gave an
example of an animated film of Finding Nemo and how that example symbolizes what
the media can take away or put in place of what the media want people to think a
certain thing means.
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(https://
Kiesha Xiao (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/257475)

Thursday
Part One: Applying Concepts
The most interesting potential thing that media does in society is the power the media has
in shaping our society. Not only do people nowadays rely on so much of the media for
insight and knowledge, but more importantly, it is the key driver to our democratic society.
The media and social media give our society public awareness of what is going on in our
society and even the means of controlling what we view in our media. Some of the issues
from the media are that they can control what society views and shape society’s opinion
through what the media wants us to believe in. They show certain and specific things to
control our mindsets and beliefs and alter our opinions on certain things within the media.
For example, back in the day, the media would create lies and fixate on the perspective of
how African Americans are considered inhumane to feed people negative media regards
insights on African Americans so that the people would create hatred towards a certain
group. Also, the media can take away certain topics, to keep society away from things that
the government does not want the people to see. However, nowadays the media has
become more transparent and the people in our society are getting smarter at spotting
biases and groups who are trying to manipulate the media. Even though there is a saying
not to believe in everything you hear or see in the media, our modern-day news and media
have provided a great change towards transparency, however, there are still flaws of
staying neutralized and being honest, and not manipulating certain things in the media to
put a spotlight on them. The clip from The Office was funny because it references the idea
of social norms where people in the clip were either following or disregarding the rules and
regulations
Part Two: Reflecting on Your Paper
I have completed all of the sections of my paper. I think for now to improve on the paper
between now and my peer review draft due next week is to check my peer-reviewed
comments and make changes to them. Also rereading my draft to see if everything in my
literature review aligns with my overall topic and make sure my evidence is on par and in
good transitions, as well as having correct citations. Sometimes I tend to forget to tie back
to my main point, so rereading and asking myself questions in each section can help me
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improve and alter and edit my writing. Also, I have gone ahead and written an abstract for
the first rough draft, so I can now fully revise my rough draft with the new lectures reviewing
the abstract as well as after writing my full rough draft, I can reread and build an abstract
that covers and addresses the main points of my whole paper. For my paper, my topic is on
second-generation Asian Americans living in America and more so how the differences in
culture can influence the living standards of Asian Americans. The themes that tie with my
topic are education, family dynamics, and cultural customs. What I believe I did well on is
finding sources because I believe my topic may be a bit difficult to obtain research on and I
think my researches were on point relating to my paper. I can definitely improve on all
areas of my paper and make it better, especially making my paper more profound and
more precise.
Part Three: Parting Thoughts
1. I think the majority of the topics interested me because I do have a particular interest in
American culture. Speaking about the American Dream, inequality, gender, social
norms are extremely interesting and relevant topics in our world today, so everything
was interesting to me.
2. Nothing in the course was surprising as I believe we are all familiar with the ideals and
what it is like living in American cultural standards and American culture in general.
However, the idea of writing a literature review was surprising to me because I have
never written a literature review and honestly it has been tough for me because I am
used to writing regular essay structures, so having to write a literature review is a bit
overwhelming for me.
3. All topics were useful in my opinion, overall I really enjoyed the examples gone through
the lecture to help out with the literature review paper writing.
4. Overall this course was really insightful and pleasant. This course overall allowed me to
really think in depth of our social norms, social issues, and everything that is affecting
American culture and what made up American culture. This will be helpful in my future
cultural courses and allows me to keep an open mind in the future as I am living a part
of the American culture.
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(http
Emilee Yaein Kim (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/groups/148732/users/323255)

Yesterday
Hi Kiesha,
I agree to your thoughts on social media. It is absolutely amazing how much impact it
has to our society. Considering that social media is such a big part of our everyday
lives, it is understandable. Due to this, social media is so influential to one’s opinion
and social standards! I appreciate how you mentioned how the media, while they can
shed light onto issues, can also take away the attention from some of them. It feels as
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though social media can do both good and bad depending on who has control. I also
agree that the Office was funny due to certain social norms. I also think it could be due
to the fact that they referenced a well known movie in real life.
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(https://
Heng Xu (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/about/224193)
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4:51am
PART ONE: APPLYING CONCEPTS
In any society, the media plays several important roles including informing the public about
various issues affecting them and providing them with valuable information they need in
their daily life. However, based on weeks 9 and 10 discussions, the media is a complex
entity that not only informs us about our surroundings but also influences how we view
ourselves and others. Therefore, the role of the media goes beyond informing us about our
surroundings to influencing how we deal with issues affecting our daily life. For instance,
according to week 9 and 10 resources on socialization, the main goal of the media is to
frame social issues thus impacting the extent to which people consider them urgent or
worth their time. Additionally, the media also plays other roles including reproduction of
norms, conferral or status, narcotization, surveillance, and transmission of cultures among
others. The media also act as a site for enforcing and reproducing norms because it
impacts or normalizes social vices such as rape or discrimination towards minority groups. I
find the clip “First aid, The office US”, both informative and humorous. The clip is about first
aid, yet it is dominated by humor and people acting casual. I feel that the piece is
informative because it illustrates how issues such as violence are treated casually, despite
their negative impact on people. However, I find it educative because it illustrates how
social vices emerge and how the failure to adequately combat them allows people to
discriminate towards others.
PART TWO: REFLECTING ON YOUR PAPER
My final paper is on popular culture, focusing on the themes of representation, international
influence, and social cohesion. I chose to focus on the themes of international influence,
representation, and social cohesion for various reasons. First, these themes will allow me
to analyze popular culture and its impact both in the US and in other parts of the globe. The
themes will also enable me to deal with the negative stereotypes that are often associated
with popular culture especially movies and video gamers. I feel that my paper is
progressing well and will be ready on time. I feel that I have done well in areas such as
formatting, creating arguments and counter-arguments, and using evidence to support my
points. However, there are several areas that I need to improve before submitting my final
paper. For instance, I need to add more sources of evidence, address typos and
grammatical errors and improve my sentence structure and paragraph organization.
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PART THREE: PARTING THOUGHTS
Overall, the course was insightful and thought-provoking. The topic that was most
interesting to me was the American dream. I enjoyed learning about different facets of the
American dream and why some people find it difficult to achieve this dream and live the
American way of life. I also enjoyed reading about the connection between the American
dream and institutional racism. What I found surprising was the extent to which America is
stratified in terms of race and class. For instance, I was surprised to learn that American
society is stratified in a way that benefits few, while millions of people live without a decent
income and healthcare. The topic that was most useful for writing my final paper was
norms, social values, and stereotypes because they help me illustrate between popular
culture and representation. I will use course discussion on inequality to advocacy for policy
changes to address racism and other social issues facing American society.
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