Media Autobiography: Media and Identity

“Growing up between Blockbuster and algorithms, media became part of the way I understand identity, creativity, and the world around me.”

Photography - Gato Rivero

For as long as I can remember a lot of movies, music, books, magazines, fashion, social media, and storytelling have shaped the way I see the world. I grew up between Barranquilla and Bogota - Colombia and media became a way for me to imagine other worlds outside my country.

When I was a child watched movies with my family, and had the opportunity to visit blockbuster and rent from Gossip Girl, to 90210, and Sex and the City, and also from The Exorcist, The Notebook, to Twilight with my friends, or listened to music all the time - even though I didn’t speak English I used to print the music lyrics from my favorite English-speaking artists to learn and understand the meaning, I also spent hours online looking at art performances, interviews, and fashion campaigns and my curiosity for spiritual knowledge also took me to explore different kind of books from different cultures. Media has shaped my identity because it made me realize I wanted to become an actor and create emotional stories that people connect with.

A big part of my media consumption today is social media, books, in class media, streaming platforms, magazines, and live experiences. I spend time traveling, visiting events, Instagram, YouTube, reading online articles, watching films, and the news, and even opening articles on my Robinhood account to better understand how the economy and the world is constantly changing.

Movies probably shaped my worldview the most. Watching films from different countries and directors made me understand emotions, grief, relationships, loneliness, ambition, and human behavior in a deeper way. As an acting student, I also pay attention to performances, dialogue, camera angles, costumes, and music. Media helped me become more observant about people and emotions in real life.

Photography - Gato Rivero Financial District

Now living most of my time between New York and Miami has also influenced the way I experience media and storytelling. Especially in New York, media and art feel constantly present everywhere around you. Even taking the train, you can find musicians, performers, fashion, advertisements, and different forms of artistic expression happening naturally in everyday life. Traveling and experiencing different cultures has also shaped the way I observe people, creativity, and human behavior.

Music is also important in my life because it changes my mood very quickly. Sometimes music makes me feel motivated and creative, and other times emotional or nostalgic. I think media in general affects emotions strongly because it can create fantasies, beauty standards, fear, hope, or unrealistic expectations.

My relationships are also influenced by the media because most communication today happens online. Social media can make people feel connected but sometimes disconnected at the same time because everybody is constantly comparing themselves to others or trying to create perfect images online.

I think my understanding of reality has changed because of the media. Sometimes it becomes difficult to separate real life from performance, trends, online personas, or curated content. At the same time, media can also educate people, inspire creativity, and create communities around shared interests.

Overall, media has shaped almost every part of my life: my creativity, identity, emotions, relationships, and career goals. It has inspired me to pursue acting and storytelling, but it also taught me to be careful about how much time and energy I give to digital spaces.

Media, Emotion, and Awareness

What Media Feel:

· Nourishing?

· Inspiring?

· Comforting?

· Addictive?

· Exhausting?

· Manipulative?

I think my media consumption is broken down this way because it depends on what people consume and how aware they are of what they are watching. Some people consume media without realizing that it can become manipulative, addictive, or emotionally exhausting, while others mainly consume it for entertainment, comfort, or inspiration.

For me, most of the media I consume today is connected to artistic inspiration, creativity, and sometimes comfort. Because I study acting and film, I am constantly looking at storytelling, cinematography, performances, music, fashion, and visual concepts that inspire me creatively. Some media feels nourishing because it helps me learn, reflect, or understand emotions and the world around me in a deeper way. Other media feels comforting because sometimes music, films, or certain content can help me disconnect from stress or difficult emotions.

At the same time, I think media can also become addictive and exhausting, especially social media and constant news cycles. A few years ago, during a conversation I had with someone, I remember saying that I avoided watching the news because it felt filled with chaos and negativity. That person told me that it is still important to be aware of what is happening in the world because awareness can help protect you and help you understand reality better. Since then, my perspective became more balanced.

I tend to analyze things carefully and sometimes be kind of agnostic or skeptical about certain information because not everything people consume online is true. Some media can become manipulative when people accept everything they see as absolute truth without questioning it. From my perspective, constantly consuming fear, misinformation, or toxic content is not healthy for the mind because it can create anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and distorted ways of seeing reality.

I also believe that media can inspire people positively. Sometimes I even find inspiration in the news because it reflects human behavior, emotion, conflict, ambition, and the way society changes over time. Overall, I think media itself is not completely good or bad. It depends on how consciously people consume it and how much control they allow it to have over their emotions, thoughts, and daily life.

I think there is a balance between junk food media, comfort media, meaningful art, information, and distraction because media today is everywhere around us all the time. For me, junk food media is media that can be entertaining but at the same time kind of empty, repetitive, or made just to keep people scrolling for hours without really giving something meaningful back. Sometimes social media can feel like mental garbage if you consume too much of it constantly.

Comfort media for me is usually music, films, videos, or content that helps me disconnect from stress or emotions for a moment. Meaningful art is probably the type of media that impacts me the most because I study acting and film, so I naturally connect deeply with storytelling, performances, music, theater, photography, and films that explore real human emotions, grief, identity, relationships, ambition, or psychology. That kind of media stays in my mind longer because it makes me reflect emotionally and creatively.

Information is also important to me because I like being aware of what is happening in the world. I read articles, watch news, and even look at economic or financial information sometimes because I think it is important to understand how society and the world are changing around us. At the same time, I think media can become manipulative depending on how aware people are of what they consume.

Algorithms play a huge role in media habits today because platforms learn what captures your attention and continue showing similar content repeatedly. Sometimes I intentionally choose what I consume, especially when I search for artistic inspiration, films, music, photography, or information that genuinely interests me. But honestly, another part happens automatically through scrolling and recommendations that just appear constantly.

The kind of media that challenges me emotionally or intellectually is usually artistic or psychological work that feels human and emotionally real. Films, music, theater, photography, books, and even certain news stories can change the way I think about emotions, identity, loneliness, ambition, relationships, or society. That type of media stays with me much longer than content that is only there to distract people for a few seconds.

In many ways, media became part of how I learned to understand both reality and myself.