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The Role of Media
The media plays a significant role in informing the public about all that is happening across the globe, particularly in those areas where the audiences or the people do not have direct experience or knowledge. The term media is used to refer to the press, online, radio as well as the television generally the tools and means by which people are not experiencing certain news get the news. The invention of the digital media proves that the globe comprises a mass of often contradictory, circulating as well as disjointed information. Mass media has entirely made it possible for the efficient flow of information from and to different groups within the public sphere. The mass media edits and interprets the mass information systematically trying to make some sense of the world to the audiences.
In the shaping of content, specific privileged groups play a significant role in the production of media accounts such as political and social institutions as well as other interest groups that may include the public relations and lobbyists industry. All these groups usually intersect in the shaping of the issues that are open to discussion; however, the outcome could limit the information that people have access to severely. The media can remove topics from within the public reviews making it a prime concern the media content that is told to the people and one that is not (Neill, Marlene and Nicole Lee). The relationships between audiences and the media content are mainly one-way or singular. The lawmakers, for example, could opt to feed information in different media channels and as well try to anticipate the response by the audience to the manner that the policies or laws are made and presented.
Generally, all the elements that are usually involved in the communication circuit regularly intersect and are dynamic. Mass media has a more significant effect on most of the human life aspects which among them includes voting in a particular way, the beliefs and views of people or even the skewing of an individual’s knowledge about a specific topic because of being provided with misleading information. Over the past few decades, media influence has increased drastically and continues doing so as the media advances.
Social media affects people differently, and in the case of students, social media can influence one to the extent of performing poorly in schools since they spend most of their time not concentrating with their studies but connecting to families and friends anywhere on the globe. These could lead to their poor performance in school which in one way or another will make them start underrating themselves as generally poor performance an effect that could lead to some of them committing suicide (Chang, Chun-Ming, et al.). Abuse and bullying through social media, which has increased in the past few decades affect some individuals, and others end up committing suicide or developing negative attitudes towards others and life in general.
Some researchers argue that social media does not affect the student’s performance negatively however it helps many students in improving their performance in school, this is because most of the reading materials required by students are usually available on the internet. It allows students who get to access any reading material they need online. Others argue that students get to interact through social media and discuss school-related topics which slightly impacts their grades. Social media helps students with academic problems solve their problems by connecting with students who have similar issues, and they get to exchange ideas concerning the topics taught in class through twitter, and they can solve complex subjects taught in school by watching TED talks and YouTube videos.
This generally means that social media can help students and other people absorb knowledge through an entertaining and fun way. On the beliefs of people, the media exerts a negligible influence on people since they choose what to read or watch based on their existing beliefs. This, according to the limited-effect theory, which was tested in the 1940s and the 1950s (Scrivens, Ryan, and Maura Conway). Researchers tried to study on the influence of media in voting. They found out that the well-informed individuals in the society mostly rely on their prior knowledge, own reasoning as well as their personal experience to make such a decision however in today’s generation, according to researchers, the media has an impact of people’s beliefs and it is as a result of this that most young people today do not flow the traditions and ways of life of their parents however they have adopted news ways that they get through the media from people of different cultures and specifically the western culture.
The media has resulted to the creation of a new global culture that is profoundly influencing the young generations in all their ways of doing things starting from schooling, getting values and even some making a living out of working online. It has significantly participated in the ending of cultural practices among young people today and has transformed almost everything. It is as a result of the media that people can get information from all parts of the globe only in seconds. It has brought most people from different cultures around the world together and has made communication easier. However, the media has a negative influence such as giving misleading information, increased the issue of cybersecurity across the globe; it has caused many social dilemmas such as online bullying, crimes and more suicide cases among the young people.
Works Cited
Chang, Chun-Ming, et al. “Measuring social media brand community success: the roles of media capability and organisational support.” Total Quality Management & Business Excellence (2018): 1-13.
Neill, Marlene S., and Nicole Lee. “Roles in social media: How the practice of public relations is evolving.” Public Relations Journal 10.2 (2016): 1-25.
Scrivens, Ryan, and Maura Conway. “The roles of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media tools and technologies in the facilitation of violent extremism and terrorism.” The Human Factor of Cybercrime. Taylor & Francis, 2019.