I’m not sure if it’s ironic or poignant that my first blog post will be about the over saturation of media in our everyday lives, who knows, maybe we’ll know by the end.

Everyone knows that media has become more present in the everyday lives of us 21st century humans but how pervasive media is, is seriously underestimated. When people say media these days most people think of mobile phones, laptops and mobile phones. In a sense we’ve almost become so used to other forms of media, that we develop a kind of ‘media blindness’ and fail to see how prevalent media is in our urban landscapes.

Therefore us media students decided we should do a little experiment and we even used paper and pens, to be truly ‘scientific’.  We grabbed our stuff then we marched off to the State Library of Victoria to take note of all the media we encountered and here it is in all its glory (in neatly divided sub-headings for ease of perusal):

Up High

  • Cultural Diversity Week advertising banners
  • State Library advertising posters
  • The Australian flag
  • The ME Bank logo
  • Nike advertisement poster

On The Ground

  • Vans
  • Nikes
  • Birkenstocks
  • Marlboro Cigarettes

Mid-Ground

  • Recycling sign
  • Adidas T-shirt
  • People using smartphones

Back-Ground

  • Little Shop of Horrors tram advertisement
  • AMF bowling tram advertisement
  • Fuji Xerox car advertisement
  • Hungry Jacks sign
  • Telstra advertisement
  • Telstra phone box
  • TV at the Asian Beer Cafe
  • San Churros advertisement

Foreground

  • People using smartphones
  • Voss water bottle
  • Pupa Health t-shirt

In Your Hand

  • Textbook
  • Smartphone

I know lists are boring, but i’m glad you kept reading because heres the payoff. Media is EVERYWHERE and not only is it everywhere but it was quite difficult for us to even ‘see’ this media. We almost had to force ourselves to notice advertisements, branding and smartphone use, because we have become so complacent to it. As mentioned above media comes in many forms and most of the forms we saw were not the commonly thought of mobile phones and laptops. So next time your out, or even at home, don’t be media blind, think about how much media your consuming through all its forms and you will be truly astonished.

Now go watch Netflix, you deserve a break after all this reading.

Catch you later, Louise Alice Wilson