Three Semester Review 

          I have changed immensely over the last three semesters as a Media, Self, and Society scholars student. When I first got to college I had a quite negative attitude towards media and the news in general and was very skeptical about the news that I had been exposed to. This is what had originally motivated me to choose this scholars program, because I wanted to learn more about the media and how to navigate my way through it. In addition to various skills that I learned from performing certain assignments, I think that my biggest takeaway from these three courses was most certainly learning how to find trustworthy and reliable news sources so that I can be confident that the information I am receiving is accurate. Before taking these courses, I would find myself being overwhelmed with different late breaking stories which were being delivered in an extremely biased manner. This is what was mainly responsible for my previous lack of faith in the media and negative outlook on people’s motives. I would tend to think that every single person involved with the news was just trying to push an agenda and make me think the way that they wanted me to and not develop my opinions. My current positive attitude towards the media and society’s motives in general have led me to the conclusion that learning how to efficiently find accurate information has been the most important and impactful thing that I have learned through these courses. This has changed me as a person by making me happier since I have a more positive outlook. 

          When thinking about the program title, Media, Self, and Society, I think that the media's role in my life is to inform me, entertain me, and connect me with other people. However, when considering the media's role when it comes to society as a whole, I think that its job is to not only inform or entertain us, but to also encourage us to participate with each other in attempting to find solutions to complicated problems. This massive scale of connection and communication has, in my opinion, the ability to create an extremely strong nation. This contrasts with my previous opinions towards the media where I thought that its sole purpose was to inform and entertain people. Although, I think that something that has not changed about my opinion towards the media is that it needs to do a better job of uniting people instead of dividing them. 

          My current major is business undecided, and I am considering entering the field of finance. Media is definitely connected to businesses in the sense that it provides them with information regarding other businesses that they may either be either working with or competing against. Media is also extremely important when communicating and analyzing a business’ investments and how they can be used differently. Media is also extremely important in marketing and advertising for businesses. What I mentioned previously about finding accurate and reliable information is a skill that I think I will carry with me for the rest of my professional career as well as my personal life. Additionally, I think that this class has taught me how to significantly improve my general happiness and well being by showing me how to acknowledge how social media may be negatively affecting my mood and how I may need to take a step back every once in a while.