I thought the readings from Rosen's writings about technological mediums were very thorough in some aspects of the way that the mind thinks.  I could see how there could be negative effects on the mind when you do too much of one thing can and in this case only gaining knowledge about the world through images rather than texts.

I like how she brought up the legitimacy of photographs.  I think that we give too much credit to images we see when it is presented from an accredited source or what source we value.  It could potentially be the downfall of intelligence if we constantly give into sources that we respect without any follow up.  But I guess it really depends on what kind of intelligence you are referring too.  Rosen is referring to the complete dumbing down of humanity without the use of text.  I see where she is trying to get at with this point but I think that some images cause people to investigate more about the image.  Like who took the picture, who mad the picture, and so on and so forth.  In order to do further research it is imperative that you know how to read and thus write.

For those who choose to take images at face value it can become a potential problem.  But this also could be a different kind of intelligence.  Certain images can correlate to common thought and building on these images could help you refer back to things you have already seen in the past.  If a child first sees fire and touches it and it burns them they are conditioned to not touch it again.  This idea can also be applied to any given situation if one chooses to think the situation through or has the ability to do so.  If i see an image of a beautiful woman on the cover of the magazine a lot of observations comes to mind.  The portrayal of beauty is swayed to one spectrum of what beauty is.  What about the beauty of a fifty year old woman or a woman of color?  These things say a lot to women when we look at what is portrayed as beautiful.  Most covers have light skinned models that are mostly Caucasian.  Rarely will you see a Indian woman, African, Asian, or Latin woman.  I'm not trying to get into a battle of the races, I am stating what I see on the racks throughout California.  The publishers of these fashion magazines show us that beauty is a youthful woman who has perfect complexion, who is fashionably in tune, and is rail thin.  If I choose to let this idea rule my opinion of what beautiful is then I will constantly give into the things around me that mimic that image.  If I sit back and really think about the production of the magazine, who is distributing the magazine and why I think certain things are beautiful I then begin to put myself in a box that I don't fit in.  I know that its not natural for all women to have rail thin bodies, immaculate skin, full breasts, perfect hair, perfect make-up, and fashionable attire.  These are all sellers that keep us in the loop of consumerism for beauty products.

We buy the products that models are wearing.  We wear the make up to try to mimic what we think is beauty.  It becomes a vicious cycle that Rosen has talked about.  Getting caught in the loop of images rather seeing past what the image is saying.  I have fallen guilty to this too.  But I think without getting lost you will never really try to find your way out of the misguided articles.  The complete spectrum of what beauty is lacks in this kind of system.  Older women feel they are too aged and younger women want to be something they're not as well.  This is why it is important to investigate your sources.

I don't think that all of humanity will follow the same thought though when reacting to an image.  People often develop their own theories or beliefs about images they see and not everyone takes it at face value.  I think that when I see something repeatedly through the day like on a bus or stop signs my subconscious is working to store it and use it to my advantage.  My first initial thought is 'what are they trying to get me to buy'?  Maybe because I'm skeptical or maybe because I have learned through trial and error that a lot of advertisements try to tap into you believing in what they are selling is legit.

When sitting back and thinking about how images affect me I could see how it could be bad  if you get caught in the cycle of a image based life.  But texts are just a collection of symbols that are images, so you could take that stance that texts can be harmful to one's intelligence.  Each letter is a symbol is represented by images and the collection of the symbols make a statement too when you take a stance on how you want to organize you ideas with these symbols.  Reading into things that are falsely reported can be a dangerous road to travel down as well.