I found this reading to be quite interesting as well as confusing to an extent. To my understanding, the reading begins with speaking on how media usage is a way of participating “in a larger unity of which media technologies are parts.” In reading this, I interpreted the fact that when we use media, we are in fact using more than that. We are using mathematical software and operating systems that are a part of media but not considered media. This indicates a struggle with understanding where our interaction and engagement with media begins and ends.
The reading then begins to confuse me as it speaks on our own personal interactions with media and our perceptions. The middle chunk of the reading confuses me because it hard for me to understand the overall point as to why we need to understand where our interaction and engagement with media begins and ends. There are different philosophies and things that are mentioned that I find difficult to follow as a means of importance.
The reading also mentions that “media industries are in the business of selling people on the idea of gaps- between themselves and the world, etc. After this they sell the solutions. While this makes sense, I then question what effect it would have on the industry to know that there is no gap. In my opinion, knowing that there is no gap would not change how I purchase and utilize the media that I use. The reading also mentions that “media we seek between media and their users’ minds and bodies are never clear, no matter the medium.” In understanding that our brains, actions, and everything about us is a result of small things that we have picked up over time, it then becomes obvious that there is never a clear line between the media and the users’ minds and bodies. Overall, I am not sure if I am not understanding the text, but I would like further help in understanding the main points in relation to the author’s perspective?
Game Studies 
from reading i can feel about the same way as you as far as understanding but not really sure if i really am understanding the materiel correctly. To piggy back off of what you are saying here, i do also feel that it is important to have some kind of understanding of how we play into the affects of media and how important our engagement is when involving the evolution of mass media. Our views and our perceptions matter as consumers.
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In reviewing the material in the reading, I definitely see that understanding our interaction with media is important as I believe that Reynolds is trying to demonstrate that we cannot separate the two. I believe he is trying to indicate that we there is no start and finish within our interaction, but that our interaction with media becomes our world. This further explains the idea of the gaps that he mentioned the media industries tries to sell. Assuming that we can disconnect from our game world, allows for games to appear as an escape; something fun and a safe space to win or lose within. These gaps indicate an increase in revenue as they allow for people to continually purchase them for leisure when in fact they are living in a world that is driven by the game. I believe that this is what Reynolds is saying and why it is necessary to understand our interaction with the media that we consume.
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I really love what this reading said about how the media sells you solutions to “gaps” and problems that they have created for you. I think this is very true in almost every single aspect of life, and this definitely plays into games more than people realize. One of the biggest reasons people play games is because they consider them to be an escape from reality. Game developers have the power to easily convince you that your reality is dull or predictable and that a game can provide a safe haven/oasis for you to escape to. For example, role playing games probably use this to their advantage the most because they have to convince a huge group of people that their life could be better if it was more like their version of reality in their game. By making the game world so much more alluring than real life, gaming companies are able to sell their games to people as solutions to the dullness of reality.
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i felt the same as you about the reading and i don’t fully understand the use of the gap when looking at the start and end but i agree with there not being a clear line between the media and users minds and bodies. the gaps that they talk about between us and the world to sell us on the solution to get closer to each other but it wouldn’t affect how much we need it by knowing there is no gap between us because how necessary it is now anyway.
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