Television's Influence on Society There is probably no greater influence on society than the television. It has become arguably the greatest invention of the past century. With it, we have witnessed countless historical events: Inaugurations of presidents; man's first steps on the moon; the assassination of John F. Kennedy; even disasters as they happen. Americans watch TV in the morning to receive the daily news. They eat chips and drink soda watching it. They watch it before they go to bed. But as television has saturated our lives, has it always resulted toward our betterment, or has it possibly led to the deprivation of American society? In our nation today, most citizens cast their vote on what they see on the news. The media primarily controls people's opinions on political issues. Unfortunately the world's most developed nations don't have time to carefully pick their leaders in any level. While vast opportunity of research is available to the American citizen to carefully pick their candidates; they choose to go along with what the media is telling them to do. The media depends on the public being stupid, and use this theory to influence our opinion. The media realizes that people will not watch what is hard for them to understand. For example, we all love to watch movies because they deal with broad enough topics that everyone can understand and enjoy. It can safely be said that politics is a type of a theatrical performance. In our modern world winning an election is based on image and performance, the best performer usually wins. People who have difficulty watching and understanding this political movie will easily become influenced by the media's opinion. The media is not afraid to call a candidate a "bleeding heart liberal," which causes many people to not vote for him even though they do not really know what a "liberal" is. Or, the media can focus on showing certain political issues over and over so the public figures they should be at the top of the agenda. It is the media that controls the nation, it is the media that selects the agenda, and it is the media that selects our government officials. When it comes to keeping up with news, I usually tune to several different sources such as PBS and ABC.
People who are uncommitted or torn between the candidates can be swayed by the media on who to vote for. The candidates are aware of the influence of media and often spend a lot of their time staging media so that they will look good on camera and come across good to voters. For example, when Roosevelt used his “Fireside Chats”, he soothed the nation about the economic times and the war by talking on the radio. If a Politian is good they will know how to work the media in their advantage and this is how the majority of our presidents get elected and how they get bills passed. The media focuses of some issues while not focusing on others and that is another way they get things done in politics. Ronald Raegan was a movie star and that significantly helped win the race because he was already so popular and he already knew how to talk to the American people. Certain media outlets will only show democrats and others republican and that influences people on who to vote for. Politics is how a lot of news media gets views because it
The media is often considered to be biased. The reason for this is because they do not act neutral on the things that they report on. They usually give their point of view and tend to warp the information so it’s easily digestible by the average person. This type of “nugget feeding,” can influence the judgment of some one who has no idea what is going on. The media tends to sensationalize the news by making it seem dramatic, and compelling. This hooks the viewer, and keeps them tuned in. The purpose of this is for ratings, and most importantly money. The media has become less professional, and their morality has gone down hill. The editors/gatekeepers decide what information is sent out for the public to see, and hear. This is another way that the news is shaped for our viewing pleasure.
In Marie Winn’s Essay “Television: The Plug In Drug,” she states, “Television’s contribution to family life has been an equivocal one.” Winn focuses on the issue of television's influence in the lives of American families. Her emphasis is on the medium's influence on children. Although she makes a strong case for the negative influence of television, she fails to consider all of the benefits television has brought to American families. On its own, the television is neither bad nor good. It offers many benefits: awareness, entertainment, and relaxation. Depending how the television is used, it can have a positive, or negative, effect on the family.
Even though mise-en-scène plays an important role in crafting meaning in television programs, the impact of the mise-en-scène only works when a narrative is present. Most readers may be familiar with the idea that television programs tells stories, but Mittell argues that even unscripted television programs use narrative structures in their programming as well. While chapter five of Jason Mittell’s book. Television and American Culture, focused on mise-en-scène and the stylistic elements that contribute to the meaning made inside a television show such as setting, staging, costumes & makeup, and lighting, chapter six focuses more on the creation of the television narrative.
The impact that television has on society is apparent through the amount of television programs that have been created since its inception. The television set has become a stable form of entertainment for families across the nation. The information we received from it over the years has shaped our culture immensely. Since its inception, gathering around the television set has become a common practice for families to spend time together. The amount of time people spend watching television has progressively increased year after year. Today’s culture is obsessed with positioning itself in front of a television set motionlessly for countless hours every day. Sitting in front of the television is a daily practice routine for many people. After work, school, or dinner, people spend their remaining hours before bed not socializing with each other but instead watching their favorite television programs. In today’s culture family time primarily consists of time spent indulging in food and time spent in front of a television set. In the past many homes only had a single television set which was usually placed in the living room. Today it would be a rare occurrence to find any home with just one television set inside the house. Television is heavily relied upon in today’s culture to the point where people of society can’t go even a single day without switching on a television set. Instead of reading a newspaper to keep up with current trends, entertainment, or news, people rely upon a television to relay that type of information. People rely heavily upon the television set that it has affected the way people socialize with one another. Even the children of today aren’t invulnerable to the effects of the television pandemic. Televisions were ...
One of the largest “booms” that this country has witnessed is in the area of the ultimate “entertainment” source, the television. The growth in popularity of the use of the television is harming Americans in every aspect of their lives,
Social phenomenon is analyzed from different perspectives and at different levels. Sociologists study every specific event from the small social patterns to the large social patterns. The European sociologists have also offered a wide conceptualization of the society’s fundamentals and its workings. Today, there are three major perspectives that offer theoretical paradigms that are commonly used by sociologists. These theoretical approaches aid in explaining the inter-relationship between people and society. They include: the functionalist, the interactionist and the conflict perspectives. Each of these perspectives conceptualizes society, human behavior, and social forces. In this paper, comparison and contrast of these different perspectives with one another is looked into.
The Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society; its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of living and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority.
Two primary communication theories that can be used to analyze and attempt to explain the reason certain candidates are seemingly favored by the news media, even if they are not the most popular candidates, are the theories of agenda-setting and gatekeeping. Understanding these theories and how they are applied to the news media’s choice of topics is important to understand how the public opinion on pertinent matters, such as a presidential election, is
It is estimated that by teenager years, roughly 78% of adolescents will face issues with how they view themselves (Washington Dept.). As time passes, the number is steadily increasing. This is a major issue. Teens are exposed to the media every day and is impacting them severely. Media proves to have a negative effect on society and people in their preteen and teen years.
Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol...
in society. In other words, it was our need to be influenced, to have a
In the argumentative essay “T.V. Addiction” by Marie Winn, Winn relates watching television to having an addiction with drugs and alcohol. The television experience allows us to escape from the real world and enter into a pleasurable and peaceful mental state. When it comes to television, Marie asks the following question: Is there a kind of television viewing that falls into the more serious category of destruction addiction? I believe there is. Why do so many people, instead of doing what they’re supposed to be doing, put everything on hold and just focus on television? I think this is because they want an escape from their problems.
One item that plugs into the wall, and I cannot live without is the television. The television is very important and useful to me for a number of reasons. I tend to get very ill at times, therefore turning on the television is sometimes all I have to turn to. I also watch television when I don’t have anything to do. Now that I think about it, since I am a “home body”, I watch a lot of television. Watching television is a great way for me to pass time.
As Americans we take pride in our liberating government. But, it is essential to ask how much we, the general public, know about our democracy. Because of the representative structure of our government, it is in our best interest to remain as knowledgeable as possible about political affairs so that we can play an active role in our democracy by voting for candidates and issues. The media, which includes print, television, and the internet, is our primary link to political events and issues. (For the purposes of this essay only print and television will be considered.) Therefore, in order to assess the success of our democracy it is necessary to assess the soundness of our media. We are lucky enough to have a media, in theory, free from government influences because of our rights to freedom of press and freedom of speech, but we are still subject to the media’s interpretation and presentation of politics, as is the danger when depending on any source for information. So, we must address how the media informs us; how successful it is at doing so; and how we should respond to it.