Unconscious Engagement

The Allen reading this week discussed how the term “watching television” has many definitions. We may be watching TV intently, with our eyes glued to the screen, watching it while we make dinner, or have it on mute while we do homework, like I do right now. This style of consumption can be applied to many of the advertisements and other media messages we “consume” every day. Some just simply stand out more than others. Many of the messages I overlook include advertisements on many of the apps on my phone, promoted tweets on my twitter feed, and commercials on Pandora stations. However, I notice these ads exist anyway, even if I don’t think I’m paying much attention to the content of the message.

So how much of this media am I actually consuming and understanding? I like to think I am aware of the underlying messages in advertisements. It’s easy to see when the media sells beauty and youth, and we, as media analysts, automatically see this as bad. We should be able to feel beautiful no matter what crème we use or what clothes we choose to wear. Yet we have all been victim at one point or another to trying a new product to see if it “really does work.”

My point, is that if we can disengage from media so easily, and ignore the ads on our phone and concentrate on homework while watching TV, are we really blocking the messages? Or are we allowing ourselves to subliminally become victims of the messages advertisers want us to believe? I don’t know the answer to this question, and there may not be one, but I do think it is important to recognize that even if we tune out from TV or other advertisements, we might still be engaging in these messages, whether we want to be or not.