How media affects to private life - Research Paper Example

Similarly, Baym has pointed out in yet another example that “all of this happens in a cultural moment when individualism is increasingly defined through consumerist practices of purchasing mass mediated and branded products” (5). The above discussed two examples are cited as they are highly representative of the effects that media have on private life. The characteristics of new media technologies to enter the personal realm has been going on increasing in scope and strength. For example, earlier television technology was one-way only thereby keeping the role of the viewer limited to being a passive spectator.

But when live television broadcasts became technologically possible, the viewer could talk back, but also had to partially open up his/her personal space to the media. Later when online communication technologies emerged, this feature of enabling two-way communication got strengthened (Baym, 7). One consequence of such highly interactive media has been the creation of a “sense of placelessness” (Baym, 8). People communicating from very distant places would have a feeling that they were close geographically.

Another aspect of this phenomenon is that people have less access to the other person's physical details like location or activity, while communicating (baym, 9). All these and many other changes in media interaction can bring about many corresponding changes in the private lfe as well. Invasion of privacy is a much talked about aspect of media and this is especially the case when it comes to individuals with celebrity status. When princess Diana died in a car crash after being pursued by the paparazzi, a heatd debate had emerged on this topic.

It was the advent of new media technologies that made paparazzis possible (Cashmore, 8). It is observed that technology enabled paparazzi “not just to peer but to examine andd scrutinize in forensic detail”, the personal lives of celebrities (Cashmore, 8). Another impact is the information in high volumes and in different modes can be transmitted over long distances and in very little time which further made possible the intrusion of media into the private lives of celebrities (Cashmore, 8).

For example, Rupert Murdoch could telecast through his satellite telvision network, any sensational celebrity news, all over the world within no time (Cashmore, 9). The constant search for new content in a world of high media competition also enhanced the invasion of personal spaces (Cashmore, 9). Cashmore has cited the example of Madonna who realized the potential of media to encash the personal, and worked with the media on this to gain from it (11). The scandalous indiscretionary behavior of Elizabeth taylor with Richard Burton was caught on camera by a paperazzi through the use of a telephoto lens (Cashmore, 16).

This is a very good example of media, with its very inherent nature, affecting private life. Once the technology of a telephoto lens and what it could do became known to all, the celebrities also learned to behave in certain ways in order to cheat its eyes. Now a celebrity person has to make a limited choice (limited again by what is technologically possible) of making a part of his/her private matters public through the media but all the same keep a balance to avoid over exposure. The media celebrity culture makes a seemingly just demand on all celebrities to exercise this choice either consciously or unconsciously.

If they fail to attain a balance