This weekend for this project I disabled my AdBlocker program and really found out that the media I was censoring myself from was explosive and unending. Every site, every video, every second there was some kind of advertisement casually blinking on my peripheral vision or completely interrupting the content I had wished to view. From ads every 15 minutes breaking up my streamed television into segments to watching the same ad pop-up before every Youtube video, I was overrun by catchy tunes, flashing images, and celebrity endorsements. It made me realize that I overlook a lot of the print media I see on my way to school or the grocery store or to a restaurant. Regular signs, posters, and billboards seem to go in one eye and out the other. It makes me fully realize why exactly billboards are transitioning into showing three advertisements that flip every few seconds. That slight motion catches my eye and draws my attention like all the other flashing images that I see through my computer screen or phone.
The only time static images catch my eye is if they're aggressive. A giant sign advertising up to 70% off in large red and white lettering, a large mark of graffiti on the side of a building, or a sign that is physically in my way as I walk down the street. Media has become so aggressive to compete with our shortening attention spans and the miraculous wonder that is our phone and computers that grab our attention and never let go. Even electronic advertisements are aggressive with pop colors and appearing in our faces out of nowhere. The only time static media reaches my brain is when I purposefully disengage myself from the rapture that is my phone and take the time to look around and read the world around me.
This aggressiveness has slowly desensitized me. I found myself instantly clicking the little x in the corner that appeared in pop-ups and counting down the few seconds before I could quickly skip the ad and get to the content. These ads which are actually sometimes wonderful become a chore, an annoyance. My feelings slowly went from interesting to irritated very quickly as I was bombarded by ad after ad that seemed to never end. The little ads in the corner became white noise that I quickly scrolled past only noting that they were there, ever present like always, before continuing.
But what I find interesting is that its not just visual. With electronics, companies tie sound and sight together to form this piece of "art" that sticks in my brain and refuses to leave. This effect is enhanced because I have to listen to the ad if it had an audio component whereas I don't have to look at it if it's only visual. With visual ads I can just ignore them and look somewhere else but with audio I have to seek out the source and look at the ad to find the mute or pause button. Audio also more readily stays with me than visual ads. For example, I listen to Spotify a lot which plays ads and there is this one sound byte that I instantly recognize as their pitch to get you to pay for Spotify Premium. Its 15 seconds of this little music that I instantly recognize and will probably recognize for a large portion of my life.
Project Image: https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/04/02/10/39/heartbeat-304130_640.png