The Physical and Mental Effects of Mass Media on Humans - Research Paper Example

?The Physical and Mental Effects of Mass Media on Humans Thesis ment This essay attempts to evaluate the physical and mental effects of media onhumans. It aims to portray that media and humans have a direct relationship. Media influences the lives of humans both physically and emotionally. Media claims to represent a reflection of reality. Through this essay we will try to suggest that although the depiction of reality is real but it shows a skewed version of reality. The media version of reality encourages human beings to engage in stereotypical behavior, racism, consumerism and a distorted image of self and social groups. The skewed relationship is based on ultimately serving the purpose of the media and encouraging its consumption. 1. The Evolution of Mass Media and High Effectiveness Prior to the emergence of any form of mass media, human was the primary medium that was used to convey messages to a large number of people (Ott and Mack 2). This method of delivery had significant flaws. The first was their dependence on slow transportation and secondly the message passed through multiple channels or humans until it reached destination and by then it would be significantly distorted. Here lies the key difference between such methods of message delivery and mass media, mass media have the potential to reach a large number of people simultaneously in remote locations (Ott and Mack 2). So the key distinguishing feature is not just the mass audience which one may observe in a rock concert too, they key feature is remote location. Ott and Mack in their book Critical Media Studies describe mass media as having the ability to overcome physical distance and space (2). Harris and Harris in their book A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communications write that the revolution in mass media is not unprecedented. It started off with the emergence of photography and telegraphy in the 1840s, progressed to telephones in a few decades later followed by the emergence of cinema in 1896. This led to the progress in the field of motion pictures which drastically impacted the way humans communicated to one another. Radio emerged in the 1920s followed by television in 1950s, video technology in 1980s followed by the internet in 1990s (Harris and Harris). Following the decade of the emergence of the internet everything has completely altered in terms of communication, cultures and technology. The last decade has been phenomenal in technological development, bringing people and cultures together across the globe. According to Wells and Hakanen mass media are a product of technology (19). Historically it can be observed that technological developments in a society have had a direct impact on the media of that time. For instance, the mass media circulation of newspapers was made possible only because of the technological developments in the printing press (Wells and Hakanen 19). Presently we can observe the same trend for internet where messages can reach a number of people world-wide with the emergence of the internet. Ott and Mack in their book Critical Media Studies highlight the following key areas in technological advances and evolution of humans that have had a clear impact on media (9-10). 2. Effects of Mass Media on Humans Humans are greatly influenced by media, even more so than they realize. Today the way they behave, think and interact is greatly influenced by various forms of mass communications such as television, radio, print and the internet. Television in particular over the last 60 has had an impact on human live much greater than almost any other invention (Harris & Harris). Radio and print has over the years managed to retain their uniqueness. However internet is one such medium which can affect all its predecessors in terms on massage delivery and communication and will soon replace television as the invention with the greatest impact on human lives. Initially much effort was made in designing of the message with the assumption that all receivers would interpret the message in the same manner. Over a period of time the message needed to be evaluated in the context of the receiver, hence came in the concept of selective perception. Selective perception primarily means that the different people process message in a different manner (Biagi 23). According to Potter (896), scholars over the ages have been struggling with the term “mass media effects”; this is so because the term “effects” is too vague. He links this concept with the human tendency of selective perception. He suggests that the word effect is a misnomer because each individual perceives and reacts to a message differently (Potter, 897). 2.1. Advertising Impact on Humans Schachtman and Reilly in their book Associative Learning and Conditioning Theory: Human and Non-Human Applications mention that advertising effects are a result of conditioning that takes place in humans when they are exposed to an advertising message (498). There is no argument on the principle that advertising influences human behavior and thought. And since advertising in collaboration with media is responsible for consumerism which impacts the whole society, the impact of advertising cannot be undermined. According to Day, advertising influences the society in two ways. The first is its impact on the values and life styles of people; this can be in the form of promoting materialism at the expense of human values, propagating sexual or racial discrimination. The second is the impact of advertising on the economic well-being of a society and efficiency of the markets (Day 197). The use of sex-appeal in advertising is also consistently argued upon because unlike television shows and specialty magazines where the target audience has a specific time slot or restrictions to accessibility, advertisements are more accessible to unintended target audience such as children. Furthermore the use of fear in some forms of advertising is also criticized, in some audiences it nay create long-term alienation where as with most it loses emotional impact after too many exposures (Day 198). Rosche has pointed out that advertisements have both intentional and unintentional effects on children (40). Initially television and radio shows were designed specifically to sell toys to children. The biggest problem with advertising effects on children is that they not only get easily influenced by it but also have no concept of purchasing power. And it becomes exceedingly difficult for parents to clarify it to small children why they cannot have a specific product without plundering their hopes. Over the year however, advertising to children has been aggressively regulated. The unintentional advertising element however still has a lot of grey areas. Many years ago marketers would find it convenient to reach the consumer through television or radio, so they could pay attention to the message in a relaxed mood. With the emergence of various forms of media and a variety of media messages, the audience presently has a very short attention span. These days’ advertisers consistently try to reach the target audience by using a verity of means and methods. Biagi in his book Media Impact (23) writes that 30 years ago an average consumer saw up to 2000 advertising messages a day and today they see up to minimum 5000 ad messages a day in a variety of media. Most people today find advertising intrusive pretty much like a guest who has overstayed their welcome (Day 198). In developed nations such as United States, France and Japan the speed of technology advancement has had an immense impact on the media industries. This technological evolution directly impacts the degree to which culture and social changes take place around us. Wells and Hakanen in his book Mass Media and Society claims that presently most electronic media and even print media is rapidly becoming digitized, this trend has enabled computers to be responsible for new media developments (21). However Wells and Hakanen clarifies that although technology is responsible to deliver the message it is the content of the message that will actually determine the audience inertest—thus hardware and software go hand in hand. 2.2. Image Distortion of Social Groups Ott and Mack in their book Critical Media Studies claim that most cultural scholars believe that mass media instead of merely reflecting the world around us actually represent a skewed version of the society. Thus media tends to reflect the thoughts and viewpoint of the more affluent and privileged groups. Television, magazines, movies and billboards mostly offer a distorted version of reality. It becomes difficult for impressionable teenagers and adolescents to distinguish reality from the fact which makes them very vulnerable to the messages that they receive through the various forms of media (Fauquet et al, 323). Stereotyping and racial behavior are embedded in media in various forms. And according to Eagleman it becomes much easier and acceptable for a society to make a transition from stereotypes to blatant racism if these concepts are continually reinforced (156). Such elements of stereotypes as portrayed by media lead to racism and oppression of specific groups. When such stereotypes are not addressed, they can lead to discrimination in the workplace, entertainment arenas and even educational institutions (Eagleman 156). For example the mass media depiction of Arab women is passive; they portray them as veiled victims of social injustices (Elmhirst 26). This stereotypical portray of Arab women is very much off the mark. The veiled Arab women are just following their religious beliefs and it does not at all mean that they are subjected to oppression and are incapable of making life decision. In reality, women in Liberia played a very important role in bringing peace to their country, in Kabul women risked their lives to negotiate with the Taliban and in Iraq and Congo, they would be demanding rights to be represented in peace talks (Elmhirst 26). 2.3. Media Depicting Sex, Violence and Indecent Language In 1969 a young reporter of the British Broadcasting Company was sent to cover the Vietnam war, he was new at reporting and not very knowledgeable about the facts of war. On his first televised report on the American attack on the Vietcong he ended up saying “My God! This is just like watching television”. This example shows that media in a large way contributes to our understanding of the world. Humans tend to give meaning to their surroundings based on the knowledge they have acquired through mass media. According to Jeffres et al media has contributed a great deal in creating the perception that aggression is acceptable and the world is a dangerous place, this concept is called the mean-world perception (478). Some producers of films and television series that violence is a key ingredient that the audience is looking forward to in mass media, violence makes it more interesting for the target audience (Weaver 232). This implies that producers of mass media believe that violence is a key ingredient if one wants to create content that would appeal to the consumers. According to a study conducted by Smith et al, in 1990s nearly 9000 television shows were produced and of these 60% contained violence of some sort (Weaver 233). This further validates the belief that violence is perceived to be a strong selling point by producers otherwise they would not include it in their productions so extensively. Violence is incorporated into a variety of media such as movies, television shows, newspapers and predominantly video games. Although the consumption of these forms of media is very high it has not yet been proven that consumers use these forms of media solely because of their attraction to violence because a lot of other factors come into play. Two main reasons why humans can possible find violence appealing is that violence tends to heighten arousal in some audiences. Weaver extrapolates this concept and applies it to the excitation transfer theory, stating that violent and exciting events within the content of the media tend to enhance the emotional reactions to the content. Since these emotions are not immediately dissipate, they are transferred onto the end of the content so they serve to heighten the emotional arousal towards the end of the program, film, and book or article (Weaver 234). The attraction of violence can also be attributed to the disposition theory. In light of this theory humans tend to form moral judgments about everything around them. So when they are exposed to a medium showing violence they are genuinely seeking a happy ending where good things happen to the good guy and bad things happen to the bad guy (Raney & Bryant 402). Media had had a very strong impact on the sexual socialization of humans; this caused the emergence of sexually-oriented television (Vandenbosch & Eggermont 564). Over the ages communicating about sex to adolescents has always been a challenge. Parents gracefully delegate the job to schools, schools generally don’t cover all the bases and religious institutions have very staunch positions on the subject. Media in the form on television, novels, music, internet and movies--on the other hand portrays sexual behavior as something that is central to one’s life and is risk-free physically and emotionally (Brown et al.). Over the years parents, religious institutions and even government have imposed a lot of restrictions on media and suggest that media encourages sexual behavior amongst youngsters without their full comprehension of the responsibility. Media’s portrayal of sex has been under constant debate amongst these parties but they don’t have a consolidated resolution to the problem either. Media producers on the other hand consider it their constitutional right and an expression of art. Advertisers argue that sex sells and can function as a significant selling proposition (Brown et al). According to Wells, usage of indecent language in mass media is protected by constitution of freedom of speech but the FCC encourage the usage of such language during times that are “safe” so that children are not exposed to such language. But the FCC has not been able to clearly define the boundaries for safe times or the decent language, which has led to a lot of protest from public. For example the ABC hit series NYPD Blue was aired at late-prime time but was still under a lot of public scrutiny for the usage in indecent language, nudity and portrayal of sex (Wells 466). 3. Socially Responsible Media Social responsibility is described as the obligation of a decision maker to form decisions that and mutually beneficial to them and the welfare of the society they operate in (Basu 1). As established earlier, media have the capability of delivering messages to a large number of people simultaneously and at remote locations. It is this capability which makes media ethically responsible for the message that they formulated because that message has the potential to impact thousands of lives. For this very reason media houses are provided with a coded list by a regulating body (Basu 2). This list provides them with the guidance to be objective, fair and accurate while they are presenting news or expressing views and opinions. They are encouraged to use credible sources, respect privacy and refrain from sensationalism that can result in public chaos and discontent. However, the previously mentioned aspects of social impact are measureable. There are a lot of media impacts in the form of advertising ethics, creating propaganda, promoting nudity or sexual behavior and encouraging violent behavior which are vague concepts and cannot be easily regulated without a lot of red tape—and that would be challenging the media’s right to freedom of speech. And this is where the concept of showing a distorted image of reality comes in, the media approaches are very shrewd that play with human psychology and insecurities. 4. Mass Media and Humans—A Skewed Relationship The media play an important role in providing information and entertainment to the humans. Media impacts the lives of people in several ways as they attempt to significantly influence the social, political and cultural institutions of people (Biagi 23). However, media does influence society but they are also a reflection of it. Media reflects some key issues of the society that interest humans and occupy their time such as issues of sex and violence, values in media and the behavior of other people (Harris & Harris). For example advertisers started making use of a lot of patriotic themes following the US forces move to Iraq in 2003 (Biagi 23). So it can be concluded that the effect is both ways because not only is media reflecting the average American sentiments of patriotism but they are also attempting to promote patriotic thoughts amongst masses. Bushman and Cantor related the high attractiveness of elements of sex, violence and inappropriate knowledge to the forbidden fruit hypothesis (140). This hypothesis suggests that the likelihood of consumption of a medium increases extensively if it appears to be off-limits in some way (Weaver 244). Bushman and Cantor (135) suggest that media with antisocial connotations that has violence, sex or inappropriate language hold attractiveness because of the restrictions applied to them in the form of low accessibility, ratings and age-limitations—which complies with the forbidden fruit concept. This supports the thesis statement that media showing violence, sex and inappropriate language has been designed to appeal to the forbidden fruit psychology of humans. Thus the content has been designed the way that media can exploit human psychology. The media have the capability of shaping attitudes of people, so they need to act responsibly. So if media feeds it to women that their worth is linked to their bodies and how they up keep them, there will always be a discrepancy in the society (Elmhirst 26). Advertsing and mass media have propagated to their consumers a “body perfect” profile; this is both artificial and biologically inappropriate. Media over the years has propagated an ultra-thin model of women though using thin or digitally altered model in their shows, magazines, movies and music videos. This unrealistically thin model has encouraged women and young girls to engage in unhealthy eating habit and have the psychological impact of having an unrealistic body-image (www.nationaleatingdisorders.org). Even young girls and boys are given toys that depict such body images such as Barbie dolls and action figures. These toys have played a detrimental role in encouraging girls to strive for a zero-sized body and boys to aim for a muscular built. Although eating healthy and exercising are very vital to a healthy lifestyle but having a distorted body image and hating food and your body can result in low self-esteem and detrimental behavior. In terms of advertising, usage of sex-appeal, fear and repetition have been under much debate. In defense of advertisers, it has become extensively difficult to stand out amongst the crowd the consumers being exposed to multiple media and messages. Advertisers create advertisements today with some form of entertainment value that cam create an impression and can be repeatedly a few times without facing the audience’s boredom, so these elements are incorporated into advertising. The mass media functions as our eyes and ears to observe a situation that we cannot directly observe which makes it accountable in distinguishing the reality from stereotypes. Media do make mistakes with stereotyping but with the world becoming a global village and the emergence of the internet cross-cultural, gender and societal communication has become feasible. So media cannot dictate stereotypes anymore as people come in contact with people of various cultures, gender, ages and socio economic levels they can form their own perceptions. However, complete eradication of stereotypes will take a long time because they previously engrained concepts in humans will take time to be replaced with newer ones. Works Cited  Basu, Shabarni. "Social Responsibility: The Obligation Of Mass Media." Global Media Journal: Indian Edition (2011): 1-6. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Print Biagi, Shirley. Mass Media and Everyday Life-Chapter 1. Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media. Cengage Learning, 2011. P 23-24. Print Brian L. Ott, Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print Brown, Jane Delano, Steele, Jeanne R. and Walsh-Childers, Kim. Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media's Influence on Adolescent Sexuality. New Jersey: Taylor & Francis, 2002. Print Bushman, B. J., & Cantor, J. Media ratings for violence and sex: Implications for policymakers and parents. American Psychologist, 58(2), 2003. P 130–141. Print David Atkin, et al. 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Ablex Publishing Corporation. 1997. P19-21. Print Read More