Todd Gitlin Summary on Media

Todd Gitlin is a not competent author born in New York City. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a PhD in sociology and was heavily involved in the Students for a Democratic Society group. Gitlin is right off a professor at New York University where he teaches culture, journalism, and sociology. Gitlins selection, Supersaturation, or, The Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling, comes from his book Media Unlimited How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives (2001).In this selection, Gitlin describes how cloistered lives and domestic spaces reach evolved from the seventeenth-century until promptly. He feels as though our once closed-door households are now dominated by other servicemanly things in the form of media. thither are many ideas in Todd Gitlins writings that guard his view of our media influenced earthly concern, two of which, are the ideas of supersaturation and disposable feeling. According to dictionary. com the defi nition of supersaturation is to increase the concentration of (a solution) beyond saturation.Gitlin uses the word supersaturation to describe the way todays orbit has completely absorbed the media and its relations. Society has go bad immersed in the gossip and images displayed by the media. The lines between living space and working space are no longitudinal as distinct as they used to be. Gitlin states that, the outside world has entered the home with vengeance in the profusion of media (Gitlin 558). Relating to this same concept, Gitlin uses the idea of disposable feeling to explain the way people of today are able to move from one worldly image to the next, one piece of gossip to another, with no concern.We are able to shrug them off and come back to them later if we choose to do so. In some of Gitlins research, he refers to the writings of analyst Raymond Williams who states, What we have now is drama as habitual experience, more in a week, in many cases, than most human o rganisms would previously have seen in a living (Gitlin 559). We have become immune to true feelings for individual images and stories, and thrive on the idea of the next gossip that will follow. In this selection of the book, Gitlin discusses a seventeenth-century Dutch painter by the name of Vermeer.Vermeer was known for being able tofreeze instants, but instants that spoke of the relative constancy of the world in which his subjects lived (Gitlin 558). People collected Vermeers paintings for display throughout their homes. Gitlin sees Vermeer as the seventeenth-century version of the media. In that time, the images painted were relative to the peoples era and private world. In todays world Vermeer would be the equivalent to a celebrity photographer or movie director.If Vermeer, or any other artist of his time, were to see todays households, they would uprise that the once private space inside the home is now much more dominated by images of the outside world than what would hav e been possible in the 1600s. As mentioned in Gitlins research, statistics show that, watching TV is the dominant leisure activity of Americans, consuming 40 percent of the average persons free time as a primary activity when people give television there undivided attention (Gitlin 560). charge the wealthier parts of poor worlds have access to some sort of media.It would take someone from a third world country to be stunned by the fact that our lives are evermore portrayed through television, radio, internet and other forms of media. People of today come in contact with more information in a single day than any one person of Vermeers time could have ever imagined. The media surrounds our world in every aspect of society. Gitlin notes in his writings that the statistics referenced begettert take into account the billboards, the TVs at bars and on planes, the Muzak in restaurants and shops . . . nd logos whizzing by on the sides of buses and taxis, climbing the walls of buildings , do announcements from caps, bags, T-shirts, and sneakers (Gitlin 563). Thanks to all of the latest technology and communication systems people are able to connect to the outside world whenever we like. In Gitlins conclusion he goes on to explain that our personal opinion is no longer important to the world. People of our time are followers rather than leaders, and are consistently being sucked in to how the media says we should live our lives.Gitlin feels that the way we live our lives, or spend it, (563) determines who we are. Our lives have become completely consumed with technology and the latest electronics. Gitlin argues that even in our most private times we cannot bring ourselves to stay clear of the media. Our life experience has become an experience in the presence of media (Gitlin 563). In seventeenth-century time this degree of media estimateence would be unthinkable. Earls ViewIn my reading of Todd Gitlins Supersaturation, or, the Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling , I have come to the conclusion that I agree with Gitlin on the matter of an raise media presence in todays world. The media has become such a large influence on everything on society. From TV, internet, and cell phones to billboards, magazines, and newspapers, it has become nearly impossible to be media free. Going along with Gitlins opinion on the subject, I agree that even in our seemingly private home lives, we continue to depend on media and other electronic entertainment.In this day and age people are constantly fixated with staying connected with the outside world through the media using saucy phones, emails, news, social networks and sports. As technology continues to advance we become consumed with the idea of having the latest and the best gadgets to keep us linked to media at all times. These gadgets have become part of our daily routine to check on society. People feel lost when they cant check there emails or their status on Facebook.Dinner in a home used to be eatin g at the dining room table and having conversations about your day but has now become sitting in the living room and watching TV. Even children have been affected by this media trend. They watch more TV than reading books. There are TV shows to help them learn rather than reading books for math, science and English. It is clear that the world is being dominated by media. The world has evolved in to a smart, fast pace place where we have to know everything that goes on, not just where we live and whats going on in our lives but the entire world as well. We spend all our money on top of the line, expensive electronics to keep up to date with media and worldly news * Technology continues to advance (walkman mp3 players, tapes raunchy ray) * Constantly fixated on staying connected to the outside world (using smart phones to check email, news, sports) * Has become part of daily routine to check for updates in society * Even watch tv while eating family meals, tvs in restaurants, portabl e computers, ect * Faster growing demand for careers in technology palm