Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various aspects by which individuals relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time.
Back in the 1920s – 1930s, mass media is still under developed and its primary focus of media is the RADIO station. The Magic Bullet theory or also known as the hypodermic needle model is one of the first concepts on the effects of mass communications.
Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s and is largely considered obsolete today, as the audience now are not as passive as those in the past.
The Evolution of Mass Media
In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet.
credits to om3r
We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.
How mass Media Influence works
Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we are constantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and much more, in fact a its known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year.
But who owns the media, which are the companies or people that shape our values, beliefs and decisions? The media is basically dominated by five major companies they are:
- Time Warner
- VIACOM
- Vivendi Universal
- Walt Disney
- News Corp
Those 5 companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day. They own the major entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programing, video news and sports entertainment.
They also own integrated telecommunications, wireless phones, video games softwares, electronic media, the music industry and more.
And here is a video of HOW Mass Media Influence on Today’s Society
Then again, we see companies pumping in millions of dollars trying to advertise their Ads to influence on the Youth.
So how do they do it?
The answer : Role Models or we could call them > Celebrities
These are the effects of mass media in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what their favorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed them.
There are some positive and negative influences in the youth.
A positive influence example – if there is a sport that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to practice the sport and be cool with all your friends. The result is that you will have fun with your friends and be more healthy because of the exercise your are doing.
However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands of junk food ads.
Young people are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of a beautiful men and women and tells you what are the characteristics of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. Its a subliminal way to tell you that if you are not like them you are not cool yet so its time to buy the stuff they buy and look like they look.
Effects of violence in the Media
When we watch Tv or a movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our children as we see it more and more. Our kids that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of reality and fiction of what they are seeing.
In the past years there have been some cases of kids carrying a gun at school and even hurting others with it. Those kids have been linked to excessive use of violent video games and war images.
Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, we should make our kids and teen aware that war is not a form of entertainment and that there is no win or lose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.
Here is an example of it :
How media influence public opinion
As i have said above, the media has a huge impact on society and also in public opinion. They can shape the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective.
And here is a video explaining to us how the media influence public opinion >
In conclusion, the media has a strong social and cultural impact upon society. This is predicated upon their ability to reach a wide audience with a strong and influential message. Its just scary to see the power of the media advancing through the years.
In just the year of 2010, we have seen its “brain-washing” ability.
Now just imagine, what will dawn upon us 20 years from now?
Interesting take on the power of mass media.
Although I won’t say that mass media isn’t influential, I should suggest that we might be exaggerating the extent of the influence.
Although we are indeed subject to whatever images we see in mass media, we are not blank slates that will just blindly accept and emulate what we see. We are all thinking individuals that can process what we see and make choices on our own. On the subject of choice, we can even exercise the freedom of choice over what mass media to consume in the first place. So… probably you should not think that mass media is that powerful a “brain-washing” device.
Daryl : point taken , however my “brain-washing” term is how the media portray some things and influence us in thinking in a certain aspect.
I feel that the mass media’s influence is not really exaggerated given the wide audience that it reaches. Not everyone is able to discern objectively, fewer are able to escape the subliminal influences it holds on us.
Luckily, the mass media is influenced by more than just the mega media conglomerates, it changes according to culture and social norms. Its driving forces are whatever the public wants or would ever desire. We shape the mass media as much as it shapes us.
Its true that we shape the mass media n in turn it shapes us.
However , we must note that, Mass media do not force us what to think but they act as a tool to guide us what is right and what is wrong
I agree that parents have an active role to play in guiding their children as they are exposed to acts of violence and bad habits such as smoking through the mass media.
I agree with you that the mass media plays an important role in shaping society. The negative effects it has on youths like excessive violence will desensitize them. But there are also other factors that contribute to the behaviour of youths like their family upbringing. So I would not go too far as to say that the mass media is the sole cause of society’s problems. (:
correct !!! it is influential to a certain extent and it might not be the main source but we could not deny that it is the most influential
its true that family upbringing is a cause to the negative influence to the youths. however, due to the rise of media in the modern society, Mass Media has become a form of influence / role models to the youths.
Youths now, become more in tact with the media than their parents
I think either positive influence or negative influence, Parents play an important part to educate the youth when they are accessing to these media. We cant totally blame the publisher as there is still a demand for these media.
true that we can’t solely blame it on the media, but then again. Can parents control their child all the time?
that’s something to think about.
Interesting info here
Definitely is an enriching blog you have here! (Though it is a bit of Propaganda here!) Well, as the years past, technologies grow along with us human. Media is no longer only radios, black-and-white-screen television, and telegram.
Via these new mediums, people are able to know the latest news first-hand. Especially, the connection of iPhone and internet. The power of media has even brought up to the next level. If you are on the street and you want to know what’s the latest news, just go online and check it out wherever you are!
Which is why if you are to influence somebody, mass media is definitely the first thing you will cross in your mind. This is the power of the technology, the power of the mass media!
I agree that mass media has an impact on the society. What we perceive or rather, how we grow up with a perception of certain things, may have actually been influenced by mass media.
It is a powerful tool as well. It can make or break a person’s life depending on the impact it has on one.
Take it with a pinch of salt. Don’t be totally convinced by it. Always know at the back of your mind… what’s your take on the topic showed. Don’t blindly follow and agree with what the mass media is showing! Or else we will simply end up finding ourselves very much like little puppets… being ‘brain washed’ and controlled by the media tools.
Its true we should just take what the media portray just as a piece of thought for out consideration , however its often easier said than done.
With the usage of graphics, animations etc, Media has become a formidable tool in shaping our thoughts
I like how you pointed out that the audience now is not as passive as they used to be in the past. Really have to agree on that. Advertisements around us are getting increasingly engaging and interactive. The ways advertisers use mass media to get their messages across to their targeted audience reveal changes in consumerism. Just look at social networks are becoming a popular choice for advertisers! Free Facebook games and iPhone applications have the ability to engage people for a long time i.e. acquiring stickiness in advertisement.
So people play the games, simultaneously and/or subconsciously receiving information on the product and brand, and get ‘brainwashed’ as you have mentioned. And if they like it, they tell their friends and exert peer influence – which is an important factor in decision-making, proven by many primary market research results.
Regardless of whether it’s politics or business, I think that consumers themselves are becoming the new medium for the distribution of information in society. Such changes in mass media are undeniably due to the birth of the Internet – where it has almost no boundaries to the richness and outreach of advertisements.
With respect to what will happen 20 years later, I think our society will be overloaded with way too much information around us, mass media will have to be regulated on what is necessary or what is right. Intermediaries will be created for the purpose of organizing information available for consumers to aid their decision-making.
Though TVs, radios, flyers and other old-school media are losing their power over consumers, their effectiveness in reaching out to the masses is still incomparable. Hence, I believe the challenge at present and in future would be to use the different forms of mass media in complement to each other to produce the desired impact on audience.
We need to separate the context of Mass Media into News/Information, Entertainment and Advertising. Each serve a generic purpose in communication of information, but the context for each is different. Advertising attempts to propagate a norm behavior in its target audience, while entertainment provides escapism. Of greater concern is the news media with its cornerstone of truth. Its ability to influence the public is insidious and its repercussions often results from misrepresentation of information for sensationalism.
Hence, it can be said that the power of mass media has waned in the light of a better informed society, but the news media still retains its power to influence with its representation of truth. A new force of influence has also risen, the internet. Its ability to propagate ideas and information is tremendous, yet almost impossible to watchover.