What are some mass media effects and their impact on society?

It has been said that the mass media can effect many aspects of society. Although the mass media does play a role in what the people see I do not believe that it can be considered the only factor in the way people act. The bullet theory claims that the media can directly and immediately affect a persons behavior. There is not enough research to prove this theory and that is why people now believe that the mass media instead can affect attitudes but not behavior. I am more inclined to think that mass messages created through the media can affect ones attitude because when someone is constantly exposed to a message it can affect the way they feel towards what the message is depicting. Mass media does not have profound effects on society, personally I see it as a vehicle that depicts the lifestyles and culture of the time period. Cultural values that are dominant in societies are developed through mass media but do not originate in this format. “Causal explanations for gradual opinion shifts are elusive, although mass messages are a factor” (Vivian 357). Mass messages and the media in general are factors in the way society acts, but it is not the sole cause. To say that mass media effects society is correct in that it may have a slight influence on society, but the media is not the sole provider or producer of the way that society acts.