Chapter 13- Media Effects

 

Chapter 13- Media Effects:

Then- The start of media effects

            The things we see on television effect how we see the world and informs us as well as entertain us. Television is blamed for the way people act, such as violence, increased crime rate and a lower literacy level (Medoff, Kaye 251). In a whirl of all the violence and drug use and crime we see on television, we forget that television also plays a positive role in our daily lives. It shows us right from wrong as well as how to behave and expose us to other cultures. The influence of this mass media started in the late 1400’s, when religious and government organizations suppressed printed works. Centuries later in the 1800’s, the penny press printed news about crime, scandals as well as domestic problems (Medoff,Kaye 251). By the time the 1920’s came around, parents would protest against violent content in films and in the decades to come focused on comic book violence. Propaganda was a big tactic used during WW1 and was a successful use of media effects. The radio was used to spread propaganda and persuasive messages (Medoff, Kaye 252). When The War of the Worlds came out on the radio, there was mass panic. These reactions from the audienc (Tiedje, 2011) Popular sites for social media became even more popular in the mid 1990’s, such as Myspace, Friendster and SixDegrees.com. The whole point of media is to inform and entertain the audience members, and social media sites are a big part of our daily lives. These have big effects, like world news traveling faster and staying in touch with people all over the world.

e who listened to the show varied based on education, religious beliefs as well as political beliefs. This had a big effect on the media and made the world seem even scarier. By the 1960’s, there were a lot of riots and protests. People became concerned with the scary thought of how this would affect those who watched it. It was believed that watching violence on television caused people to act more aggressive (Medoff, Kaye 252).  In the 1980’s, a television show came out called The Great American Values Test, and was actually a research project. Viewers assessed their own values and the program would point out the inconsistencies to get the viewers to change their values and opinions. This research project shows that people who watched the show and participated were more likely to change their minds and their personal values. This show had a big impact on how the media affects us in our daily lives (Medoff, Kay
e 254). The 1980’s created more mass media, as CompuServe and Prodigy came up with the first commercial offering of news and weather plus shopping and more (Tiedje,2011). Just over ten years later, social media became popular as America Online launches AOL, which was one of the most popular online destinations having 30 million members. And before Myspace and Facebook, Classmates.com was made online in 1995 for users to connect with former peers from school

Now- Mass media in today’s society:

            There have been 3,500 research studies done of effects of mediated violence (Medoff, Kaye 254). Survey research is one of the oldest research techniques, which is usually in the form of questionnaires and observations. This technique is the most used method of measuring the electronic media audience because it doesn’t manipulate opinions or attitudes and record this as accurately as possible (Medoff, Kaye 255). When it comes to television, the research method used most often is content analysis. This is the study of television shows, lyrics to songs and web sites. This is a good resource to tell us about media content. Social television is important to today’s world because it changes the way we watch television. This is considered an interactive social experience and it takes us a lot of this generations time and attention (O'Connor 2011). This media is fast growing and interaction designers are using their expertise to change social media into something amazing. One problem faced with this is convergence, which is the struggle of living in a world with synchronous and asynchronous communications. Social media is considered asynchronous while the television is synchronous media (O'Connor 2011). Social television changes and evolves a little more every day, and we are only beginning to see the wonderful things in store for us with social media as time progresses. Another big type of research on mass media is by laboratory experiments, which allows the researchers to isolate factors for their study and usually involves a test group and control group (Medoff, Kaye257). The behavioral effects that media has on people is various. From imitation, a concern about people imitating what they see or hear on the media, to desensitization, a type of content that leads to dulling the body’s natural response to repeated exposure (Medoff, Kaye 259). These can have effects on children and adults who watch television. Cultivation is another big part of media effects. This research studies how television cultivates the way we view the world (Medoff, Kaye 260). This influence is very strong in people who watch television more than the average number of hours and these viewers believe that the world is scarier than what it really is. So these certain people believe that violence is an acceptable solution to your problems because you see it on television (Medoff, Kaye 260). Children are particularly exposed to this mass media of television, as most children watch over three hours of television a day. This has a huge impact on their behaviors and attitudes towards society (Medoff, Kaye 261). Younger children are more scared of situations and scary characters, while older children are more afraid of threats, not just scary images. Song lyrics and video games also have a huge impact on children. Parents believe that violent lyrics or deviant behavior is accepted and considered normal to a child. Gaming is bigger than movies and it has a bigger impact on society. Revenue from computer games and video games are greater than ticket stubs (Medoff, Kaye 261). Young adults and college students spend more time playing video games than reading or doing homework and that alone has a big impact on their future. 97 % of teenagers have played a video game and are becoming even more popular as technology advances. And video games have more of an impact on audiences than films do because video games are more interactive, include large amounts of violence and having missions like killing the bad guy to win the game, and also the portability factor (Medoff, Kaye 261). This makes video games just as portable as movies now and the business is ever-growing and remains extremely popular to this day. Many things effect how we view the world and the decisions we make every day and has a big influence on our future in cultural and social situations.

Later- Medias effect on the future generations

            It is clear to see that the media has had an enormous effect on this generation. This has an impact on so many things, like politics, business, social media and cyber bullying as well as productivity and privacy (Ta, 2014). Social websites pay a vital role in elections around the world and serve to rally for a cause as well as inspired mass movements in many countries (Ta, 2014). The effect is has on business media is also big, as companies use social media to advertise products and interact with customers. Social media presence is cheap and has better effective means than television ads, which builds popularity. The effects social media has on people is relatively big. The shy and quiet people, which are referred to as introverts, use social media as a way to ignore the outside world and place their importance on virtual interaction (Ta, 2014). And now instead of people bullying each other in physical appearance, the great invention of the internet now allows you to bully and harass people online. It can be easy to fall victim to someone to know on social media and when taken too far, bad things can happen. This is one of the major downfalls in social media. Now people can say horrible things to you without actually saying the words to your face. Productivity is a big concern in today’s workforce. With all the social media, YouTube videos and video games people lack motivation to get things done. You want to focus more on playing a game or watching a funny clip than doing your homework. Now, most companies block social sites in the office to keep it from being a distraction (Ta, 2014). When it comes to putting things on the internet, you must be careful of privacy. When you post something personal on a social media site it can cause identity theft or even stalking, not to mention most companies do a background check before hiring someone. The last thing you want is to not get the job you have always wanted because of a party you went to a few years ago, because that stuff never truly goes away. Once it is online, there really is no way of erasing it. Your family and friends are all connected on your social media, and what you post also has a big effect on your life (Ta, 2014). Another big part of the media effects is still on violence as it continues to be a hot topic for many parents, activists, educators and legislators (Medoffe, Kaye 264). Some people argue that you are responsible for the music and movies your child listens to and watches, and that they are also responsible for their own exposure to offensive content. With children now spending 17 hours a week with their parents, it’s easy to see how this content can be watched by a young child with no supervision. More statistics shows that children see 8,000 killings on television before 12, and compared to 13,000 hours of school work before graduation, young adults watch 33,000 hours of television (Medoff, Kaye 265). These types of media have a definite effect on people to watch them, and is having an effect on their future.