Custom «Impact of Mass Media» Essay Paper

Impact of Mass Media on Consumerism

Mass media has a very important role in modern democratic society, as it is one of the effective means of communication. Today’s modern culture relies more on media – whether it is news, brand promotion or celebrity gossips – everyone follows the media information in one way or the other. Popular culture on the other hand does not want to be effected by media, as it is least bothered about anything and does not want to think critically about the issues or the kind of products it promotes (P. 417).

The most vulnerable sections in the society however, are childrens and teens that always glue themselves to the television media. They are more easily caught up in dreams, as they are not mature and experienced enough to think analytically before taking any valid decision. In addition, peer pressure is again one of the main factors that influences children as well as parents to follow the media trends. It has been found that “fifty-eight percent of 9-14 year odds say that they feel pressure to buy stuff in order to fit in “(P. 423). One has to fit in the society and following the trends sometimes become a must no matter whether one is ready to accept it or not.

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Juliet Schor in an article, “Decommercialization if Children” has analyzed the impact of materialistic dreams on children (P. 417). She analyzed the growing materialism has direct impact on childrens and their parents. Consumerism in children is very much developed in today’s society – if they find some products to their interest on media advertisements, they encourage parents to buy them to fulfill their inner satisfaction. Most often, parents also do the same. Carlin Flora, an editor for Psychology today in an article, “Seeing by Straight” has examined the work of social scientists about the influence of media images of celebrities on common people. How new age people perceive themselves as models, and stars by watching films, and commercials and change their clothing and lifestyle after more media images. This trend is increasing every passing day and children and adolescents are become more susceptible to this trend. In other words, they are more influenced by the media oriented consumerism behavior.

Impact of Mass Media on Violence in Youths and Solutions

One of the most crucial aspects in today’s democratic society is media violence. Can anyone predict as to what extent watching TV commercials, films and playing video games have a direct effect on young minds in their real life situation? Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr has presented the evidence that the sources such as chat groups on the Internet, virtual games where one can conceal his or her identity directly affect their sense of reality and the natural world (P. 418). They feel independent, more secured because their identities have been concealed. They play different kinds of games including violent games where the player kills the groups to win the game. They spend more hours in front of their computer and often cut themselves from the natural world, its beauty and the power.

The new age video game, Nintendo has become more popular among children and youngsters. They spend more time in simulation than in the natural world. On the other hand, First person shooter video games teach players how to murder the opponents in the virtual world. According to lieutenant colonel David Grossman, a former professor of Psychology at West Point, “the first person shooter video games are murder simulators which over time teach a person how to look another person in the eye and snuff their life out. (P. 438)” Now the question arises here is that will these video games teach young minds behave and view the world in a different way? Well, the recent school violence is the United States forces everyone to take concrete steps to check the trends, which are making the society more vulnerable than ever before. The best solution would be to make children aware of the natural world, create more natural games so that they could divert their minds – media can definitely play a very important role in promoting such environment.

Impact of mass media on public interests and concerns

The global public concern today is the deterioration of environment and global warming. It is everyone’s duty to do something to save the world. Well, in today’s society where people are becoming more materialistic, becoming more urban than ever before – there is a need to understand the importance of nature and its impact on our society. For example, pop music has become a part of the modern society. Some believe that impact of music and politics can be both positive and negative (P. 419). The negative aspect is that it encourages people to use drugs and don’t care about the society. However, others think that music generates creativity and helps improve both quality and quantity of life. However, Henry Jenkins in his article, “Education, Media and Violence” argues against blaming the media (P. 441). He proposes that children and adults can think critically can discuss about the impact of popular culture. His main focus is on problem solving and not on media censorship, as it is not possible to restrict media to a certain level.

Despite the negative aspects of pop dreams, we the people of our democratic society can build a bright future ahead by incorporating technological advances, psychological insights to make our lives and dreams more meaningful and make communication, education and quality of life more equal and strong.

Impact of mass media on our perception – decision and action

For the last many years, media influence on the society has grown exponentially. First, the main media sources were telegraph, radio, newspapers and magazines – however, the new age society has seen a dramatic change in the media sources. Television and Internet have become more powerful sources of media channels.

Being members of the society, we depend on information and communication so that we could know about the activities taking place in the society, government and the world. Media covers broad aspects of the society including education, health care, news, and many others. These information are important and vital for everyone. However, the media image has changed a lot over time. Exaggeration could be the right word one can use to define the media image. This change has brought a negative impact on young minds especially childrens and teens. Television commercial advertisements have contributed in people to be more materialistic and the concept of consumerism has popped up. On the other hand, violent films, violent video games have changed the perception of the younger generation and as a result they want to cut themselves from the natural world.

Though one cannot cease the impact of media on the society, but one can definitely take it in a more meaningful way by finding the right solution to cope up with the negative impact of media and accept the positive aspect of the same.