The Effects Of Mass Media On Society

Throughout the years the use of technology has increased, and expanded. Mass media plays a vital role in society. Mass media can be defined as any means of communication, to an extremely large group of people. Technological advancements have been extremely beneficial for prior generations, the generation we now live in, and will be for the future generations to come. Such as, providing news for the world to hear, entertainment, and much more. Some examples of media would be television, films, newspapers, and the Internet. Unfortunately along with benefits, there are disadvantages concerning gender discrimination, and sexism. Such as, women feelings forced and obligated to stay at home with their children instead of working, and the representation of beauty involving both men and women. Examples of how the media can accomplish this would be through the use of advertisements, movies, magazines, and the radio. The media has an enormous effect on people within society today.

Women around the world face overwhelming oppressions in their daily lives. That is not news to anyone and these oppressions have occurred for so much of history, that it is often times overlooked by the mass majority; even the younger generations of women do not know the types of oppressions that they will soon have to face. To combat this, FCKH8.com, a well known organization that sells t-shirts and other merchandise with witty anti-racism, anti-homophobic, and pro-feminist catchphrases on them, created the video, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism”. As the title implies, the video contains little girls, ages six through eleven, aggressively yelling “FUCK,” towards the camera while rattling off facts and statistics about some of the oppressions women face because of their gender. The comment section of this video is erratic; the viewers often have conflicting views about the meaning of the video as well as whether or not it was successful in its purpose. One thing is for sure, the video makes an impact by using several rhetorical devices including word choice, pathos and logos; all which separate it from other pro-feminism videos that exist.

“The media 's the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that 's power. Because they control the minds of the [people]” (Malcolm X). The message of this Malcolm X quote is that society can control the mind of the individual. This is true. For many years, society has influenced everyone worldwide both negatively and positively. That is because society has the ability to control the individual’s decisions. They can control the individual in making their decisions that could affect people’s lives worldwide; it also has the ability to control their decisions that could affect the individual’s life. You might be thinking “But why should we care about this topic? This doesn’t seem really important to us” well it’s important because we all can relate to this as everyone has been influenced by society at least once in their lifetime. Just ask yourself this. Have you ever simulated a role model that you had by just copying the actions that they do just because you wanted to be just like them? Have you picked up habits from society that is around you like family or peers that has affected you in your life? Have you ever maybe tried something you found from your family members or from the Internet to get your personal needs? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are involved in this conversation. But there’s a problem. There’s an argument going on about this topic. The controversy of this topic

The consciousness, beliefs and culture that individuals in society adhere to are largely influenced by the ever-growing mass media. As a matter of fact, Americans devote an average of twenty-eight hours to watching television per week (Mantsios, 2008). Furthermore, they put in an undetermined number of hours listening to the radio, going to the movies and reading periodicals (Mantsios, 2008). It is clear that the media has an overarching impact on society, yet American mass media have highly concentrated control and ownership compared to other social institutions (Mantsios, 2008). Over 20 corporations own a majority of all daily newspapers, magazines, radio, television and movie studios (Mantsios, 2008). What’s

Media plays a significant role in the way it can influence our culture. The media can produce positive and negative impacts on our society. It has the power to produce messages that can manipulate the way people think as well as influencing attitudes and actions taken towards the opposite sex. In the video Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity Jackson Katz discusses that the rampant of male violence that affects American society needs to be comprehended and concentrated as part of a much larger cultural predicament in masculinity. Currently, stereotypes exist in all societies. How we initially identify them, characterize each other can be determined through generalized assumptions about people which were constructed around specific traits such as race, sex, age, and sexual orientation (unwomen, 2011). Presently, the differences one may see between traditional gender roles have been reduced when compared to years past, however mass media still maintains conventional gender stereotypes, which affect the way someone can or will view the opposite sex. When mainstream advertisers send messages to their consumers, they know that their influence is significant and a great platform to control or at the least, shape the way people perceive our world.

"The media 's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that 's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Ruddy, 2002). Malcolm X, a prominent African American human rights activist, strongly believed that the media played a vital role in how they make society perceive events and people. An issue that is present, historically and currently, is media contributing to racism. When news is reported involving certain races, stories are sometimes distorted in a way that creates a negative perception of that race. In result, society’s stereotypes, assumptions, bias’ and beliefs can be altered. Further, media reaches masses of people through a multitude of outlets. For instance, radio, television, advertisement, internet, and social media are all mediums that can depict a race poorly given the opportunity. Through an analysis of specific instances throughout history, it will be clear to see that Malcolm X was able to identify an unfavorable power the media has. All in all, media has the capability to foster bias and also misrepresent races involved with public news in order to create an image they favor to be shown to society.

Are you comfortable in your own skin? As a result of spending too much time associating with the media can make you believe differently. While the media commence to advance and develop an incomprehensible factor, the appearance of civilization begins to mold and shape as a reflection to equally match. Despite the element of using false advertisement or infringement, society is charmed by the sense of exhilaration that is generated by the media. Yet civilization remain uncomprehending to the natural effect that the media leaves printed on them. The media is one of the largest and main sources to express ethnocentrism which leads to stereotyping, while intensifying and supporting the fact of self-consciousness. However society is partially to blame for the gossip and wrongful act of civilization in the media.

Marshall McLuhan’s and Lawrence Alloway’s writing looks at how technology, such as radio, tv, etc., affects the world and how mass media affects culture through its opinions, art, and political influence. Their thoughts, though somewhat difficult, are similar to the current reality and therefore easier to relate to. In their collective writings they discusses five key points: technologies as extensions of ourselves, the electrical age bringing a global embrace; sense ratio and the impact from technology; the artist’s role to model coping with change, and humanities understanding of the artist's role.

"Media Violence - American children and adolescents are exposed to increasing amounts of media violence, especially in television, movies, video games, and youth-oriented music. By 18, the average young person will have viewed 200,000 acts of violence on television" (http: //www.karisable.com/crssmv.htm)

Throughout history, mass media coverage, which is most common in developed nations, has been a key benefactor, among several factors, that has influenced science, public policy, knowledge, and aptitude. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press found in the United States that television ranks number one as the leading source of daily news followed by newspapers, radio, and the internet. Knowledge has never been so easily accessible than it is now, with the latest news being available to us, whenever and usually wherever. We are able to communicate with others on opposite hemispheres and learn about another country’s values and customs without actually going there. Regrettably, due to the media’s extensiveness and accessibility it inevitably bears certain problems as it reports information that is inadequate or creates bias. As a society, we should rethink some opinions and investigate numerous perspectives before making judgments in order to avoid prejudice.

Racism has always been, and continues to be, a relevant issue in our society. While racism is not as prevalent as it was in the 1860’s, it is not any less significant. The relevance of racism today can partially be blamed on how the media portrays race. Media comes in all forms; print media, broadcast media, social media, etc. Each of these forms play an important role in our society. Media is the main communicator in today’s society. Society looks to media for information. This is a problem because media does not always have the proper answers in regards to certain issues. One of the main issues with media is how it regards race When it comes to the issue of race, society should not look to media for answers. The media does not portray racial problems accurately because it is unreliable, it affects the way society perceives race, and it generalizes stereotypes.

Radio has been the first device to allow for mass communication. It changed the pace at which information was exchanged. Radio broadcasts that exist in society today didn’t began until after World War I. Radio was used during the war to communicate. But, the federal government had ordered all professionals off the air taking control over all stations. Back in 1920, KDKA was licensed as the nation 's first commercial broadcast in the United States. The audience began to expand very quickly because advertisers began to see how well the broadcast was doing. In addition, seeing that the audience was expanding they started to think about how they would make money. So, AT&T radio broadcast station (WEAF) became the first paid commercial, they began selling limited advertisement time to sponsors. This led to success. Radio back then was and still is a

The author says, “Decades of study of media influence have shown one thing: the public’s awareness of and interest in a topic is directly related to the amount of attention that topic receives in the media. In other words, the mass media affect what subjects people think about. However, it has not been shown that the media influence just how people think about these topics” (Mass Media). Have you ever wondered how much mass media can affect your life without knowing it? Mass media are not only important because they’re very powerful but how their influence can effect on our attitudes and behaviors. It is interests how mass media can change a person without them realize it.

Mass media has become easily accessible and has grown bigger than anyone could have imagined 20 years ago, for the invention of the internet, mass media is able to reach a bigger audience at an almost unbelievable rate. Many people depend on mass media as a source of information, taking the information at face value, perpetuating the information they received unto others. Whether the information be about politicians, world affairs, and or the police, we, as society, do believe what we see and hear, though we often don’t question or ponder the validity of such information. This research was created in order to contribute insight on how our perceptions of police are crafted by the information we receive, but this insight isn’t limited to the police and we should we question what we receive, for provided information may not be necessarily true or an accurate representation of a group or entity. Gathering information from one source doesn’t further one’s knowledge of a subject, but through many sources, one can garnish an ideal that may be fair and neutral and if one were to blindly accept the information fed by the mass media, social media, physical interactions, and worth of mouth, thus would create misconception and misinformation.

Behavioral sciences play a central role in figuring out the likely effect of mass media and communication in the society. Different theories and approaches are used to figure this out. This study refers to the Uses and Gratifications, and Cultivation theories to consider the effect of the media article below on individuals. The uses and gratification theory argues that consumers of a given media uses this media to satisfy and fulfill specific desires and needs. On the other hand, cultivation theory holds that heavy exposure to a certain media can cause an individual to have an illusory perception of the life reality based on the most consistent and repetitive message that is given in this media (Fourie, 2011).