Mass Media's Negative Impact on American Society - Essay Example

? Mass Media’s Negative Impact on American Society Introduction Today, access to mass media is definitely among the necessary conditions for formation of a fully developed personality. Modern mass media affects the various stages and sides of the information process in society. But it would be inappropriate to speak of a continuous euphoria in American society about the situation and functioning of the media, both printed and audiovisual. Moreover, we can talk of the constantly growing distrust to the media on the part of the audience. Television, which was referred as a “vast wasteland” long time ago, together with the other media overloads us with tons of useless and delusive information daily. The flow of information in the modern world is so varied and contradictory that all the efforts to realize and apprehend it are beyond the power of an individual and leads to stresses and uncertain decision making. Besides, is worth mentioning the psychological impact of mass media as a tool of propaganda, debates over which has started a long time, since 1450 probably, with the introduction of the first printing press. The media became a powerful action force. It grew out of its function of quick delivery of straight information, facts. It irrevocably lost its educative function tending to the role of the most effective mean of influence on human emotions, public opinion, behavioral patterns and cultural stereotypes. In spite of the media proponents’ views, its prime function today is purely entertaining and recreational, delivering mostly the shows for an average intelligence developmental level of about pre-teen kids or blood-curdling telecasts, which awaken the basic instincts in people, destroying them as personalities. Violence, pornography, aggression, formation of anxious feeling, apprehension – this is what we deal with daily in the media. Mass Media Today. The Concerns Contemporary American mass media makes an impression of health and success. This is manifested primarily in their infinite variety and diversity, and perhaps even more so, in their original public omnipotence. The mighty power of American media as the Fourth Estate, which carries a vigilant control over public authorities, is demonstrated literally every day since Watergate, in which political revelations in the American mass media forced President Nixon to leave the office. A major role in the impeachment of President Clinton was played by the media of the country as well. But today, the unconcealed public anxiety, which concerns functioning, tasks, content of the media, sounds louder. Many prominent figures of our society, as well as many ordinary people, express dissatisfaction concerning an increasingly negative impact of mass media not only on journalism itself, but on society as a whole. This primarily concerns the quality of today’s American journalism within a moral and ethical point of view. Most of the public is deeply concerned also, that the media tries to teach us morality, “passing some inherited moral norms from generation to generation”. However, the very essence of this social heritage has been vigorously debated. In spite of the fact that in very few media reports and television broadcasts morality is perceptible and obvious, hints at some or other moral values are ??always present, especially on TV. At the same time the media is flooded with scenes of violence in action and horror films and cartoons even, endless shootings, crime reports, aggressive music and games that, so some extend, popularize the criminal culture. In many cases the media does not consciously want to provoke violence in society – it just covers over a weak storyline of a picture or lack of really important news with scenes of violence, which surely attract attention of common people. Such scenes have a direct impact on subconsciousness, because they influence on the feelings rather than senses. The media forms in teenagers’ heads some stable mechanism, according to which they will act in this or that reality situation (Moy and Dietram 745). Talking about the modern media influence on the audience, by all appearances, we need to talk about captivating influence of advertising in mass communication. It is not a secret that advertising is largely substituting the real (internal) values, replacing them with artificial, forced upon. Manipulating subconsciousness of individuals, advertising leads to a condition when people do not belong to themselves. They obey the imposed principles and norms of life. And even if people consciously resist some of them, unconsciously, they make ??a choice in favor of this or that psychological pattern. Likewise, by the way, an inferiority complex among certain groups of population, who are unable to buy particular goods, goods that correspond to a particular lifestyle, is formed (Perse 78). This is just a short list of concerns that worry society today in relation to the media. I’ve give more details and examples of the negative impact of the media futher. Negative Impact Social influence of the media concerned scientists starting from the 20ies of the last century. The first theories, which raised the questions about how to influence and persuade thousands or millions of people to take serious decisions, proved to be the theories of propaganda. The most striking and consistent researches’ results concerning the issue were presented in the writings of Harold Lasswell and Walter Lippmann. Despite the fact that the theories of influence exceeded to a different level of development later, which denied many of the theories of propaganda, some of the statements, experimental data and conclusions still remain relevant to society (Christen and Huberty 316). Due to his biological nature, a man is prone to suggestion, imitation and contagion. The aim of the media in the process of persuasion is to create a solid, sustainable relationship to a certain phenomenon. Performance of the media with an assigned task to indoctrinate something to a society is inhumane, because people can not control the impact directed on them and, accordingly, are powerless against such suggestion. For example, we know that after 20-25 minutes of television, the brain is already beginning to absorb any information that comes through TV broadcasting (Kundanis 102). Tracing the negative role of the media impact on subconscious of a child, teenager and youths, we should pay attention to such an important detail as presentation of media materials in the form of ready-made patterns, templates. As a result, the brain of an individual of any years as if unlearns to think once again. And such an individual is unconsciously waiting that he will be served up with ready-made information, information which needs no analysis. Such an analysis becomes unneeded just because the media representatives will show themselves how an individual has to react. People who watch violence daily on television or Internet, for example, become more rough and tough as compared to their usual everyday behavior, as the results of observations state. Approximately 60% of the U.S. television programs and 90% of TV movies contain scenes of fights and violence. In the U.S. television programs are shown five acts of violence per hour in the evening and 18 acts of violence during the daytime on weekends. A lot of violence can be found in cartoons - 26 acts of violence per hour. You can find violence in news, music videos, commercials, ex facto non-aggressive programs. Computer games mostly (85%) are a bloody and violent entertainment. Sometimes it is through the media people are taught some wild reactions (Kundanis 88). For example, it’s stated that television programs and movies with violence, especially violent video games, teach children how to shoot without hesitation, when a certain stimulus appears. In many video games a normal reaction is to shoot when a certain aim just appears and quick response is encouraged. So, people learn to shoot first and ask questions later. The boy from Jonesboro, Arkansas, was convicted for shooting in the schoolyard. The boy did not know how to deal with real firearms, but often played video games. He and his friend managed to injure 15 people, making 27 shots from the distance of 100 yards! Today, sex is present not only in blatant pornography (as there are specific types of the media (at least in the U.S.), explicitly called “erotic”, “pornographic” or “sexually explicit”, which includes magazines, videos and many Internet sites). This “information” is usually distributed through different channels, but you can find in many materials published by the standard media. For example, sex as an attraction is widely used in advertising, especially for such products as perfumes, colognes, skin care, as well as in advertising tires, cars and kitchen utensils. Sex in mass media is not limited to explicit images of copulation or nudity; it may include any model implying sexual behavior, interest or motivation. The most alarming in the behavioral effects of viewing erotic materials is that there is a traced direct connection between it and commission of sexual assaults. There were a lot of studies conducted, which considered the ratings of such crimes as rapes, exhibitionism, sexual abuse of minors, depending on changes in availability of sexually explicit materials. In most Western countries, in the late 20ies, along with an increase in the availability of sexually explicit materials, the number of rapes increased in the same ratio. Method of reports and reviews on such offenses as rapes can quietly keep readers and viewers myths about rapes. Even a very brutal violence can sometimes be described as a manifestation of “passion” or “love.” If a man kills his ex-wife and her lover, the press calls it a “love triangle”. When a man shoots several colleagues, including a woman who refused to date him, it’s called the “tragedy of rejected love.” Does love anything in common with such crimes? Conclusions The last decades witnessed the rapid development of new communication technologies. E-mail, Internet, digital television, have become a part of our lives, often pushing to the sidelines the traditional media. Communication ceases to be one-way, there appear elements of interactivity. The question of the influence of the media appears in a new perspective. The amount of information available to each member of society increases many times; the process of news diffusion becomes swift and varied. At the same time the content quality of mass media lives much to be desired. It’s full to the brim with violence, advertising, false ideals and tons of shallow information a normal man will never need. Everyday impact of the media on society leads to creation of stereotypes, simplification of thinking and psychological patterns, as information is presented in ready-made form with a certain emotional coloring, which leaves no space for creative conceptualization. References Christen, Cindy, and Kelli E. Huberty. “Media Reach, Media Influence? the Effects of Local National, and Internet News on Public Opinion Inferences.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 84. 2(2007): 315+.  Kundanis, Rose. Children, Teens, Families, and Mass Media: The Millennial Generation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Moy, Patricia, and Dietram A. Scheufele. ”Media Effects on Political and Social Trust.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 77.4(2010): 744+.  Perse, Elizabeth. Media Effects and Society. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Read More