Culture as we liked it

What is culture? Culture is cultivated and not natural. It is man-made. Culture is the emergence of a belief in a value or experience. Culture is the by-product of the chapters of human history, of human’s experiences. And from culture, it leads to the start of traditions.

Then what is contemporary culture? The definition of contemporary culture meant “existing, occurring, or living at the same time, belonging to the same time.” Put those two words together, it meant the everyday life, the occurrence of the NOW, the present.

The culture you see today and the ones ten years ago, differs a lot. Culture is ever changing and like a computer software, upgrading. It is not rooted down. And now that we have entered the technological era, mass media, information are readily available, which leads to the intensity of the influence in culture on the modern society we live in today and everyday. We are now living in the media culture.

And from here we began to naturalize a way of living.

Denaturalising the natural: What defines being natural? The way of life. But what contributes to the way of life? Everyday culture. Everyday culture is shaped by socialization and acculturation, which results in the gradual practices of beliefs and behaviors. In the turn of the century, our cultures changes with time. And so does our beliefs and behaviors. And mass media is significant provider of beliefs in this era.

We now live in period where mass media is all around us. The mass media plays a part in shaping our understanding of the world today. Mass media is a tool in telling us what is good, what is bad, what is boring and what is fun. Children in the past played outside, catching spiders and picking fruits, but because of mass media, children of this generation look up to mass media to tell them what is fun, what is hip, what could make them popular amongst their friends if they got the toy shown in ads and television. I remember during my childhood, we had ‘masak masak’, role playing games of everyday life, cooking and cleaning, or a simple running and catching game. Now, my nephews grunts and groan about getting the latest ‘Bayblade’, a top-looking toy. They cry if they did not get what they wanted, as it seems owning one of these toys help them stay close to their friends who have it, and not owning one is perceived by the other kids as not popular. Owning a ‘Bayblade’ will make them the coolest kid in school, was their mindset set by television ads and the cartoons they watched.

Although mass media sometimes reshape our mindset of what we believe is good and bad for you, mass media like newspapers and the news is also needed in our lives. It keeps us updated on the world. But I always wonder, with the whole world so big and the information within each country so vast, how do we decide what and which is important and what is not to be put up on the news for us to receive as information?

For example, news of some scientific breakthrough of a gadget that allows us to understand what each dolphins calls represent. Does this ever apply to me in life? Maybe in the long run, I might change my line of work to be a biologist, but as of now, I do not think this is half as important the news of dolphins being herded into a secret cove and mass killed by Japanese fishermen whilst trapped.

How is information weighted? How do we determine what is good for us and what is bad for us, what is needed and what is needed to know, when the only way we get our information is through the same tunnel of mass media.