Mass Media In The 1920s

The 1920s, often referred to as the Roaring Twenties, was a time of great change and a time of powerful enthusiasm in many areas of society. The world had just finished the biggest war in history, the First World War, and the United States was left almost unharmed by the war. The United States was able to experience a decade of peace and success following the war. During this decade, America became the wealthiest country in the world (Trueman, 2000). The people in the United States went through a colorful period during the twenties. However, at the same time the 1920s was also a very rebellious and difficult time for many. The culture of the 1920s has influenced the culture of America’s society today.

Mass media during the 1920s united the nation and created an economic boom in new areas of entertainment and leisure. As technology advanced, new forms of communication and entertainment began to rise. A variety of new entertainment like radio, magazines, and movies with sound became common and popular. Over 700 films were produced each year, over 100 million radios were in use, and LIFE magazine had over 250,000 readers in the year 1920 alone. The demand of new forms of media began to increase due to the thirst to live vicariously through the personas they see and hear all around them. Mass media in the 1920s united the country, controlled individual consumption, and propelled American consumerism.

A ten year gap can really impact a society. This is evident in the times of the 1920s through the 1930s. These decades are very different from one another. This paper compares and contrasts the traits of these times in the world of pop culture. Pop culture is an accurate way to observe the past because it shows everything that was mainstream and a staple of the time.

The radio was used extensively during the 1920’s which altered society’s culture. Society’s culture was significantly affected by the radio because the radio allowed people to listen to new entertainment. Radio became deeply integrated into people’s lives during the 1920’s. It transformed the daily lifestyles of its listeners. Radio altered the definition of fame and celebrity which were acquiring greater worth during the 1920’s. (What Was the Impact of Radio and the Movies in the 1920s?, 2010) Through the Radio’s widespread use, culture became more untied as people were listening to the same news and entertainment. People were also listening to the same views and ideas making for a more united society. As people started to have more choices for entertainment, this led to a culture that was very centered on having fun. “In a setting where individual exploits were being reported by multiple outlets and the fascination with these endeavors began to develop into a full blown industry, the growth of… radio helped to satiate the desire to partake in the glory and folly of fame…” (What Was the Impact of Radio and the

During The Roaring ´20s, many things became popular that were so important to the U.S., they are still used used frequently today. One of those things was the radio. Radios were actually invented around the year 1900, when Reginald Fessenden first spoke in a weak transmission through airwaves. Radios began to take off gradually after that, and according to http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/radioshow/1920radio.htm ¨between 1923-1930, 60% of Americans had purchased a radio¨ When radios became more popular, they also generated a lot of revenue- by the 1930s, an hour of premium broadcasting time costed advertisers about $10,000. Thats is roughly $137,514.53 today! Radios also provided a source of cheap entertainment for families across the U.S.. Once a family had a radio installed and it was fully paid for, everything after that was free thanks to all of the advertisements from companies. Radios soon became so popular that soon listening to the radio became a national pastime. Radios were very important to the U.S. because they helped to save lives - on the seas, during bad weather, during battles (WW1 and WW2) and during other emergencies. They also helped to spread news in the U.S. far quicker than before (results of presidential elections, etc.), and finally, they allowed communication

Growing up as a young boy every single one of them played army, and fought for their country. That is how it was back in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, people joined the army and that was considered being noble going to fight for your countries freedom. Without photos and videos of what war was really like there was this romanticized view of war that the people thought was nice and clean. But when we got the technology to capture clean photos and videos of what war was really like the people of America were disgusted and traumatized by seeing innocent people die, and solders die. That is when the romanticized view of war was flushed down the toilet. The power of the media had a great affect on the views of war from being this romanticized noble thing to do, to finding out the truth and being this horrible thing of people dyeing even innocent people, and the Americans were not okay with it.

The development of 1920s and 1930s media and technology was extremely influential upon the period of time immediately after. Media in the 1920-30s and its relevance to the years that followed, focusing on the western world. Through the journalism and writing movements during the era, new technology was exposed to the public and impacted events in the years that followed. The term technology can also apply to machinery, medicine and weaponry; however, none of them corresponded with the changes to media in the 1920s and 1930s. The evolvement of media and technology in the 1920s and 1930s impacted events during the era and later in the Second World War.

How did, what was once almost entirely a typographical culture, become so completely a visual and television culture? Postman begins explaining this transition by first describing what life in the 1800’s looked like. “Until the 1840’s, information could move only as fast as a human being could carry it… America was still a composite of regions, each conversing in its own ways, addressing its own interests. A continent-wide conversation was not yet possible” (64). The only information people knew of the outside world was learned either by word of mouth or written letters delivered in person. Because it was so difficult to obtain information, Americans generally were only concerned with what was going on in their immediate surroundings. Even newspapers were mostly about local happenings.

Technology has had a great impact on the way the world communicates. Access to technology has become an integral part of education, socialization and industry related requirements, and accordingly Internet usage is evolving and growing rapidly. MySpace, Twitter, Skype, and Facebook are some of the online connections people use today to stay in contact with friends, coworkers, and family. Communicating in today’s society has become a lot easier with social networking sites allowing us to communicate with people with a simple click of the mouse. In this paper, I will address the strengths and limitations of social networking. I will look at the ways that social network can impact the social world of people and communities, especially those

In my 20 years of living I can say that the things that I am used to seeing my parents’ generation where not use to seeing. The reason for this is because of the time deafferents, many things have change over all or have progressed. Somethings that have changed rapidly over time is mass media, mass media has progressed fast over the years. Coming out with new technology and changing the way people work and view this world. In my parents’ generation the only media there was, was newspapers, and interactions with other people. Now and days, media is seen all over and in many different was. Newspapers, internet, cell phones (smart phones), radio, television, and much more. This is what brings me to my topic that I will be talking about and that is the major development in the evolution of mass media in the last century.

Since the early 1900 technology has advance tremendously, the things we can do with the internet and hand-held devices is mind boggling compared to where we started from. I would say that the first mass media outlet was the publication on new papers which was able to reach out to more than a small town. After newspapers magazines became the social portion people looked to magazines to find out what was going on in the entertainment world. After that came Radio broadcasting. Families would sit around the radio to here news stories and stories being acted out for them. The next step up television in the begin it was rare to have a television in your home but between the 50’s & 60’S the popularity of the television skyrocketed. In the late 70’ early 80’s we wanted to be able to move around more and do more. With the introduction of Computers, we were able to collect and store more data but getting the information to everyone that needed it was still a challenge. Once

Over the last century we have seen many new developments in mass media. Through print, electronics, and digital communication these changes have been a huge impact and influence on American culture. The way we communicate has changed so much that many traditional leaders have lost partial control over how information is being distributed. As time goes by and we continue to advance through technology, we will continue to see an overlap in how technology affects each era.

In the last century there have been many developments in the evolution of mass media. From the first radio commercial to invention of the television and then the use of Facebook, our mass media landscape has changed drastically in the last hundred years. In its day the radio was a major jump in mass communication. Messages were able to be delivered to many people very rapidly. Families’ even rushed home to make sure that they didn’t miss a program so that they didn’t miss what was happening in the world. When the television came along people could not believe how far we had come in just a few years. Now we could view the people that we had been listening to for the last decade. Over time the picture resolution got better stations expanded and we had access to many different forms of broadcasting up to present day when we can record our favorite programs and watch them later. Computers were later released which brought along the internet and different forms of mass media communication. And recently within the last 20 years we’ve had the release of the

Mass media has changed dramatically over the course of the last century. There have been three major changes. Each of these changes has effected American culture. The changes have taken place because of media convergence. These are the major changes.

Media has changed dramatically over the years, technology has been a major reason for the progression and its influence on society. The concept of media is simple to get a message across to widespread of audiences by using print or communication. Over the last five decades technology has improved rapidly for the better use. Before the internet we had different stages in receiving news. There was the telegraph, radio, newspapers, television and now the internet. There are many reason why people need to be informed by media; it could be for entertainment, educational or news worthy. Since information comes in many forms it may be difficult to separate facts from nonfactual news. Newspapers, television and radio programs make stories available from across the globe so we are informed. This helps allow readers or viewers in Paris to access voices and videos from United States, Tokyo, or Mexico. Books and magazines also offer a more in-depth look at a wide range of subjects. Gutenberg’s invention of the movable printing press, books were painstakingly handwritten and no two copies were exactly the same. The printing press made the mass production of print media possible today. Not only was it much cheaper to produce written material, but the new technologies also made it easier for books to reach a wide audience. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Gutenberg’s invention, which helped usher in massive cultural movements in our society today.