Thursday, September 19, 2013

1F25 Post 1: Media Impact

How has the mass media impacted my worldview? Honestly how hasn't it? The truth is whether we like to admit it or not we are all significantly impacted by the media. Through the use of TV, radio, magazines and computers we are all in contact with the media in some way and it is often how our thoughts and opinions are formed on specific topics.

Think about it, when you watch the news or read the paper, you read a story about something like a war, the story is written from someone that is on one side or another and generally will lead you to believe it the way they present it, but have you ever stopped to think of it from someone else’s perspective? For example let’s say Canada goes to war with another country, the news is going to present it that we are automatically in the right and the other country in the wrong. They are going to make you believe that they are doing it to protect you and for the sake of the country but what if that is not true? We automatically take their word for it that we are doing what’s best because they are the ones that are forming our view on the world and therefore we believe what they tell us to believe. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not guilty of this because I know I am. I often hear stories on the news and just believe what they tell me, never taking the time to study the details for myself and form my own opinion even though I claim to be someone who thinks for myself.


Media impact does not end there it doesn't just impact how you think it also impacts how you act. Media is often what tells us how to dress, what we should look and act like and what kind of technology we should own. From an extremely young age children (including myself) grow up watching TV shows full of 30 year olds playing teenagers and acting much older than they should be all for the sake of entertainment. This lead to kids growing up thinking this is perfectly acceptable and normal and that it’s what they should be doing when they are that age. In this scenario the media is actually changing not only the thoughts of the public but also the actions. Whether on purpose or not the media gives people misconceptions about what to believe and how to act and then when the kids grow up and start imitating the behaviours from TV they seem shocked and outraged and try to point the blame at that generation or the parents when in truth they act the way they are taught by the media to act. The media has a much larger significance on my worldview then I would care to admit but that truth is it’s hard to avoid. You pretty much can’t escape the media unless you decide to live in a cave in the middle of the woods for the rest of your life and let’s be honest most of us really don’t want to have to do that. No matter how hard we try to change it the media will always be the most significant impact on our view of the world.