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Originally Posted by pan6467
What happened to deciding for yourself?
I go see a movie because I like the previews, like the premise or the actors. Very rarely, if ever, will I see a movie solely because someone recommended it.
I buy what I want in all aspects, I may look and make sure like with a car, that the model isn't falling apart or been recalled.
In the end, everyone has an opinion and that opinion matters to only them. If you need a friend or a critic or someone to tell you what to buy or what movies and shows to watch..... then I suggest, breaking out making up your own mind and seeing how much you will grow and learn.
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Pan, I agree that if you 'break out' (and research different options before making decisions) you will grow specifically improve your critical thinking skills (analyzing sources of information, determining what is subjective or objective, making connections between how someone's perspective can affect their opinion and actions; translating doublespeak (understanding different ways of articulating messages).
These qualities help people become a more informed person.
(and perhaps be a more satisfied person by recognizing the advertisement's attempts to convince you that a product will help you achieve a certain lifestyle or status).
However, there unfortunately comes a time when you rely upon others (whether being ordinary or expert people) for their opinions, or at the least, make your decision based on the limited amount of information you have and your intuition.
This is because of the finite resource: time (NO pun intended with the OP). Time is a finite resource for everyone, although some have more free time than other people. Ultimately then, people have to prioritize on what they want to spend their time researching and being educated about.
These priorities are vastly different for people and the internet reflects that. First starting with USENET, 'Ordinary' people have created and participated on websites, message boards, blogs, wikis devoted to the analysis of media - movies, music, books, and paintings, consumer products like mechanical pencils, pro wrestling, mp3 players or science like String Theory; religion; Politics of a certain geographic area, ideology, or relating to a single issue - like human rights or legalization of abortion and gay marriage.
For example, I've looked into purchasing a digital voice recorder for school. I visited a couple different retail stores where I disappointed in their limited selections and the fact only one store had the voice recorders available for a customer to use and demonstrate in the store.
I read reviews on websites and blogs [I could mention names, but that would also be advertising them,
] from ordinary peoples; read reviews from 'experts' (or people who get paid to write reviews on gadgets for a website). I also read information on the manufacteur's websites. Since I was on break from school, I had the time to spend hours reading different reviews, driving to different stores (In retrospect, I could have called the stores to see if they had working demonstrations), and determining which one would be the best for me.
However, I ultimately bought one without literally trying it out before buying it. I based this decision on my own intuition while taking into account the reviews (putting trust in reviews) that I had read.
People don't have the time (for various reasons for a different thread) to research and make an analysis of their decisions, so they use others' (from ordinary people and experts) opinions and reviews to help make their decisions.
catcha back on the flipside,
will.
PS - this post made me really cynical, when I realized that I had used the magazine's name multiple times in this post because it shares the name of an ubiquitous aspect of life.
(sorry if this is a bit of a threadjack, mods: feel free to move to its own post if you feel its necessary