Impact of Media on Society - Essay Example

The media can affect women negatively through their desire to want to look “beautiful” like models and presenters on television. In different forms of media, women are shown as having an ideal body type (Sands, n.d.). Over a long period of time after continually seeing thin and beautiful women, it has to have an effect on the average woman in society. This can be seen from when little girls get their first Barbie doll; why is every Barbie doll sexy, slim, and are revealing? (Sands, n.d.).

The reason is that the media fuels this desire by promoting it as normal. Young girls are susceptible to these types of media because they do not know how to differentiate between the truth and exaggerated truth. Going a little further, the media often plays up the sexualisation of women. This can be shown in many movies, where women are shown to be sexy and powerful. This inadvertently has an effect on women who watch these movies because they then feel like they need to act in the same way.

The average model in the fashion industry is young, tall, and slim (Sands, n.d.). This can often lead to anorexia among young girls because they feel like they have to look exactly like those models that they see on fashion catwalks around the world. Another group of society that the media negatively affects is young people, namely teenagers. . MTV is the most obvious example of this. Research shows that teenagers who watch a considerable amount of MTV have very relaxed attitudes about sex (Williams, 2004).

This shows that there is a direct link between teenagers’ behaviors and what they watch on television. The last group in society that the media affects negatively is children. Violence is one of the key issues with children and the media. Research shows that children who play video games reguarly are more likely to be violent later on in life (Tompkins, 2003). Besides this, violence is often displayed on programs that children tend to watch. While this does not have the same effect on children as video games, it can still affect their behaviors when they reach adulthood.

Violent behavior will often lead to prison or will affect them socially. Parents need to censor everything that their children watch on television because it may cause them to show violence towards others. The media can be used to benefit society if it is done in the right way. It is not likely that the media’s impact on society will diminish anytime soon, so it is important that the message is changed to only have a positive effect on a society’s citizens. The media can increase society’s knowledge as long as it remains unbiased and presents information that does not negatively affect three groups: women, teenagers, and children.

References Sands, B. (n.d.). Mass Media Has a Negative Impact on Women. Retrieved from Teen Ink: http://www.teenink.com/opinion/pop_culture_trends/article/225891/Mass-Media-Has-a-Negative-Impact-on-Women/ Tompkins, A. (2003, December 14). The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. Retrieved from AllPsych Online: