The Effects Of Media Use On Society Today

Everyday we see many images in the media and they suggest what we should be like. While the media says how we should act or look, these suggestions invade people’s thoughts. The images the media portrays make it hard to break out of socially constructed stereotypes in our lives. The media reflects dominate and social values of people’s lives. The media also portrays gender by creating stereotypes and gender roles showing how men, women, and transgenders are seen as deviant. In the media, men are portrayed to be “masculine” while females are shown to be “feminine”. Transgenders are viewed in many negative ways and they are stereotyped. Gender stereotypes are expressed more in mass media because it reaches large audiences. The media can influence people to think that what they see is reality. Most of the time the media shows men to be more dominant than woman. This is a way the media influences people to be someone they aren’t.

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.

Firstly, I noticed how much media speeds up our everyday lives. Essentially everyone is multitasking; it is a way of life in our society. I noticed multitasking at its finest when I went to the library later that day. People are researching online, writing papers, Facebook stalking, instant messaging and listening to their iPods all instantaneously. The instant access to everything has formed our culture. I find myself running on autopilot when it comes to using media. It took the full 24 hour fast for me to realize how dependent I really am on media to make it though the day. The stress I was feeling without the security of my phone or ability to communicate whenever I wanted to left me feeling helpless. Media not only speeds up daily activities, but it has given

These theories will be useful in determining my underlying motivations behind my choice of media and content and how my experiences help shape the meaning I provide to the former. Although I have a very active lifestyle, media does consume the largest portion of my time. For the sake of this analysis, the table above simply refers to the television shows and movies I watched throughout a week, however it is important to note that in addition, all time spent of the phone, computer, reading and listening to radio also comprise of media consumption.

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.

I have heard people say that someone is “on their phone too much”. I guess this statement could describe myself because I spend almost any moment when I am not busy on my iPhone. In fact, I have even spent some money on subscriptions for mobile apps. But at times, I give up usage of electronic media to focus on life’s simple pleasures. By keeping track of my use of electronic media, I have gained a clear understanding of how such usage affects my life.

On October 10th, I successfully completed the arduous task of not using any media for eight hours. Before I started the media fast exercise, I thought this was the most horrible thing that could happen to me. The entire summer, I was on my computer and phone communicating with my friends and watching videos. Being a college student who has a lot of reading homework, I was angry that we could not read because I wanted to read the books for my classes so I would be able to do some of my homework. As I said before, accessing the media is very typical of teenagers and college students. My generation has lived with technology our entire lives. Growing up with technology accessible to us made this exercise so much harder. I later thought about how I worked at a summer camp in the mountains for three summers. At the

For my Communication 101 class, our professor assigned us an assignment that makes the students keep track of all types of media they use for three consecutive days. The type of media the students should record on their log include watching television, using social media like Twitter, Snapchat, etc., and other forms of media. But, our professor also included the types of media called interpersonal media and that they should not be recorded in the log. Those type of medias were emailing, texting, and talking on the phone. After taking notes and recording the data from the past three days, I’ve noticed the number of media I have consumed each day and slowly used more and more media each day. The most media I’ve consumed from the past three days

A management student listens to a lecture, fingers intermittently punching keys in his laptop — not to take down notes for tomorrow’s exam, but to check Twitter for the day’s trending topics. A boy and a girl lie comfortably on a sofa watching American Idol with their heads bent — not towards each other, but towards their iPhone screens. Three friends meet up in the library for a study session, silently turning the pages of their AP Calculus textbooks — not to study integrals, but just to have something to do while waiting for pings and beeps from their smart phones. A family of four hurriedly eats their dinner — not to catch the primetime soap and watch it together,

What I learned about my media usage is I use and depend on my phone a lot. I noticed I couldn’t go 10 minutes without checking my phone for a notification. I really got to thinking, why I depend on it so much. It was to the extent that I would run as fast as I could if my phone was about to die because I was worried I was going to receive a notification or I was going to be bored. I learned that I’m on my phone way too much.

Looking back over my week of tracking my electronic device usage, I was surprised to see how much time I actually spend consumed by these different mediums. Giving an analysis of the data that I have gathered, it would seem that my selected devices are tied between cell phone, TV, and radio usage. Despite my full-time school and work schedule I still have time to spend approximately 37 hours total a week on using these devices.

Over the past week I have been keeping track of my media use. I discovered I lead a pretty repetitive technological lifestyle. Weekday mornings I start my media consumption via my alarm clock on my cell phone. Why not use the regular alarm clock? Because with a cell phone I do not have to get up and out of bed in the morning- the snooze button is even closer to my barely awake fingertips. After hitting the snooze button at least once I make a point to check out Facebook because we all know everyone is constantly updating at 5:45 every morning.

As asked by the English alternative rock band Muse in their famous song “Screenager,” “Who’s so phoney and always surrounded?” This song perfectly depicts the effects of technology on America. People are engulfed by different types of technology everywhere they go and even carry around technology such as phones, laptops, and iPods. These items may seem like a blessing, but they are potentially dividing America. Every day, eight to eighteen-year-olds watch four and a half hours of TV, listen to two and a half hours of music, use the computer for an hour and a half, and spend two and a half hours on their cell phones, two hours for texting and one half hour for talking. This adds up to eleven hours dedicated on the media per day (Crawford).

Like many people my age, media is a huge part of my daily life and is prevalent in all my memories. Media such as photography brings to life memories I otherwise would have forgotten, while the internet allows me to connect with others from across the world and gives me access to resources like Khan Academy to aid me in school. Media also has more negative impacts, such as interfering with family time. Whether its effect is positive or negative, media has influenced my life since the start and this reflection helped me realize that.

With the increase in use of various electronic media, such as television, computers, video games, mobile telephones and audio devices, it is becoming increasingly important to investigate how media use is affecting individuals lifestyles.