Which of four personal stories captured for the radio program This American Life is your favourite?
The program I have enjoyed most of all is about the listeners sharing their stories (“477: Getting Away with It”). It represents the stories shared by the people who had phoned the program of Ira Glass. It proves that nearly anyone in hos or her life did something bad. It could be cheating at school or telling lies, but over one thousand of the listeners who phoned the special number of the program reported they did not always act decently. A lot of stories were connected with school or college. Students are very inventive when they need something. Thus, boys in one class learned Morse Code and used it to cheat during teats just tapping the answers.
Other people played jokes on the surrounding individuals or broke some rules. On the whole, I like these stories because people were not scared to reveal their secrets to the audience. Certainly, the phone calls were anonymous. However, the disclosure of personal stories that were kept to themselves for year demands courage. This program proved that the people are not as decent as they pretend. Almost everyone has at least a small dark secret he or she is ashamed of despite getting away with it.
Personal story of “getting away with it”
I used to be a nice child and cannot remember something really bad. However, I used to mistreat my younger brother and a cousin. They are four and six years younger than me and my friends. No wonder that we did not want to play together. Thus, when they came to us and wanted to play together we would suggest playing hide-and-seek and hide somewhere where they could not get us, at the attic for example. At that time, I had no problems with getting away with it. I was sure we did not do anything bad. Now I am a bit ashamed of behaving like that. However, the childhood experience is forgotten and we are good friends now. We can remember our past experiences and laugh together.
How does this experience of listening to radio stories differ from watching TV shows about the same content?
Listening to various kinds of material is very popular. The research revealed that as of 2014 64 percent of American young people from 12 to 24-year-olds and 37 percent of adults from 25 to 54-year-olds listen to the radio online during the week (Wen par.3). About a third of people admitted listening to a podcast at least once. Listening is more convenient than watching since one does not need to sit somewhere. Listening on the go is the thing that most of the people do. In the rush that the majority of people live listening is a perfect way to learn something interesting or to get information. Emma Rodero (qtd. in Wen par.11) provided a research on the influence of audio material on people’s attention.
The study revealed that “a dramatized audio structure, using voice actors who tell the story exclusively through dialogue, stimulate listeners’ imagination more than a typical “voice of God” narration (Wen Par. 11). The participants of the experiment admitted that they had brighter images in their minds when they listened to a dramatized story. Besides, such stories kept the listeners more interested and exited. Finally, during listening the attention is concentrated on the voices and on the content, while the watching may distract attention of the viewer from the essence of the story with constantly changing picture.
Works Cited
“477: Getting Away with It.” This American Life. 2012. Web.
Wen, Tiffany. “Inside the Podcast Brain: Why Do Audio Stories Captivate?” The Atlantic. 2015. Web.