The media has greatly influenced the attitude of people towards the elderly. The portrayal of older people through media adverts, television programs, magazines, and newspapers greatly influence how people view older adults in the society. They not only reflect but also inform public attitude, thoughts, and feelings about older people. A larger percentage of the public views the elderly as frail, helpless, dependent, bothersome, and incompetent. Both the explicit and implicit messages presented by the media influence people’s perception of old age and the elderly. However, implicit messages have debilitating effects on both the public and the elderly. This study will analyze four media resources geared towards older adults to identify how they …show more content…
The first media resource was the Elderly section of the New York Times. This media resource was selected to provide an international perspective on the portrayal of the elderly in the news. Analysis of ten articles from the media resource indicated that the elderly were being portrayed negatively in the media resource. This conclusion was supported by previous studies which indicated that newspapers portrayal of the elderly and old age has been more negative than positive (Fealy, Mcnamara, Treacy, and Lyon, 2011). There was no balance between positive and negative perceptions of the elderly. On one of the articles, an elderly Indian woman is pictured lonely, looking weak and miserable (Ray, 2017). Such visual cues influence people to characterize old adults as weak, miserable, needy, and lonely people. The second news resource was the Elderly people section of the BBC news …show more content…
The media was chosen to determine how an elderly magazine promotes for healthy, happy, and productive life after retirement. The magazine portrays elderly people positively by recognizing the achievements of the elderly in sports, education, and entertainment industry (AARP, 2017). The visual cues in the cover stories and the content positively portray the elderly as productive people in the society. AARP magazine conducted a study confirming the influence of media on the attitudes of people towards old age and the elderly. Participants in the study indicated that negative portrayal of the elderly as frail, dependent, sad, and lonely influenced their attitudes towards the elderly and aging (David, 2013). Such studies indicate the need for the media to reverse the negative stereotypes of aging by positively portraying the aged and old
Growing up with such a strong role model, as Anaya describes him, has altered his personal values over a long period of time. He saw his grandfather and other elders as beautiful and strong, all of them being full of wisdom and stories to share,”The old people I remember from my childhood were strong in their beliefs, and as we lived daily with them we learned a wise path of life to follow.” (Anaya) He believes that old people are willful and strong and should be looked up to. Towards the end of the essay, Anaya brings up how old people are portrayed as smiling and happy in the media, and how they’re also always trying to sell something. He thinks that the media hides the way old people truly are,”Commercials show very lively old men, who must always be in excellent health according to the new myth, selling insurance policies or real estate as they are out golfing; older women selling coffee or toilet paper to those just married.” (Anaya) Anaya’s personal experiences when he was younger, and growing up with his strong grandfather made his personal values into what they are
According to Melissa Dittman’s article, the negative stereotypes that are being displayed towards older people might be shortening
Statistics however, have proven that youths are in fact hardworking and responsible with a large portion of the demographic participating in online petitions, charity donations and awareness campaigns. The negative portrayal used by mass media is a leverage for gaining greater attention and more views. From research conducted on the effects of negative versus positive media, researchers have found that individuals exhibit greater attention towards negative information. In addition, as a result of the negative bias (negativity effect) negative information have a tendency of perpetuating for much longer periods of time compared to positive information. As a result of these factors, stereotyping and negative depictions have made it increasingly difficult for teenagers to find opportunities of employment. Furthermore, as a result of the continuous negative labeling, many youths are beginning to depict a lack in optimism and confidence which, if not properly addressed, may result in severe mental health issues. While mass media is very likely to continue their coverages on negative news, many youths however, are demanding change to the system. With continuous activism demanding equal representation, it is possible that the media will revoke their current approaches in the foreseeable
media focuses on older people as consumers for advertising certain products or for political gain.
Of the top ten network television shows (excluding reality shows and game shows) for March 5-11, 2001; all ten portrayed men over forty while only seven portrayed women over forty. There were twenty-five males and seven females over forty. For every one female, t...
In fact, there was a lecture where (Joshi, 2017b) provided an example of a negative stereotype of an older adult that was illustrated with toddler like features in a comic book. This example itself demonstrates how society makes fun of older adults, which relates to the cultural differences between the western society and their values compared to the teachings and values of the east. I could relate to stereotyping older adults stemming from differences in society because eastern society for example, places more emphasis on respecting elders while being more conservative because of their knowledge and experience in life, whereas some parts of the west may be more open to each other while communicating and allowing older adults to be the comedians of society for entertainment purposes which may not be the most considerate idea. Another good example that would debunk the fact that stereotypes should not be generalized across a group of people would be in the lecture where (Joshi, 2016c) explained that many older adults return to their hobbies or activities that they used to enjoy doing when they were younger which is an example of what the continuity theory would suggest. In short, I have changed my perspective on how I use my judgment when it comes to evaluating what the media or other sources put out for their audience such as
The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...
This essay will look at the different ways in which young people are portrayed in the media. It will focus on how the idea of childhood innocence has been challenged by the media and rather than ‘little angels’ children are now seen as ‘little devils’ in the public eye. By looking at ‘The Bulger Case of 1993’ we can see where the idea of ‘little devils’ and children as evil beings began. It will examine why media stories of young people are focused much more on negative aspects such as crime and gang culture rather than positive ones. It will also look at how television programmes such as ‘Teen Mom’ and ‘Skins’ portray the youth of today and whether these programmes come across as a positive or negative portrayal of teenagers. The idea of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ will also be examined and whether the way the media portrays children can be harmful to the construction of their identities and possibly lead to alienation.
Men and women are portrayed differently in media in relation to their socially constructed roles. As mentioned above about the agentic and communal roles, there is also double standard of ageing. Women’s lives: A psychological exploration defines “Double standard of aging” as, “the stigma of aging is much greater than it is for me” (Etaugh & Bridges, 2013, Pg. The media shows the public by giving them the bias that ageing men are more acceptable than aging women.
Independence is a socially constructed concept within a capitalistic patriarchal society that serves to marginalize and oppress the elderly members of the society. Why do many women of the elderly population within the United States live alone? What is it about our society that has encouraged the elderly population to live alone and without the vital familial support that is so often necessary for people who are reaching their golden years? Elderly people in the United States are one of the most vulnerable groups of people who have traditionally been marginalized. They are viewed as weak individuals because they are no longer able to physically work for pay. Many of them choose to live alone yet suffer in isolation because of the lie they have been sold. According to the symbolic interactionist theory, if independence is the ultimate reward for a lifetime of achievement, surely remaining independent and alone is preferable to living with loved ones. The elderly person does not want his or her social networks to believe the elderly person is weak. Isolation is preferable to dependency and being a burden upon another individual or family.
While there are some examples of movies portraying aging in a positive light, more often movies and the media portray aging as negative. The movie ‘The Intern’ is an example of this. In the movie a company creates an intern position for a senior citizen, which they hope will assist with their company image. The company hires a 70-year-old male. There are many negative stereotypes and points where aging is viewed negatively within the movie, including the technology gap, where the intern cannot use emails or create a facebook account, the intern carries an old 70s style briefcase
It is also known that media impacts its viewers, modifying their judgments based on the information they receive. Substantial amounts of stereotypes broadcast through propaganda have similar effects. This essay will illustrate how stereotypes are generally portrayed and their function in propaganda. It will also further reveal how successful and well stereotypes can work when used in propaganda tactics. The media often uses and misrepresents stereotypes; however, they are significantly accepted by people throughout society.
Usually, we have stereotypes about persons who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. We regularly make these stereotypical generalizations based on experiences we have had ourselves, seen in movies or television, read about in books and magazines, or have had related to us by family and friends. Though all these are equally significant roots for the stimulation of stereotypes, media however, is the giant force. Media propaganda is one of the main functions of society that projects stereotypical opinions or perceptions. One of the most powerful forces, propaganda in the media combined with stereotypes often act together to accomplish a homogenized and often misleading view about society and its people.
Media plays a vital role in producing these stereotypes. This is because the media is a very dominant mode of communications in the society that we live in today. In the past 50 years the media has shaped thoughts and influenced people in numerous ways. “Most common forms of media are television, radio, newspaper, magazines, direct mail, and billboards.” We are bombarded everyday in some way or the other by images from the media world. Therefore, it becomes impossible to escape the messages that are presented to us over and over again. These stereotypes are there in order to form propagand...
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.