Digital Media and Advertisements

¶ … Seeing Something

Looking at something refers to gazing on the object or acknowledging the presence of the object. Seeing, on the other hand, means not just looking at the object, but also paying attention to it and understanding its meaning. Our current lifestyles are fast paced and a majority of the time we just look at things as we pass by. We do not realize things and people, and we might just progress on with life if we do not stop to actually see something. Looking and seeing are two different things although they are both related to visual perception. Visual perception is the ability of an individual to see and interpret their surroundings by processing the information contained in visible light. Looking is defined as directing one's gaze towards something or someone in order to see. Looking is considered to be a passive action in that one only directs their gaze towards an object and they do not pay close attention to the object (Grazioli & Wang, 2001). For example, in digital media many time we are bombarded with numerous advertisements and most of the time people do not pay close attention to the advertisements, we merely look at the advertisements. There are numerous digital images that people come across in their daily life and most of the times people do not pay close attention to the images, they merely skim through and continue with what they were doing.

Seeing is defined as becoming aware of something from observation or from a visual source. Seeing is an active action because in order for someone to see they not only look at an object, but they also understand its meaning, pay attention to it, and perceive the object. Seeing mainly deals with perception, which refers to relating or recognizing what the eyes see with earlier knowledge of the object. In digital media, a good example would be looking at a screen there are people who will look at the screen and not understand the meaning, while there are people who will look and see the meaning of the message being portrayed. Understanding the meaning and relating it to what someone knows is vital. This would ensure that an individual is aware of what they are seeing and their attention has been grabbed by the particular object. Videos are the best way to attract and grab people's attention. To ensure that people see a particular object it is best to use a video platform to deliver the object. Videos have been shown to be quite effective in grabbing attention, and most of the videos are not looked at they are seen.