Media Equals Real Life

In The Media Equation by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass they discuss a topic very few actually sit and think about. They bring up the concept of how humans, more often than not, associate media with human feelings. The term anthropomorphism is introduced, which is a mistaken belief that inanimate objects are human. The idea is that when a child is watching a television show where they are asked to shout out when they find something, the child actually thinks they must shout along for the characters on the show to move on. They said that this happens because of age, education, or thought. Older people, who deem themselves as an intelligent individual, do this because it can help them learn or follow better. Participating in what you are reading or seeing can help your memory follow along better and retain information better. When reading this I could specifically pin point instances where I found myself anthropomorphisizing. I very rarely will watch a horror movie because I engage myself so much in the movie, that it scares me so badly. When watching a scary movie I often have to pause and look around and realize that I am in real life and it is only a movie, which is a prime example of this specific idea. When I was younger I also did this, I had a stuffed animal that I insisted on sleeping with every single night. I remember one time I left my stuffed animal at my grandmother’s house and the entire night I cried because I didn’t want my stuffed animal to think that I left her behind on purpose and I didn’t want to hurt “her” feelings. Children do this not even realizing that it is merely a toy and made out of cotton and isn’t “real”.  All kinds of people do this without even realizing and it isn’t until reading an article, like this, you catch on to what really happens and how often it happens on a day to day basis.