This or That?

For my last entry for communication blog today, I would like to talk about mass media. Functions of media include surveillance, correlation, cultural transmission as well as entertainment. The very visible and obvious example regarding this would most probably be the advertisement we have today. As we turn on the television every day, advertisements and commercials would be coming our way one after another.

“The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”

Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan argues that medium is more important than the message. This is because; he thinks that how we deliver is more significant than what we deliver. Also, medium has the power to change the way we live and experience the world.

Television, being one of the most popular medium of conveying information, is widely available all around the world. Almost all the residents living in Singapore have at least one television; and it would most probably be placed in the living room. Most of us do watch television almost every day, because we need to get ourselves updated with a variety of information, be it the news, sports or even fashion. For this reason, companies have put up commercials in between shows we’re watching. They have chosen perfectly fitting time for these commercials to be aired, often timed to reach most audience members.

In order for the advertisement to attract more audiences, most companies would pick the best medium, as medium is the message regardless of what you’re conveying. Not only that, since media functions as an entertainment too, therefore, it has made even clearer that the basic medium is television. Not only it is entertaining, television has also become the new educator in most households. Thus, it has made it even simpler for messages and information to be conveyed. For every fifteen minutes we spent watching a show, we’ll get a five minutes commercial break.

However, until today, audiences are always the active consumers, meaning, they will always have the ability to resist media messages. According to the limited effects theory, audiences can clearly seek out the competing media messages according to their own needs rather than being influenced by all of them. As to further elaborate, active audiences tend to focus on watching advertisements of the same kind in order to make the best choice.

For instance,

Which of these two would you prefer?

Clairol’s product have a ordinary standard way of dying hair, whereas the Japanese brand, Prettia Soft Bubble Hair Color allows you to just apply the foam of the dye and shampoo them on the hair. Obviously, it is more convenient to use the hair dye like a shampoo rather than having such complicated steps to follow when using Clairol’s. However, this may not make the audiences decide on which one to buy just comparing this aspect, still, more aspects such as the price and availability are put into consideration. Therefore, limited effects theory is well defined.

Spotlighting on Ryan Higa

Nowadays we see advertisements everywhere. We’ve been surrounded by commercials everyday; from the television to the internet, from the flyers to the billboard.
Here’s a sample of an advertisement not found in television broadcast commercials, but uniquely available in the internet.



The producer, Ryan Higa, well known as Nigahiga, is a one of the most popular vloggers (video bloggers) in Youtube. He had made many videos with his friends, all of which are hilarious. In this short advertisement clip, he is obviously conveying a message to introduce the audiences about his product, Hook on Fonik. He used a powerful mass media as the medium to pass on the messages. He even made his ad most influential as he could by getting feedbacks from his so-called customers, regardless of whether his audiences are active or passive. Just to add on to the effectiveness of selling the product, he even gives promotions in a very special way. After finished watching the advertisement, and to assume that it is true, do you think you would buy his product?

On a completely unrelated note, still spotlighting on Ryan Higa, I’ve seen many of his hilarious videos which I believe most would not dare to do because he doesn’t mind acting silly or stupid in front of the camera. I am sure most people would feel embarrassed if they were to do something like that, because I do. Anyhow, of all the videos I’ve seen, I would like to conclude that Ryan Higa is an individualist, who is quite honest in some ways. Also, he does not care how people look and think of him.

Do you fart? Well, yes, all of us do. But do we let it out proudly in public? That, I don’t think so. Now, do you make a video about fart? Let’s watch the following video.



Most of us think that farting in public is impolite, and more than half of these sums think that farting is immature, according to Ryan Higa in the video. Therefore, as a viewer, it is very noticeable for me that he is categorized as an individualist, because he thinks differently from others. He does not follow what the community thinks about fart. He has a mind of his own which he feels comfortable with.

To further illustrate, there’s another video clip about how he thinks about nosy people.



Would you criticize about nosy people in public with your friends or just keep it to yourself? Because Ryan Higa isn’t afraid to even make a video just to talk about nosy people. See how he acts like an individualist?

However, all these are merely my personal opinion about Ryan Higa, and have no means of criticism. In fact, it is part of my admiration towards him.

A moment not to be forgotten

Another unit of communication had just been wrapped up in last weeks’ lectures, and the topic covered was about group communication. Having known to all, group communication is about communicating in a group. Nevertheless, there are many things going around in a group communication, where even we, being the members of the group might not figure it out. If we think about it long and hard enough, group communication actually plays an important role in our lives.

More than half of the time, we are actually communicating in a group rather than just chatting with another person. Depending on how you interpret it, the size of a group may vary. Even having three persons hanging out together can be counted as a group, perhaps a small group. Therefore, communicating in a group is simply inevitable in lives, for we would be making friends and hang out together, otherwise just doing some group project with our group mates assigned by the instructor and so on.

In our own groups, we give support and full commitment to our members; we help each other out in many ways. For example, we usually need a group to make complex decisions, and also criticisms; after all, criticisms help to improve us in one way or another.

I remember when I first attended my college last year; my English course lecturer gave the class a marketing project to follow. She assigned us into groups of six. In my group I was chosen as the leader, which I am definitely not good at. I never had the ability to lead, hence, being the leader, I was really a slow one. I have no idea at all what I should do, being a follower as I had always been, my mind was a total blank at that very moment. Nonetheless, having assigned to a group of new friends, I was glad though. My group mates never gave up on me. They supported me all the way until the presentation, which was the last part of the whole project. Without them, I wouldn’t have done a good job that was presentable.

During the time when we worked together as a group, my group mates took their responsibilities and played their respective roles without needing me to worry about them as I was already had a lot to worry about myself, whether or not I was able to play my part as a leader.

As said, I could never have done it successfully without them. For that reason, I knew that group projects were never easy unless all the group members really take the initiative to work together and support each other in every way possible.

With that said, I wish all the communication groups good luck and have fun working with your own group members.

Two is better than one

Has it ever come across your mind how a couple got together?

Have you ever thought why love happens?

Well, everything happens for a reason, don’t they?

According to the Knapp model of relational development, relationship develops in 10 stages, 2 phases, namely the “coming together” phase from stages 1 to 5, and “coming apart” phase in the rest of the stages.

All the while we thought about how love happens and this and that, songs writers are actually already conveying the messages through love songs, giving us a hint on all there is about love and chemistry. Songs include all the stages from the beginning till the end, almost like a story, if you tried concluding a few songs that you know of.

Although relationship develops in stages as said, it doesn’t mean that when you fall in love, you are bound to follow the steps strictly.

Has love always been that easy? If so, why do some people so afraid to fall in love?

Nonetheless, despite the sweet moments and all that a couple had gone through, be it the thick and thin, there are still many divorcing cases occurring in the world today.

But why does still happen after they have their vows taken? Are they not taking the marriage seriously?

From stage 6 onwards according to Knapp model of relational development are known as the “coming apart” phase. No matter how much a couple had been through the tough times, it is no surprise that they can still end up splitting.

It actually starts to occur when a couple undergoes stage 6, named the differentiating stage. Conflict often occurs between them, even for a very small matter. They could fight over for almost anything. Then moving on, after a big fight, they tend to keep quiet and rather have a silent conversation. If this kind of conversation continues and no one bothers to make up, things will get worse. Slowly going through the motions of a relationship, they would somewhat try to avoid each other so as to also avoid awkward moments. Later on, they would take up the hint and start terminating the relationship. Soon, they will no longer care about what the other does and take no initiative to converse. That’s when most divorces take place, and both parties will then move on from the relationship and go their separate ways.

For instance, one of the high profile couples, Katie Price and Peter Andre is already starting the legal proceedings to end their marriage. Things may not be what they seem. Perhaps divorce is the only solution to keep them moving on.

Everyone thought both the parties could have stayed in the relationship, but it would not change the fact that “coming apart” phase has taken place.