One medium that I think has definitely begun to have more of an effect on our lives would be our appearances. In the past your appearance still mattered, but in our current society there is a lot of pressure to look, act, and talk a certain way. Things that never used to matter like what brand of clothing you prefer, whether you eat organic food, and what type of car you drive now matter greatly. We have become a very materialistic society. I am not saying that I don’t do this as well, but when you take a step back and look at it all, we all have become very judgmental of each other. We seem to size each other up as soon as we meet. We form an idea of who they are and what their personality is going to be like based simply on their hair, clothes, car, and weight.
We can use our appearance to our advantage, by looking professional and ready for a job interview. However, on the other side this means that if you aren’t dressed in the right way, that alone could be a deal breaker. I think that there is a reason for keeping up a good appearance at the work place and at certain functions and events. I just find it interesting how much our appearance could potentially shape our lives. I do believe it is a medium because in a way you are marketing yourself, and you are trying to look a certain way. Then, if your appearance doesn’t fit with certain people, they might disregard you. I know that I am guilty of this, as I’m sure many people are. It is nice to look good, but I think there is more and more pressure on our society to act and look a certain way. A great example of this would be with cell phones. Many people look at what type of phone someone has and make judgments on how much money they have. It is like you always need to have the newest and most advanced model of everything. I think that this won’t change, and people will probably always judge people and make a decision of who they are within the first minute of meeting them based on their appearance. Our appearance will continue to be a big part of our lives.
I think the picture you posted makes a really good point...I can see how someone would distinguish someone who has a blackberry from someone who has a beat up regular phone..especially in this day and age. I know my friends who have siblings in middle school say they now all have cell phones and wear designer clothes, which was never the case when I was in middle school so I guess we need to take into account how fast things are changing.
ReplyDeleteTricia, nice point about the cell phones. I agree that people are definitely judged on items such as phones and accessories. I think another way appearences are looked at more closely is on a college campus. I know that when I am at Babson I can usually distinguish which kids are on sports teams with which kids are not. When teams all have similiar clothes on that they get for playing a sport, others will see them and immediately say "they play a sport". Is this necessarily a good or a bad thing? I don't know... But it is true about how important appearences are in not just the work environment, but also at colleges and so many other places.
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