Media Influence on Individuals Sense of Personal Identity - Nigerian Experience - Case Study Example

Media Influences on Individuals’ opinions and Contributions to their Sense of Personal Identity and Self-Definition: The Nigerian Experience Course Instructor Institution Date Introduction Communication is understood to be the process through which information, ideas, emotions as well as skills are transmitted from one location to another; culturally speaking, communication entails the creation, articulation as well as sharing of meaning amongst a group of people (NUJ Lecture 2009, p.1). In that respect, communication and culture are mutually exclusive of each other; in other words, communication denotes the interaction of people in social groups and through mediated social experiences. Whereas culture comprises a collection of symbols, the media acts as the carrier of cultural messages that completes the line of communication process; given that culture is central to man’s existence and survival, it inevitably forms the basis of individuals’ self-identities and self-definitions. Different cultures are peculiar and their distinctiveness has different influences on the attitudes, aspirations, motivations, representations, skills as well as the behaviours of people that are defined by each. Mass media creates and circulates meaning through the use of language thereby perpetrating certain ideas and beliefs amongst the audience; in that respect, mass media actively shapes people’s perception of reality through language, the single most crucial aspect of culture. The advent of globalization and the birth of new information communication technologies herald a potential threat to nations cultures since the cultural values and ideals of the west are being imposed on the rest of the world (Muscat 2013, p.293). People from all corners of the world are increasingly getting Americanized or westernized in every sense of the words, either consciously or unconsciously, thanks to the globalization forces, since global media is dominated by western Hollywood values, western products, perspectives as well as cultural ideals (NUJ Lecture 2009, p.9). In that respect, African media has the most daunting challenge of propagating, enabling as well as safeguarding aspects of the African culture against the devastating influences of westernized global media in the name of globalization. Media’s strong influence on individuals’ opinions and sense of their own personal identity as well as self-definition is reflected in the increased bastardization of native African cultures and values in favour of western cultural ideals perceived to be the golden standard. Media has profound effects on the social identity formation of young people as news stories of how media is increasingly shaping the youth are rampant in society; precisely, sexual promiscuity, violence, as well as gender-stereotyping are increasingly being perpetuated through media outlets (Sabrina, 2011). This paper will explore the extent to which media does influence individuals’ opinions while contributing to their sense of personal identity as well as self-definition using Nigeria as a case study. Impact of information communication technologies The rapid development in information communication technologies in the 21st century has greatly revolutionized and transformed individuals’ socialization and the manner in which information is shared with the implication that the whole world has now shrunk into a tiny global village (Onyinyechi 2013, p.120). Places that were several miles apart have now been connected with the bridging of distances between points by information and telecommunication technologies that are prevalent in contemporary society. For instance, the internet and television have brought nondescript locations in the world such as the remote villages of china, the pacific island of Hawaii and the deserts of Arabia right to the screens in peoples’ living rooms (Hadeshian, 2006:2). The birth of mass media has in fact broadened the potential of information communication technologies even much further; generally speaking, mass media refers to the communication to a large society using both the print and non-print media. The media has lately become a very powerful tool for influencing opinions in present times since all the different media outlets, including the television, press, radio, internet, newspapers and magazines, have become important sources of information that influence daily choices and decision-making. For that matter, the media often functions as a political power and tool, owned or possessed by the big powers in society such as multinational corporations, big agencies, among others, who exploit it for their own socio-political and economic objectives by passing information that shape the thinking and perception of things. Both the religious and political leaders often use media agencies to communicate their news, stands and positions on various critical issues of public concern to the members of society, to achieve their own political and economic ends. Evidently, the media’s representation of several groups in society has tremendous effects on individuals’ opinions about these distinct groups; for instance, media reporting about refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant populations significantly shapes public views of these groups (Hadeshian, 2006:3). In that respect, media has a massive role to play in reporting accurate and truthful information that does not propagate myths, stereotypes while discouraging generalizations or misconceptions about refugees, asylum seekers and migrant communities. However, the media has often been exploited to perpetuate myths, stereotypes and generalizations about different groups at the expense of accurate, truthful and factual coverage. The implication of this misrepresentation of certain groups is that all foreigners have been erroneously categorized as traffickers, terrorists, or drug dealers, among other dehumanizing labels, thereby fuelling xenophobia as well as racism while rationalizing policies on closing borders. In that case, media assigned categorizations may end up becoming recognized and accepted as identities of individuals in society thereby negatively impacting how individuals perceive themselves and others. Theoretical foundations of the role of Mass media in contemporary society Media has become a significant force in contemporary culture in societies all over the world, as it has increasingly been acknowledged that media does not only reflect but also creates culture, which is often referred to as ‘mediated culture’. A multitude of media sources such as television, billboards, newspapers, magazines and the internet often bombard individuals with endless information and messages that seeks to influence their choices and decisions (Hamley, 2001). In that case, media constantly shapes individuals’ opinions, moods, attitudes as well as perceptions of certain things and issues around them; there is great diversity in opinions regarding the extent and types of influence the mass media wields. There are three leading sociological perspectives on the role of media in society namely, the limited-effects theory, the class-dominant theory as well as the culturalist theory; the limited-effects theory asserts that media exerts a negligible influence on people given that individuals often choose what to watch or read based on their prevailing beliefs (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.182). This theory suggests that well-informed individuals will form their opinions based on their personal experiences, prior knowledge, and their private reasoning regardless of media presence. However, this approach has been critiqued for failing to recognize the fact that media frames and limits discussions as well as debates on issues yet the framing of debates and questions asked by media inevitably influence the outcomes of discussions and the possible conclusions people might make regarding particular issues in society. Similarly, this theory does not take into consideration the increased availability and dominance of media in contemporary society, which inevitably increases its influence on people in societies. The class-dominant theory asserts that media does reflect and project the view of an elite minority that own and control it; for instance, the massive corporate mergers of media organizations limit competition thereby directly influencing news media for economic gains (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.183). The limited ownership of media organizations implies that only a limited elite group can manipulate what people see or hear, thereby shaping people’s opinions in certain ways; however, this view that the corporate elite controls media has been challenged on the premise that the quality of news depends on good journalism. The cultural theory, on the other hand, integrates the limited-effects and class-dominant theories arguing that individuals often create their independent meanings out of the various messages and images received from their interaction with the different media outlets. In that respect, this theory perceives the audience as active rather than passive participants in the audience-media interaction; thus, in as much as a minority elite may influence the nature of information produced and distributed by media, personal perspectives also play a significant role in the manner in which the messages and images received are interpreted. Identity formation during socialization Socialization, the process through which individuals acquire their personal identities, is an inevitable part of life as individuals move through life’s stages, from childhood through to adulthood, regardless of their culture, gender or geographical location; socialization never really ends as it is a lifetime process. Through the socialization process, individuals acquire the basic values, norms, social behaviour patterns, as well as social skills that are crucial for the proper functioning of individuals in society. There are nearly four main agents of socialization including family, peer groups, the school and mass media; the mass media exerts a tremendous influence on individuals’ ideas perceptions of their self, thus their self-identities and self-definition respectively. Identity has been categorized as a socially constructed attribute, which implies that individuals’ knowledge or consciousness of themselves coupled with their self-awareness leads to the establishment of identity. In that respect, identity as a social construct is influenced by both internal and external factors, in form of the numerous messages and images perpetrated through the various media outlets. Identity as a social construct is being transformed in new and greater ways with the emergence of new media outlets such as the internet and media; the emergence of the social platform comprised of the social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus among others, has added yet another dimension to the mass media phenomenon and social identity formation in contemporary times. The manner in which individuals form and maintain their identities as well as self-definitions is constantly evolving given the immediate nature of internet and prevalence of social media sites. The social environment is more influential than the traditional media outlets such as newspapers, radio, television and the internet; nonetheless, the traditional media sources are still significant in reinforcing already established opinions of self-identities as well as self-definitions. Given that people’s presence and popularity on social networks is measured through their online manifestation, individuals have increasingly given into the allure of conscious acts of self-staging. People are increasingly exploiting social media platforms to market their individual personalities as products, thus the online personas of celebrities equals to their brands; influential persons such as Barack Obama and Justin Bieber have demonstrated that online personas are inevitably important in self-branding. For that matter, many people, particularly young adults and teenagers, often shape their online identities to gain popularity with the primary aim of achieving recognition and connectedness (Dijck 2013, p.203); precisely, teenagers model their online self-identities on celebrities after exposure through media sources. The construction of personal identity in the contemporary media-saturated society is not only problematic but also difficult given that individuals are often bombarded with influential imagery from popular media, which young people use to establish their self-identities (Editors Introduction 2012, p.5). The mass media inevitably produces a variety of cultural opinions, standards as well as identities that ultimately influence identity formation; exposure to media sources, therefore, exposes young people to multiple influential images of who they would like to become. Given the pervasive prevalence of media in society today, it is unequivocal to say that individuals’ behaviour and their sense of self is influenced by what they see, read, hear or discover for themselves through exposure to media sources. Media has significant influences on every aspect of individuals’ lives, from their way of dressing, the kind of music they listen to, among other things, which exert considerable influence on an individual’s identity construction. Media’s transformation over the years, due the rapid advancements in information communication technologies, has increased accessibility to information and the exposure levels of society to media images. Averagely, American adolescents spend close to 7 hours interacting with some form of media every single day of the week, an exposure that progressively provides these young people with the information and ideas that shape their identity formation. Media often influences attitude change through persuasion, precisely, by influencing individuals’ opinions and perceptions of social reality (Ojebuyi & Ekennia 2013, p.97); for instance, the media has often been a culprit for mainstreaming certain ideas as cultural standards. The concept of beauty provides the most candid examples of the manner in which media influences cultural standards; media has often perpetuated the notion of physical attractiveness being the primary determinant of beauty. This has been captured avidly in society through the use of beautiful models with nearly unachievable physical attributes such as extremely slender bodies and light skin in advertising campaigns (Hamley, 2001). Moreover, media is also filled with images of the perfect men, with athletic statures and superbly built physiques; this pervasion of media with muscular images of men as depicted in advertising campaigns also influences individual perceptions of handsomeness. In that respect, both men and women are more likely to develop self-perceptions by viewing images of the so-called ‘beautiful’ and ‘handsome’ models in advertising campaigns; the inevitable influence of media and its images on men and women is undoubtedly the establishment of negative self-images of themselves. Furthermore, stereotypical portrayal of women in media often mainstreams the pervasive notion that females are nothing other than sexual objects meant for the entertainment of their male counterparts. Such representations of women in media are not only demeaning, but also eventually imparts a profound impact on their self-identities as females and consequently on their self-worth as human beings in general. It is natural for individuals to want to be recognized and accepted by their peers in social interactions, to be loved, and to be successful thus, media preys on these innate human desires to package its messages and images to members of the society. By depicting idealized images of handsome men, beautiful women, and the characteristics of successful persons, media subtly persuades the public to accept and acknowledge certain cultural standards against which they can evaluate themselves. In that respect, if an individual is not as handsome, beautiful and successful as the idealized images depicted in media, they are persuaded to buy the products and services necessary to make them as beautiful, handsome and successful as the people depicted in these media images. Case Study: Influence of media on individual identities in Nigeria Background of the Nigerian Media Unlike most other African nations, Nigeria has boasted the most free and vocal press over a long period of time in history; nevertheless, the Nigerian media has also been an unfortunate victim of harassment by military dictatorships and oppressive regimes under civilian presidents. Many media agents such as news reporters have been imprisoned, exiled, tortured and even murdered for coverage of news; blogging and newspapers have survived through these difficult environments while radio and television have been undermined by limited resources and restrictions bent on besetting their establishment. The emergence of satellite television has attempted to bridge the information gap, not only in Nigeria, but also in the wider African continent; for instance, the BBC World Service and the Voice of America offer shortwave radio in the Hausa language. Nonetheless, Nigeria has one of the most vibrant media scenes in Africa with its state radio and TV boasting of a nearly national coverage at both federal and regional levels (BBC News Africa, 2013); all the 36 states have at least one radio network and TV station. The country has hundreds of radio stations and several terrestrial TV networks in addition to cable and satellite offerings and in as much as international broadcasters are common, radio is the primary source of information in the country. Television is common in urban areas and foreign programming is limited through legislation with the state TV receiving stiff competition from privately-owned Galaxy TV and Silver Bird TV, among others, in some states. The country boasts of having more than 100 national and local press titles, including acclaimed dailies, tabloids, and publications that promote ethnic interests, some of which are owned by the state; the privately-owned newspapers are often highly critical of the government. The country has modest internet coverage and mobile phones are increasingly the primary means of accessing the web; nearly 33% of Nigerians were online by the year 2012, and this group consists mostly of the young, educated urban population. Contributions of mass media As expected, the mass media is a very significant factor in Nigeria as it is in the rest of the world since it has specific roles, particularly in the areas of cultural education and national development (Onyinyechi 2013, p.63)2. Generally, the media in Nigeria shapes the public image of the masses thereby mainstreaming appropriate cultural norms while introducing and reinforcing behaviour as well as lifestyle changes. The Nigerian media functions as a pivot of cultural campaigns, thus, perpetuates developmental and education goals; precisely, the Nigerian media was intended to be used to strengthen the popular art forms produced by Nigerians, thereby not only highlighting, but also propagating the Nigerian identity (Chioma 2013, p.23). The media has played a greater role as an agent of development, especially in the area of cultural development through programming that propagates culture; the print media is rife with information that can improve lifestyles of the masses. Nigerians have traditionally been famed for their communal lifestyles, which identify and recognize individuals within their own communities; the community offers every person or its members both physical and ideological identities as well as security (Onyinyechi 2013, p.121). Influences of the mass media The advancement in new communication technologies has inevitably undermined cultural autonomy and national sovereignty in global communications (Uche 1988, p.86). The immediate ramification for third world countries like Nigeria is that their hold on native cultural values in mass media communication is undermined by the upsurge of new media communication technologies that impose foreign cultural influences and ideals on the people. For that matter, exposure to the outside world through mass media inevitably perpetuates and sustains foreign rather than African cultural ideals that eventually influence the opinions of Nigerians regarding their self-identities as well as self-definitions respectively. As a result, the Nigerian cultural values have been gradually subordinated by western culture since the new media technologies and systems are largely owned and controlled by the west, which uses the media to promote its culture (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.188). The Nigerian populations, particularly the youth, find the western cultural ideals such as behaviours, values, attitudes and norms perpetuated through new media technologies and systems as the ideal way of life and worthy of adaptation at the expense of the traditional African ideals. The influence of media in Nigeria goes beyond the mere imposition of western culture on people, to distortion of the Nigerian culture by supplementing it with western ideals, thereby greatly influencing identity formation of the people. Alterations in thought processes of Nigerians through expression in the mass media has not only influenced their way of thinking, but also their entire life styles; presently nearly four out of ten Nigerian homes own TV and video sets and the films watched in those homes are predominantly foreign (Onyinyechi 2013, p.66)2. In as much as the local Nigerian film industry supposedly focuses on local themes, the local Nigerian films are laden with foreign-European, American cultural ideals (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.189). The implication of this is that media functions to control people’s minds through a gradual but steady modernization process; given that a vast majority of African populations are illiterate, TV is the most influential media source because it combines both picture and information. Cultural and media imperialism in African nations like Nigeria has been the core of the TV broadcasting, particularly through programme content, which is largely biased towards the west (Ugochukwu 2008, p.34); daily transmission in the country has a western inclination and most of the TV programmes aired are also western. Consequently, the ‘we’ attitude that informs the national identities of the Nigerian people has been lost due to the widespread cultural and media imperialism that haunts the Nigerian mass media. The vague minds of the youths are heavily influenced by the western ideals due to their exposure to western entertainment; the foreign information encountered by the Nigerian youths during their socialization process influences their attitudes, behaviours, self-identities and self-definitions respectfully (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.188). Granted that foreign influences through media appeal to the youths thereby informing their identity formation, it is no wonder that most Nigerian youths are alien to their native African roots and culture. The dangers of moral decadence are real in the Nigerian society, given that a vast majority of its youths are obsessed with moral luxury and media is largely to blame for the apparent negative influence of foreign ideals on the Nigerian culture (Ademola & Okunola 2013, p.188). TV has taken the Nigerian youths into direct contact and relationship with the western sets of values, attitudes and behaviours, which now form the basis of the socialization process in the Nigerian society, thereby influencing personal opinions, self-identities and self-definitions of the average Nigerians. Precisely, socialization of the masses in Nigeria is no longer a domain of the conventional agents such as the family, religion and schools as was the case in the past, due to the increasing pervasiveness of media and social platforms. Presently, the young people are actually the main agents of their own socialization through the establishment of online social communities and networks that connect youths of shared interests, values as well as world views. The urban youths in Nigeria have more access to TV, radio and the internet, unlike their rural counterparts, hence they have an increasingly growing consciousness that ultimately shape their identity formation processes thereby greatly influencing their self-identities and self-definitions. The impact of global youth culture on the Nigerian youth is mostly visible in specific areas such as the Nigerian youth’s preferred ways of dressing, movies as well as music (Sokfa, 2010); a most prevalent phenomenon is among the Nigerian urban youth population is the abandonment of traditional regalia in favour of the western fashion, music and movies. Notably, the influence of the communal lifestyle on individuals’ identity in Nigeria is rapidly waning and fading off due to the increased prevalence of mass media and its powerful images that shape peoples’ self-perceptions and that of others respectively. Discussion and recommendations The increasing separation of the Nigerians from their culture due to cultural and media imperialism has led to the increasing permissiveness in the Nigerian society since the people no longer share the common cultural traits that once united them as an African nation (NUJ Lecture 2009, p.14). For instance, cultural traits such as co-operation, collective responsibility, interpersonal connectedness, communality, respect, tolerance hospitality as well as morality, among other crucial Nigerian cultural ideals have increasingly been mutilated due to the massive westernization and Americanization through expressionism in mass media. Consequently, western cultural values such as individualism, competition, and domination, among others, which pitch brother against brother, father against son, and so on, have taken root in the country, thus, influencing not only the self-identity, but also self-definition of Nigerians. Evidently, for Nigeria to promote, sustain and safeguard its cultural heritage for the sake of future generations, it needs to establish a revolutionary mass media that will not only present but also spearhead the revolutionary aim of promoting its cultural heritage. The Nigerian mass media must disabuse the pervasive notion that localization equates to crudity while helping to establish a sense of nationhood and national belongingness instead of being inclined towards the western cultural ideals (NUJ Lecture 2009, p.8). Whatever their preoccupations, the Nigerian mass media needs to reorient its focus to promote an integrative indigenous culture, as well as moral and value system, to help the country to gain a sense of nationhood, national identity and national prosperity. Conclusion Ultimately, media in all its various outlets does exert a strong influence not only on people’s opinions about themselves and others, but also on their self-identities and self-definitions through its powerful images and messages. In the case of Nigeria, the country has progressively lost its sense of national identity and nationhood due to the devastating effects of media and cultural imperialism as a result of globalization forces. The highly westernized media images and messages perpetuated in media have totally undermined the traditional Nigerian cultural values and ideals that were the basis of people’s sense of belongingness and nationhood thereby influencing people’s self-identities self-definitions respectively. References Sabrina, L. (2011). Medias Influence on Social Norms and Identity Development of Youth. [Online]. Available at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/applied_social_psychology/2011/11/medias-influence-on-social-norms-and-identity-development-of-youth.html Hamley, K. (2001). Media Use in Identity Construction. [Online]. Available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/klh9802.html Hadeshian, S. (2006). “CCR International Refugee Rights Conference 17 – 19 June 2006, Toronto: Public Opinion - The role of Media”. ccrweb [Online]. Available at: https://ccrweb.ca/presentations/shadeshianmediaen.pdf BBC News Africa. (2013). Nigeria profile. [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13949549 Sokfa, F.J. (2010). Global Youth Culture and Nigerian Youths. Tigweb. Available at: http://www.tigweb.org/youth-media/panorama/article.html?ContentID=28999 NUJ Lecture. (2009). The role of media in the propagation of African culture. Available at: http://www.tundebabawale.org/pdf_public_lectures/The%20role%20of%20media.pdf Uche, L. (1988). Mass Communication and Cultural Identity: The unresolved issue of national sovereignty and cultural autonomy in the wake of new communication technologies. Africa Media Review 3(1): pp.83-105. Ademola E.O. & Okunola R.A. (2013). Peoples, Culture and Mass Media as Agent of Cultural Imperialism. Covenant University Journal of Politics and International Affairs (CUJPIA) 1(2): pp. 179-191. Onyinyechi, N. (2013). New Media and the Cultural Identity of Young Adults in Nigeria. International Journal of Innovative Research & Development 2(9): pp. 120-128. Onyinyechi, N. (2013)2. Culture and Nigerian Identity in the Print Media. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter) 3(3): pp. 63-71. Ojebuyi, B.R. & Ekennia, C.U. (2013). Godfatherism, ownership influence and media treatment of political conflicts in Oyo state, Nigeria. Covenant Journal of Communication (CJOC) 1(2): pp. 97-117. Dijck, J. (2013). ‘You have one identity’: Performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media, Culture & Society 35(2): pp. 100-215. Muscat, J. (2013). Broadcasting Policies, Media Landscape and Cultural Identity: A (Re) Construction? International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 6(1), 293-300. Chioma, P.E., (2013). Television Local Contents; Conduit for Cultural Learning in Nigeria? Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 2(12), pp. 26-40. Ugochukwu, C., (2008). Cultural Resistance and Resilience amid Imported TV Programming in Nigeria. Africa Today, 55(1), pp. 34-58. Editors Introduction: Media(s) and the Mediation of Ethnic Identity. (2012). MELUS, 37(4), pp. 5-9,218. Read More