Friday, November 12, 2010

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

How someone perceives the media and its influence is different for everyone. Some people believe that the media directly impacts us, which is the powerful effects theory, under the umbrella of the bullet theory. “…powerful effects theory devotees assumed that the media could inject information, ideas and even propaganda into the public consciousness.” (Vivian 352). These people think that the media has immediate effects. Others theories have been proposed such as the minimalist and cumulative effects theories. Supporters of the minimalist theory believe that the media’s effects are mostly indirect. People are influenced by their social agents and not exactly from advertising, radio, television, or newspapers. The cumulative effects theory says that, “…media influence is gradual over time.” (Vivian 353). A prominent leader in this theory is Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, who is a German scholar. These are just a few descriptions to elucidate the extent to which the media influences us.
Lifestyle effects contribute to the mass media’s effects on our society as well. Socialization contributes to it; the process by which we learn behavior. Living patterns, such as the typical nine to five work day which allowed little time for reading the evening edition of the news, which lead it being phased out. All of these theories and more explain how the media is depicted.

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