'The Clock Watching Effect' Created by Media

I just came back from visiting the families, and given that I am an epileptic, healthcare is something that is on everyone's mind, whether they know more or less about it.

The topic came up by my mother-in-law, who stated:

• 'It seems like no one is doing anything to help anyone anymore.'
  

I asked what she meant, and she replied that she sees things on TV, twitter, Internet, and in emails all the time:

• "it seems like no one is taking action"
  

I think what many have forgotten about is the 'clock watching effect' that has been created by over exposure of the media. Truth be told, time seems to move much slower when all you do is stare at a clock. Imagine this (I promise to relate this to voice overs and I take no political stance at all in this blog )...someone is elected and your hopes are high.

What happens next:

• You have the opportunity to wake up each day and watch what he/she did the day before, on the morning news.
• You have the opportunity to hear varying view points of it.
• You have the opportunity to hear on Twitter, what he/she is doing next.
• You have the opportunity to watch Town Hall Meetings on youtube, CNN, FOX, or MSNBC, and you get more emotional and influential view points.
  

Then, the question the media often poses comes at the end of all of it:

• 'What exactly is your elected official doing this for, and why is he/she wasting time doing....(insert any of the points above).'

The fact of the matter is that the over exposure of media has created a self-entitled attitude for instant gratification i.e. The belief that things should change over night in the way that we want. Unfortunately, life does not work that way. When you deal with people, change always takes time because you have many opinions to consider, always, and you do not always get what you want. This is something that 'media' understands:

• What better way to get what you want as an owner of a company than to use the power of media to influence opinions. This will push others to believe something that may or may not be true for the sake of the company getting what they want.
  

Forever a history-buff, I took some time to research 'yellow journalism'. If you take a hard look at this link and compare what happened 100-plus years ago to today, you can see that the media really has not changed that much. What has changed? More than ever, there are places to read the news, and the opinions of those reporting the news seem to be able to influence opinions through the usage of fonts, computer graphics, and emotional headlines.

I tend to think that media these days acts as if they are fighting for us, when all they are doing is generating damaging emotions that affect one's ability to make a decision. For example, seeing a 'tweet' from an official that states, 'Flying to Israel to discuss...', generates the reaction from those 'clock-watching':

• 'Oh isn't it great he has time to do this, but not worry about the other important things.'

The US, due to this clock-watching effect, expects too much...way too soon, and does not know how to achieve it for themselves, which is a main reason we face the problems we do today. We might state, 'We are smart enough to figure this out quickly.', but think now...

• Are we really, or has the media placed that expectation on us? Truth is, the only way to make decisions go through quickly is to act like a dictator, or break the law.
  

If you think about it, this has happened before. I understand a few things about life:

• You cannot change the world by complaining, or believing someone will change something for you.
• There is no such thing as 'reality'...There is only what you 'believe is reality'.
  

How does such a philosophy relate to voice overs? ...because it does...

• You have to learn the history of what happened, or you are doomed to repeat others' mistakes.
• You will never get anything done for yourself, until you take actions to help you and those around you.
  
• Accepting negative beliefs over positive beliefs means you are giving your power to succeed to someone else, and you strip yourself of your own power to accomplish your goals.
• If you think you can set a 'time' for 'when you should succeed by', you are setting a goal that reads: 'If by this date, I do not get what I want, I have failed.' Deciding to be a failure ahead of time means you will get what you want.

Life is too long and at the same time, way too short. Shut off the TV, stop reading the news, and start reading about what people once did. I leave with some quotes:

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. ~Benjamin Franklin

Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. ~Joe Paterno

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. ~David Frost


Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles. ~Walter Cronkite

Hey look at that last one by a person in news media at a time when I believed they cared! I hope that means the current state of media is short-lived, and by no means, permanent.