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CMNS 301 Final Essay: Studying Media In The Context of Everyday Life

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CMNS 301
Tuesday, November 26th 2013
Final Essay

After reading “Adolescent Room Culture: Studying Media in the Context of Everyday Life” by Jeanne Steele and Jane Brown, study the uses and gratifications of literature. Have a look at your life. Where do practice and theory seem to match up, and where do they pass like ships in the night? Keep a “media uses and gratifications” diary for you and your family or friends for a week. Use the diary as raw material for your study. Organize the diary to deliver information about questions you want answered. 

Can you apply Steele and Brown to what you have observed, or do you need to modify their model? Can you think of a better representation? How will you construct your model? Which …show more content…

co-construction of meaning).

These theories will be useful in determining my underlying motivations behind my choice of media and content and how my experiences help shape the meaning I provide to the former. Although I have a very active lifestyle, media does consume the largest portion of my time. For the sake of this analysis, the table above simply refers to the television shows and movies I watched throughout a week, however it is important to note that in addition, all time spent of the phone, computer, reading and listening to radio also comprise of media consumption.

Steele and Brown Model
This proposes the following assumptions:
Individuals are selective in their media choices
Individuals are creative in their interpretations of media content
Individuals are active users of media material2
In order to test these suppositions, the researchers undertook several room cultures studies to examine, monitor and evaluate adolescent media consumption habits. This resulted in the following model, which conceptualizes the three most significant dimensions of mass media uses and effects.3

This model serves to illustrate that media “is an integral part of the continuous process of cultural production and reproduction that characterizes everyday life.” (Steele, 556) This means that the media serves to shape values, as well as reinforce existing values and meaning that individuals attribute to their everyday

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