James Itemo
Professor Emmanuel Nneji
Intro to communication 100-04
09/11/19
My Media Guilty Pleasure
1. Description: Observing the phenomenon and making notes of those observations
Guilty pleasure are the things that hide inside our souls and capture our minds to do things that make our brains explode with addiction. Its called guilty pleasure for a reason and I believe everyone has at least one, two or more. I have three guilty pleasures. My first is calling out sick, watching shameless and lastly, reading for pleasure.
I have enjoyed doing these three for a long time now, although I dont do one of them because I started feeling more and more guilty and at the same time, I felt so distracted.
2. Analysis: Mapping patterns that play out in the phenomenon
Some days, I just never feel like going to work so I would call out sick just because I want to be lazy, stay at home, watch movies and do nothing for the whole day but I rather prefer to get paid.
Well, this became an attitude that I have been enjoying and I never wanted to stop until I begun to think of the future consequences. The lies I made were simple, but It always worked out and it made my family pay attention to me, because they could buy me good food while I lay in bed and I act like a real sick person whenever a somebody walks into my bedroom. I have felt ashamed of myself for pretending to be sick because most times whenever my mom could ask me to go to the hospital, in a few hours I would say, oh mommy thank God! The lord is so good Im feeling better now, so I dont think I have to go to the hospital. However, I avoided going to the hospital because I knew that the doctors could realize that its a lie.
In addition, pretending to be sick always made me feel ashamed. I know it is unpleasing and that its against my religion, I wish I could stop, but most times whenever I feel lazy, I would make up an excuse and lie to my boss. They were a time when I sought for advice from a priest. I thought I was about to make a step forward to change for better, but right after talking about it to him, it happened that I started wondering if I should continue going to church.
Watching TV shows has never been something I enjoy to be doing, but they is a show on Netflix that captures my attention, Shameless. Well, it is a show where family members are naturally reliant on one another to help each other through life. But when one person has an addiction, that person is no longer reliable and typically causes turmoil and drama within the home instead. In the case of their parents suffering from addictions, the entire family is affected emotionally and usually financially as well. I dont like watching this TV show around anyone because of their use of unmannerly language and sometimes sexual exploitation.
As a kid, textbook reading and reading for pleasure also became one of my guilty pleasures when I learnt how to read. I believe many people today read for research purpose, exams or writing a paper. However, I have been reading not to educate myself on a particular subject or to retain the information while understanding what was being read. I did it because I just learned how to read and I did not what the world to know about it, it meant to be a secret that I could use to surprise my friends who did not know about it.
3. Interpretation: Answering So what or what does it mean?
I have been calling out of work and school for about a year now and because it works, I never stop. On the other side, I know they are chances that I may get terminated from work, if I continue making up excuses and lies. However, a person might be wondering why I do this, or do I not need the money. As I have been growing up and developing in problem solving, I realized that money has no end and the billing my parents pay will not stop coming so that best way to live a luxurious life is mostly by learning it from my parents and avoiding the mistakes they made.
Many Americans have a conflicted relationship with the media they watch. I have been watching shameless for a few months but when I realized that it is trashy television show, I stopped. This TV show does not have a good language and the behaviors of the character meant to be influence as I watch more and more episodes.
Reading should be a favorite hobby for students who want to succeed in life but as for me, it meant something different. I did because I was young, and I just enjoyed reading. At the same time, I did it just to show off but now I realized that showing off became a behavior that Im trying to stop.
4. Evaluation: Arriving at a judgment based on previous steps, not just taste
In addition, Im not so sure if this is an unpopular opinion if I may receive backlash, but I think Shameless is a defective show and romanticizes serious issues. When I watched the first season, I felt so agitated and disturbed. As a result, I begun to feel like this show makes serious issues, minimizing the seriousness of situations and the toll it takes on others. So, I think the producer, the actors and the broadcast corporation should terminate the show.
In some situation, reading for pleasure may lead to a person being creative, a fast reader, smart and a good problem solver. I may not have liked reading for pleasure as a guilty pleasure that I hide inside my souls and yet it captures my minds to do it because it makes my brain explode with addictions. As a result, my life seems to be having so much to read because Im in college and I would like the reading addiction to continue.
5. Engagement: Taking action
All in all, the guilty pleasure I have never wanted anyone to know about are the three things written above and luckily, I have acted from watching Shameless. I made up my mind to stop it and now I prefer to be watching something that I may not hide from anyone and it has a positive impact on my student life. I have changed from the attitude of calling out of work or pretending to be sick, but I do it now I really mean it, or I could be out of work because I have school assignments to do. I have been reading for pleasure but now I just cant be that kid I used to be when I was young and so now, I read in order to gain information.
I believe many people have different guilty pleasures they hide and do not want anyone to know about because they feel like they might be judged by the society. However, it is a good thing always express your inner personalities and feel confident about what you enjoy.