Mass Media Influence

From the moment we wake up in the morning we are bombarded with media in all it's many forms. From the morning newspaper and it's many advertisements to the television commercials telling us what we need to buy. Even even when you turn on the radio during your daily commute you will be overwhelmed with new mainstream 'music' full of vulgarities and rudeness that could put you in a bad mood for the entire day. Media has a major influence in our lives, whether people like to admit it or not.

Most media out there is harmless, people simply trying to sell you there product to make a living or tell you the news. Although more often then we care to admit the media has harmful messages and influence over us. From the violent video games that have filled the market to the Internet, which is filled with negative information and themes.

Many experts say we need to evaluate the trend of today. Does the influence in our families from the media really build healthier stronger people? Or does it do the exact opposite? It would seem as though more often the naught the latter is the case.

Media is often times used to convince massive amounts of people of something, almost a mass brainwashing. A good example of this is the media influence used by politicians. Joseph McCarthy used media influence to convince people of how terrible Communism was. He used it to support his 'witch hunt' of Communism in the United States. Another cases of the media effecting politics is the election of Ronald Regan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both were famous movie star actors and used that status to win in politics.

The media often also dictates what we should and will buy. The media bombards us with what they deam 'great books' or 'great movies' telling us to go out and buy them right away. One good example of this is the widely published book Eragon. The book was criticized by many literary experts for being very 'poorly written' however it was written by a very young author and that created a media vortex that launched the book. Many still agree that the book would have never even been published if the boy's parents didn't happen to be publishers.

Other cases of books who received major boosts from media attention include the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Although the books were attacked by many experts for their 'bad plot' and 'poor writing' and in Twilight's case it's unoriginality thanks to mass media attention the books became bestsellers. In all these cases the books, held up by media attention, lead to movies which in almost all cases weren't particularly good either.

Craig Anderson is a distinguished Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He is an expert of media influence. He conducted a study with a young teenage boy where the boy played his favorite video game while being video taped. After the tape was replayed for the boy he commented on how he, "Didn't think he had been swearing that much", he also commented on his angry facial expressions.

Anderson suggests we simply look at the amount of time we spend playing video games, watching TV or on the Internet. He has been quoted on saying, "A reality show about the life of the average American would be rather boring. It would be filled with hours of them just watching TV or surfing the Internet".

There is also many myths surrounding the violent influence of the media and it's effect on people. These myths include, that only boys are effected, or only children or young children, or only those who already have an aggressive history, one myth goes as far as to say it only effects sick psychopaths. All of these myths are untrue however. Anyone any age can be effected by violent media influence.

It is also suggested by experts that children under the age of two do not watch any Television, whether it be video games, movies, or even 'supposedly' educational content. Prolonged exposure to television at such a young age has been proven to lead to attention deficit disorder (ADD) and problems with school later on.

So it is clear that the massive media influence in our lives does have a negative effect on many people. Regardless of age, gender or location violent or suggestive media can effect us all. So next time your in the book or movie rental store looking for something to buy, think about trying to find something you will like opposed to buying something that everyone tells you will like.