The Media

Media influencing us and the world  

By Greta Anderson

Over the last 500 years, the influence of mass media has grown with the advance of technology. Kids everywhere using it in school to look up words or finishing projects to playing games on the computer. Or grown ups looking at their phone for directions to trying to find the sale on a piece of clothing.

First there were books, then newspapers, magazines, photography, sound recordings, films, radio, television, the so-called New Media of the Internet, and now the current media. I just wonder what will come next! But this might be the end. People just made one of the biggest findings over the last years of using technology but think of before that. Not much happened over maybe 100 years. I think now we are slowing down the technology and going into another 100 years of not finding as much. That is just my hypothesis

Today, just about everyone depends on information and communication to keep their lives moving through daily activities like work, education, health care, leisure activities, and the other stuff with which we are involved. This I think is what really has influenced us. We use social media to find our friends see what they're up to kind of what I call stalking. The media basically screams STALK PEOPLE or BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE. I have realized this isn’t always the case. I know that I have seen a lot of things I wish I hadn't seen on the internet that I know isn’t true but I believed it anyway but there should be something that people can see that shows them not everything is true on the internet.

It's not unusual to wake up, check the cell phone or even sleeping with it. I don’t sleep with it but I do like checking what I have missed in the morning before I get ready which I don’t think is a bad thing. Lots of people also check out the TV or newspaper for news, commute to work, read emails, take meetings and makes phone calls.

But so what? We need to be aware that the values we hold, the decisions we make are based on our assumptions, our experiences, our education and what we know for a fact. As I mentioned earlier we can’t trust everything. We rely on the media for the news and facts about what what we should be aware of. We trust the media as an authority for news, information, education and entertainment. Considering that powerful influence, then we should know how it really works.

All of the traditional media still have great influence over our lives. Books once were supremely influential because they came first before newspapers, magazines, radio or television. Newspapers and magazines became great influencers after they were developed. Sound recordings and film were and still are influential.

Radio and then television were very influential. As the 20th century closed, TV exposed us to untold numbers of images of advertising and marketing, suffering and relief, sexuality and violence, celebrity, and much more. This made us want more of that so the media made more of it and now thats all we can think of now the media has turned us into only knowing one thing and trusting the media only. In our minds we have to be like everyone else there is hardly a person anymore who wants to be totally different. I’m thinking the same thing “I don’t’ do that!” well maybe you don’t but a little part of us always wants to be in on the crowd and new stuff.

In conclusion media isn’t always bad or good but I can safely say it’s VERY influential!